Bullet Points: Depth Charge

2008’s Depth Charge did not take any chances… the villain in the movie is played by Eric Roberts… the hero in the movie, who has to go against the odds, is played by Jason Gedrick.

Then Depth Charge put these two solid casting choices in an action movie scenario that is a proven winner.

• The Big Montana: Depth Charge opens with the world’s most powerful nuclear submarine, the USS Montana, on a training exercise to test its technologically advanced stealth capabilities. The exercise is a rousing success but the success is bittersweet for Captain Daniel Lewis and Commander William Krieg (Eric Roberts, Runaway Train)… Lewis is set to retire and Krieg is being reassigned to the Pentagon, a change Krieg is not too happy about…

• Bucket List: Krieg’s unhappiness stems from feeling that he had earned the opportunity (if not the right) to captain his own ship, but instead was passed over time and time again over the course of his Naval career. Throw in the fact that Krieg is popping pills to deal with the constant headaches he suffers from due to a brain tumor, pills that are known to cause psychotic behavior… and the fact that Krieg only has one year left to live and it is really no surprise when he orchestrates the hijacking of the USS Montana. Krieg pulls off this feat by having the crew of a nearby fishing boat send out a distress call that they were taking on water (the fishermen were actually terrorists hand picked by Krieg), then convincing Captain Lewis to see how the crew of the USS Montana can handle a rescue mission, Lewis likes the idea and it is the USS Montana to the rescue. Once on board, the fishermen reveal their true identities and just like that Krieg checks off captaining his own ship off his bucket list. Captain Lewis and the Montana crew (sans two) are escorted to the fishing boat before being blown out of the water.

• Die Hard on a Sub: But Krieg’s master plan ends up having two wrinkles in the form of the Montana’s medical officer, Raymond “Doc” Ellers (Jason Gedrick, Iron Eagle) and electrician’s mate Jason Piersall. Both men managed to go undetected during Krieg’s siege, Doc was snoozing in his favorite quiet place on the sub (the mess’s store room) and Piersall was doing some work in the bowels of the sub. Ellers springs into action almost immediately after waking up from his nap, taking out terrorists one by one just like the Die Hard handbook suggests. Piersall becomes Ellers’ reluctant sidekick as they do everything they can to sabotage Krieg’s plans to extort a billion dollars from the United States by threatening to blow up Washington D.C.

After associating Jason Gedrick with his Iron Eagle character Doug Masters for more than 30 years, it was quite a change of scenery to see Gedrick go from fighting evil in the wild blue yonder as an Air Force hopeful to fighting evil under the sea as a Naval officer. But no matter by sea or by air, Gedrick proved he can still kick some ass in Depth Charge. Now somebody needs to make a movie where Jason Gedrick is a Marine and another one where he is an Army Ranger.

If Depth Charge were a test and I was the professor, I’d give it a C+ …maybe a B- since I am such a Jason Gedrick mark. Everyone knew their roles and played them to the best of their ability. The material in the film was not groundbreaking, but was competently executed and I felt that Depth Charge was a well paced 84 minutes.

Now let’s dive into some Bonus Bullet Points…

• Familiar Faces: Corbin Bernsen (Boone: The Bounty Hunter) plays the captain of the USS Florida, the submarine tasked with intercepting and taking out the rogue USS Montana… Barry Bostwick (Megaforce) plays the President of the United States… Maury Sterling (Behind Enemy Lines) plays Krieg’s right hand man, Allenson.
• Meta Quote: “If we live through this, they’ll make a movie about us.” – Raymond “Doc” Ellers
• Sub Titles: In the opening minutes of Depth Charge classic submarine lingo like “crash dive” and “counter measures” is used. I couldn’t help but think of the two submarine themed movies that Michael Dudikoff starred in… Crash Dive and Counter Measures.
• Memorable Quote: Jason Gedrick channeled his inner Harrison Ford on no less than three occasions when Doc emphatically says, “Get off my sub!”