Fallen to new depths

Somewhere under the Arctic Ocean, a Russian submarine blows up. Moments later, the American sub that had been tracking the Russian boat is torpedoed.

Worried that someone is trying to start World War III, the Americans dispatch yet another submarine to try to work out what is going on beneath the ice. At which point – as is so often the case when I find myself alone at the multiplex for a 10am screening of a movie – Gerard Butler shows up.

Butler (aka ‘‘Liam Neeson by Pams’’) is the 21st-century king of B grade hokum like 300, Olympus Has Fallen and Geostorm that are still just flashy enough to be shown on the big screen.

Butler (aka west Scotland’s answer to Nicolas Cage) has made a living being the gruff bloke you can count on to still be breathing when the credits roll.

Hunter Killer pushes Butler out of his comfort zone not one millimetre. As the unlikely commander of the latest American sub, Butler’s ‘‘Joe Glass’’ finds himself bilge-deep in a coup attempt and then a seal team infiltration of a Russian naval base, none of which gets within a long walk of making any sense at all, but all of which is played with just enough conviction to almost paper over the cracks and the hilariously over-caffeinated dialogue.

Picture a mash up of The Hunt for Red October and Zero Dark 30 and you’ll know everything you need to about Hunter Killer.

Butler (aka ‘‘Tom Hardy turned us down’’) does what he does effectively. Gary Oldman, clearly bored with his recent run of quite challenging roles, sleepwalks his way through shouty-AmericanGeneral-who-doesn’t-trust-thoseRuskies, and the late and wonderful Michael Nyqvist (John Wick) makes his last appearance on our screens.

Listen, no one is going to walk into Hunter Killer expecting Tarkovsky. You just want what the poster and the trailer are promising. And that’s exactly what Butler (aka ‘‘hey, he’s heaps better than Vin Diesel’’) delivers.