‘Hunter Killer’ is a submarine movie on steroids

Tanyone makes any of these decisions prior to this is just baffling to say the least. Also no one seems to be able to communicate with anyone else, like when Captain Glass decides to save a Russian captain played by the late Michael Nyqvist, except in an extremely pivotal moment that makes you wonder why no one did this earlier.

Diplomacy conversations really go out the window when the Americans decide — against the protest of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Donnegan (Gary Oldman, for some reason) — decide their best option is to rescue the Russian president from his own soldiers and not tell anyone about it. The plot and the international politics leave a lot to be desired, although they do end up manufacturing a silly but effective stand off by the end.

Based on the book “Firing Point,” this is the first Hollywood film from South African director Donovan Marsh, and he does cook up some captivating action set pieces, like navigating a submarine through a fjord of mines, or even just an old fashioned, ridiculously over the top shootout, which may have you laughing, rolling your eyes or even cheering (as a fair amount of people were in my screening), but it’s never boring.

“Hunter Killer,” a Summit Entertainment release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “violence and some language.” Running time: 120 minutes. Across

1 Fingers

7 Thirst quencher 10 South by east 13 Leaseholder

14 __ Kilat

15 Internal Revenue Service

16 Nervous system 17 Arkansas

18 Institution (abbr.) 19 Rested

20 Fabric bag

22 Nine

24 Us

25 Rooster

27 Tons

28 Ancient German character

29 Ouch!

30 Travel term

31 Central Intelligence Agency

32 Bro. or sis. 34 Switzerland city 35 Young Women’s Christian Association 39 Trinitrotoluene 40 Picnic visitor

41 Game official

43 Inlet

44 Water (Spanish) 46 Contest

47 Basketball association 48 Revolutions per minute

49 April (abbr.)

51 Illinois (abbr.)

52 Eve’s husband 54 South southeast 55 Canned meat

56 51

57 Twelve months 59 Stringed instruments 62 Snack

64 Aroma

66 Iowa (abbr.)

67 Pose

70 Card game 71 Lapu-____

72 Gaseous 74 Convert into leather

75 Single 76 Sports match

Down

1 What a nurse gives 2 Rooster’s mate

3 Ship initials 4 Mississippi (abbr.) 5 Swain

6 Slave

7 Dogma

8 Aurora

9 Negative (prefix) 10 Bro.’s sibling 11 Muscle

12 ___ Lauder

14 Cebu town 20 Dekameter 21 Romance

23 Doctor’s picture 25 __ Rica

26 Due

30 Poison

31 Applaud

33 Energy unit

34 Barium (abbr.) 36 West by north 37 Small house

38 Cebu mall

41 Drive away

42 Fort (abbr.) 45 Military unit

46 Capital of Lesotho 50 Possessive pronoun 52 Native Americans 53 Goddess

54 Range

58 Candy brand

60 In __ of (instead of)

61 Cereal plant

63 2,000 pounds 65 Degree of expertise in karate

67 Tire

68 Compass point

69 X

73 Santa’s laugh