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Ghostboat
Jack Hardy is the sole survivor of a mysterious submarine disaster in World War II. Now, in 1981, the ill-fated submarine Scorpion has resurfaced, miraculously intact. Naval Intelligence need Hardy's expertise to retrace the course and mission that led to her original disappearance. But what's waiting for them under the grey waters of the Baltic Sea turns out to be much worse than the Russian submarines they're expecting. Wherever Scorpion has been all this time, it's brought some very bad luck back with it...
Release : | 2006 |
Rating : | 6.5 |
Studio : | Yorkshire Television, |
Crew : | Other, Director, |
Cast : | David Jason Julian Wadham Tony Haygarth Ian Puleston-Davies Robert Whitelock |
Genre : | Thriller |
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Brilliant and touching
Absolutely the worst movie.
Blistering performances.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
A story like this will not appeal to everyone but I thought it was very original and well put together overall. A good change from the usual period dramas that come from British productions. There were some bits that could have been better with regards to acting and script but it was still entertaining. Some story points are a bit too subtle and easy to miss so might need a second viewing to fully appreciate how it all fits together. The ending was quite bold and strong which I didn't expect. The visual effects were good for a relatively low budget production and there was quite a lot of computer graphics that looked as good as from a feature film.
The full two-hour production was broadcast on PBS, Watertown, N.Y. on 2007 March 25 without commercials.Intriguing plot. It took a while for me to realize that that the genre was supernatural, requiring some suspension of belief. Gradual subversion of most of the crew by the spirit of the submarine was well done. What was not made clearly enough in the movie is that the submarine went through a time-warp... twice; the first time, gradually back into the WW II period and the second time, rapidly, when the submarine encountered the peculiar electrical storm. Time-warp explains the attack by WW II vintage Me 109 aircraft mid-way through the movie and the sudden re-emergence of the sub back to 1981 for the final attack on the, by then, Soviet naval base. It also explains why the sub could sink enemy (German) vessels, including another submarine, without triggering WW III.I'm not sure about British subs but US subs certainly had radar later in WW II. Unfortunately, the movie sub lacked a radar antennae. A minor quibble.Yes, subs did sink other subs, usually when one of them was on the surface. However, the last German sub sunk by combat in WW II was by a British sub whilst both were under water. The British captain was a master at tactics and working out fire control coordinates. (The last German sub to be sunk in WW II was by HMCS New Glascow, a frigate, which was unaware of the sub and accidentally rammed it whilst the latter was partly submerged and trying to sneak to its home port.)Incongruities:As pointed out by others, chlorine gas is produced by sea water entering batteries, not by shorting them out. Shorting out the batteries would have caused failure of the electric propulsion and the sub could not have run under water. Okay, maybe only some of the batteries were shorted out.WW II torpedoes had safety devices to prevent them becoming armed or the torpedo engine starting whilst they were still in the torpedo tube.How was it that the captain and the professor could continue inside the sub without gas masks after the crew had been forced to abandon it because of chlorine gas?Worse, at one point, after all the crew except the captain has abandoned the sub, the professor re-enters the submarine via the conning tower, whilst the sub is submerging, in order to fire the scuttling charges (explosive charges intended to deliberately sink the submarine in order to avoid capture by the enemy). All he had to do to sink the sub was to leave the conning tower hatch open as the submarine submerged.With a little thought and expert advice the producers could have avoided or glossed over these incongruities. As it was, incongruities in the second half of the movie spoiled the mood that was well established in the first half of the movie.
I watched GhostBoat with my mum, and I do like this sort of thing and it did intrigue med with a submarine appearing out of nowhere from 40 years missing. It also had David Jason which I thought was a good choice.Travis was very good as the mutinous first mate, probably taken from Pirates of the Caribbean 1, or that could be just a wild guess. I do like a good madman especially when there is no escape, the Shining anyone? It did get a bit weird towards the end when the ghosts were operating Travis and all the ships compartments. It was exciting when the ship was about to cause WWIII. Yes all that from a two part serial drama on ITV. I do recommend if you like a good horror story!
This is not really a spoiler but it is a negative comment. I enjoyed the first episode of this TV movie. However, as a submariner of some 17 years it annoyed me that such a simple goof could be committed and not picked up by the Naval Adviser, surely not a submariner! As the character Cassidy enters he hears a comment about increasing the battery charging rate and advises against it as this will cause chlorine gas to be generated and kill the crew by poisoning. This is entirely untrue. Hydrogen gas will be generated. It would only kill the crew if it ignited and blew up. Every submariner knows that chlorine gas will only be generated if salt water gets into the battery and reacts with the battery acid. This was always the fear of submariners when the boat was damaged and sea water was coming in. Keith Hallam, Blackpool.