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Greyhound (film)
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Greyhound
| image = Greyhound poster.jpeg
| alt =
| caption = Release poster
| director = Aaron Schneider
| producer = Gary Goetzman
| screenplay = Tom Hanks
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = Blake Neely
| cinematography = Shelly Johnson
| editing =
| studio =
| distributor = Apple TV+
| released =
| runtime = 91 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $50.3 million
| gross =
}}
'Greyhound' is a 2020 American war film directed by Aaron Schneider and starring Tom Hanks, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the 1955 novel 'The Good Shepherd' by C. S. Forester, and also stars Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, and Elisabeth Shue. The plot follows a commander in the US Navy on his assignment commanding a multi-national escort destroyer group of 4 defending an Allied convoy of 37 merchant and troop ships. They come under attack by German U-boats in early 1942 during the Battle of the Atlantic, only a few months after the United States officially entered World War II.
'Greyhound' was initially scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on June 12, 2020, by Sony Pictures Releasing, but was eventually canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic after previously being delayed indefinitely. The distribution rights were then sold to Apple TV+, which released the film digitally on July 10, 2020. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences and effective use of its 90-minute runtime. At the 93rd Academy Awards, the film earned a nomination for Best Sound. A sequel is in production.
Plot
During the Battle of the Atlantic, convoy HX-25, consisting of 37 Allied ships, is making its way to Liverpool. The convoy's escort consists of the USS 'Keeling' DD-548, radio call sign "Greyhound", captained by Commander Ernest Krause of the United States Navy; the British Tribal-class destroyer HMS 'James' F80, call sign "Harry"; the Polish 'Grom'-class destroyer ORP 'Viktor' H34, call sign "Eagle"; and the Canadian , HMCS 'Dodge' K136, call sign "Dicky". Krause is overall commander of the escort ships, but despite his seniority and extensive naval education, it is his first wartime command.
The convoy enters the "Black Pit", the Mid-Atlantic gap where they will be out of range of protective air cover. High-frequency direction finding from the convoy flagship intercepts several German transmissions, indicating the presence of U-boats. Greyhound identifies a surfaced sub heading towards the convoy and moves to attack. The submarine tries to slip under Greyhound, but Krause maneuvers his ship above the U-boat and sinks it with a full pattern of depth charges.
The crew's jubilation is cut short as they soon receive reports of distress rockets at the rear of the convoy. A Greek merchant ship was attacked by another U-boat and is quickly sinking. Krause moves Greyhound to assist, and with careful maneuvering evades torpedoes fired at his destroyer. The surviving Greek sailors are rescued, and Greyhound returns to the convoy just as the bridge receives multiple messages from the other escorts: a wolfpack consisting of six U-boats is staying just out of firing range of the convoy; Krause suspects they are waiting for nightfall, when the escorts will have no visibility. The attack commences that evening with five merchant ships being torpedoed and sunk. One U-boat torpedoes an oil tanker and escapes Greyhound by using an underwater decoy device, tricking the crew into wasting most of their remaining depth charges. Krause chooses to rescue survivors from the burning oil tanker first rather than going to the aid of the other ships. This decision results in the loss of a cargo ship.
The next day, the wolfpack targets Greyhound. The captain of the command submarine taunts the convoy and its escorts via radio transmission. Krause learns that Greyhound is down to just six depth charges. The U-boats launch multiple torpedo runs, which Greyhound is barely able to evade. Greyhound and Dicky combine to sink one of the U-boats in an exchange of surface broadsides. Dicky receives minor damage due to the close range combat and Greyhound is hit on the port side by one of the U-boat's deck guns, which kills Krause's mess attendant, George Cleveland, and two of his sailors. During the funeral service, Eagle is attacked and eventually sinks. Krause, aware that doing so might expose the state of the escort fleet, elects to break radio silence by transmitting a single word, "help", to the Admiralty.
With the convoy close to reaching air cover, the remaining U-boats mount an all-out assault on the destroyers. After heavy fighting, Greyhound sinks the lead U-boat with a full broadside. Air support deployed from British RAF Coastal Command arrives and Greyhound fires, marking the last visible U-boat location, allowing a PBY Catalina to depth-charge and sink the sub. The two surviving wolfpack subs quickly flee.
While assessing damage, Krause receives radio contact from the head of the relief escorts, HMS 'Diamond', that they have arrived and Greyhound is due for repair and refitting in Derry, alongside his surviving destroyer and corvette. The crew receives a "job well done" on their four U-boat kills. While setting the new course, passengers and crew of the remaining convoy ships cheer Greyhound's crew, after which Krause is able to retire to his cabin to finally sleep.
Cast
* Tom Hanks as Commander Ernest Krause, commanding officer of the USS 'Keeling', codenamed Greyhound
* Stephen Graham as Lieutenant Commander Charlie Cole, Krause's executive officer
* Rob Morgan as George Cleveland, Mess Attendant 2nd Class
* Elisabeth Shue as Evelyn Frechette, Ernest's love interest
* Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as Melvin Lopez
* Karl Glusman as Red Eppstein
* Tom Brittney as Lieutenant Watson
* Jake Ventimiglia as Harry Fippler
* Matt Helm as Lieutenant J. Edgar Nystrom
* Joseph Henry Poliquin The 5th as Forbrick
* Devin Druid as Homer Wallace
* Maximilian Osinski as captain of ORP 'Viktor', call sign "Eagle"
* Dominic Keating as captain of HMS 'James', call sign "Harry"
* Grayson Russell as Signalman #1
* Dave Davis as Boatswain's Mate #1
* Michael Benz as Lieutenant Carling
* Travis Przybylski as LTJG Dawson
* Josh Wiggins as Talker #1
* Chet Hanks as Bushnell
* Ian James Corlett as captain of HMCS 'Dodge', call sign "Dicky"
* Thomas Kretschmann as captain of U-boat Grey Wolf (voice only)
* Michael Carollo as Rico Ochoa, Forward Lookout
Production
Pre-production photography took place in January 2018 at sea aboard HMCS 'Montral', a frigate of the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS 'Sackville', the last surviving Flower-class corvette, was used as the model for the film's corvette, HMCS 'Dodge' (call sign "Dicky"). Producers took numerous 3D scans of the restored ship's exterior at Halifax, Nova Scotia to create the CGI version of the corvette. In March 2018 filming commenced aboard USS 'Kidd' in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Release
'Greyhound' was initially scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label on March 22, 2019, before being delayed to May 8, 2020, and finally June 12, 2020.
Like many other films, it was removed from the release schedule in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Hanks himself had been diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier that month while filming 'Elvis' for Warner Bros. In May 2020, it was announced Apple TV+ had acquired distribution rights to the film for about $70 million; Stage 6 Films was left as the sole Sony distributor as of the release of the film. It was released digitally by the service on July 10, 2020. Apple said that the film had the biggest debut weekend of any program in the platform's history, with 'Deadline Hollywood' saying the figures were "commensurate with a summer theatrical box office big hit". In November, 'Variety' reported the film was the 24th-most watched straight-to-streaming title of 2020 up to that point.
Greyhound is only available on Apple TV+. It has not been release on DVD/Blu-Ray.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "'Greyhound's characters aren't as robust as its action sequences, but this fast-paced World War II thriller benefits from its efficiently economical approach". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Owen Gleiberman, in his review for 'Variety', said the film is "less a drama than a tense and sturdy diary of the logistics of battle" and "though much of the action is set in the open air of the ship's command perch, 'Greyhound' often feels like a submarine thriller: tense, tight, boxed-in". Writing for the 'Chicago Tribune', Michael Phillips gave the film three out of four stars and said: "Like the canine, ['Greyhound' is] trim, narrow of scope, and it runs efficiently and well despite a barrage of on-screen time stamps and vessel identification markers".
David Ehrlich of 'IndieWire' gave the film a "C" and wrote: "A terse and streamlined dad movie that's shorter than a Sunday afternoon nap and just as exciting, 'Greyhound' bobs across the screen like a nuanced character study that's been entombed in a 2,000-ton iron casket and set adrift over the Atlantic. The film offers a handful of brief hints at the tortured hero who Forester invented for his book ... but the whole thing is far too preoccupied with staying afloat to profile the guy at the helm in any meaningful way".
Accolades
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%"|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! Award
! Date of ceremony
! Category
! Recipient(s)
! Result
! class="unsortable"|
|-
| Academy Awards
|
| Best Sound
| Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
|
| align="center" |
|-
| rowspan="2"| British Academy Film Awards
| rowspan="2"|
| Best Special Visual Effects
| Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness and Sebastian von Overheidt
|
| rowspan="2" align="center" |
|-
| Best Sound
| Beau Borders, Christian P. Minkler, Michael Minkler, Warren Shaw and David Wyman
|
|-
| Cinema Audio Society Awards
|
| Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture Live Action
| David Wyman, Michael Minkler, Christian Minkler, Richard Kitting, Beau Borders, Greg Hayes and George A. Lara
|
| align="center" |
|-
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards
|
| Best Visual Effects
| 'Greyhound'
|
| align="center" |
|-
| rowspan="2"| Critics' Choice Super Awards
| rowspan="2"|
| Best Action Movie
| 'Greyhound'
|
| rowspan="2" align="center" |
|-
| Best Actor in an Action Movie
| Tom Hanks
|
|-
| Denver Film Critics Society
|
| Best Visual Effects
| 'Greyhound'
|
| align="center" |
|-
| rowspan="2"| Golden Reel Awards
| rowspan="2"|
| Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing Dialogue and ADR for Feature Film
| Michael Minkler, Warren Shaw, Will Digby, Dave McMoyler, Michelle Pazer, David Tichauer and Paul Carden
|
| rowspan="2" align="center" |
|-
| Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing Sound Effects and Foley for Feature Film
| Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Will Digby, Ann Scibelli, Jon Title, Jeff Sawyer, Richard Kitting, Odin Benitez, Jason King, Luke Gibleon and Marko Costanzo
|
|-
| rowspan="3"| People's Choice Awards
| rowspan="3"|
| Favorite Drama Movie
| 'Greyhound'
|
| rowspan="3" align="center" |
|-
| Favorite Drama Movie Star
| rowspan="2"| Tom Hanks
|
|-
| Favorite Male Movie Star
|
|-
| San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
|
| Best Visual Effects
| 'Greyhound'
|
| align="center" |
|-
| Satellite Awards
|
| Best Visual Effects
| Nathan McGuinness and Pete Bebb
|
| align="center" |
|-
| Seattle Film Critics Society
|
| Best Visual Effects
| Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness, Whitney Richman and Sebastian Theo von Overheidt
|
| align="center" |
|-
| St. Louis Film Critics Association
|
| Best Action Film
| 'Greyhound'
|
| align="center" |
|-
| rowspan="2"| Visual Effects Society Awards
| rowspan="2"|
| Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature
| Omar Meradi, Jeremy Poupin, Sylvain Robert and Deak Ferrand
|
| rowspan="2" align="center" |
|-
| Outstanding Compositing in a Photoreal Feature
| Chris Gooch, Tiago Santos, Stu Bruzek and Sneha Amin
|
|}
References
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