Greyhound (2020) Capsule review kinda okay movie....

Premise: Based on the novel “The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester” sets in 1942 during World War Two. A commander of the US navy, it is his first war-time command to protect merchant ships. They encounter several Germans enemy U-boats (submarine.) Greyhound shows 48 hours of constant battle in the running time of 90 minutes.

Pros: Greyhound gives the audience a factual look into the commander’s job in the navy ship during the battle in the 1940s era, with its realistic portrayal as possible, like the technical terminology used, devices, sonar calculation, the process of commands. Even though the movie never leaves the bridge and deck of greyhound (ship) and revolves around the captain alone, it somehow kept me informed and interested in the film.

I liked the accurate navy terminology used in the discussion. With this much of the dialogue, I mean 70 percent of the is just the captain passing or obtaining orders and protocols with crew members and other chiefs. It could go wrong, but surprisingly it was great and pinned us to the movie with its dialogues.

As always, Tom Hanks gave an excellent performance. Greyhound primarily sailed because of him. If you are watching for Hanks like me, you won’t disappoint.

Cons: Did they forget to shoot 30 minutes of the movie? It is really a slim script; there is nothing much goes around besides the massive battles. It could have added some scenes in Act 1, so we can get more invested in the story. And poor character development, including lead role, how we will care about them in their life-threatening situation without knowing them at all, should I care for the ships? They could have explored the side characters. Greyhound never connects us with an emotional level. It never gets into the dramatic zone in which the story demand only focuses on relentlessly on the battle, which seems flat for some scenes because of the lack of characterization and with a thin plot.

Conclusion: I had high expectations for this, but how things turn around in 2020 and had to watch so many bad TV movies, mostly of action or Rom-com. I am really glad to see a new war film. of course, for this kinda story, the movie is concise. It could have been a lot better with some additional script and characterization. Anyway, I didn’t feel 90 minutes wasted. Greyhound worth your time if you are OK with a lot of technical jargon. My rating 6/10.

Director: Aaron Schneider
Cast: Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm, Rob Morgan