Hannibal Pictures, USS Indianapolis Production,
Nicolas Cage, Tom Sizemore, Thomas Jane, Cody Walker, Matt Lanter, Weronika Rosati, Brian Presley, Emily Tennant, Callard Harris, Mandela Van Peebles
It was in the midst of WWII in the pacific and Captain McVay (Nicholas Cage) is captain of a Navy ship, and he and his men are given orders to deliver two packages with unknown contents to the Mariana Islands in the Philippine Sea. It is a top secret mission and so their ship must sail across the Pacific alone without other ships accompanying them. This puts them at great risk of Japan submarine attack because the ship is a dead duck if a sub attacks them. The crew has no idea what’s in the boxes, but set out on their way. The custom was for large ships like this to follow a zig-zag path, but Captain McVay decides the best move is to sail as straight and quickly as possible. The Japanese were now using manned torpedo subs, and zig-zagging was of no value if there were attacked by one of these because the suicide pilot would follow and hit you for sure, so the only choice was to get there as soon as possible and keep a low profile and hope. They delivered their packages, but were sunk by a Japanese sub on the return trip. The survivors were thrown into the sea with very basic rafts, hardly any supplies, and in water full of sharks. Because of the secret of their mission, the Navy was not searching for them and they had no contact. The sailors suffered terribly from hunger, thirst, exposure, and shark attacks.
This is based on the true story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, a cruiser that was sunk by a Japanese sub. Historically it may be correct. There is a lot more to the story than what I have given you above, and this story didn’t end when the survivors were recovered. The feel of the torment on the sea was very well done, and I feel Nick Cage did a wonderful job in portraying this character. A lot of people have complained about this film, but I think some people complain about anything Nick does. I felt he was very well suited for this role, and he did a very good job. I like how the movie at the end, in the credits gave us a look at the actors and the real sailors side by side, and there are lots of special features and interviews with some of the survivors on the DVD, even the rental version. I have briefly heard of this story, but did not really know the facts, and I was impressed with the whole story. If you can remember, Quint (Robert Shaw) from the original Jaws movie talks about the USS Indianapolis with Richard Dreyfus while aboard the ship. I was glad to learn much more about these brave men, and the terrible way they were treated by the Navy to provide the coverup of their mission. In my opinion this was a darn good movie based on real WWII history and had some very touching and thought provoking experiences. CGI is good, and I think the acting was good, and the look and feel of the story was really authentic. I recommend this move for mature teens and adults, especially those interested in military history.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
