GREYHOUND (12)
AS CINEMAS BEGIN TO REOPEN, DAMON SMITH LOOKS AT WHAT’S ON THE BIG SCREEN, INCLUDING THE HORROR FLICK BLACK WATER: ABYSS
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THE Battle of the Atlantic, a gruelling military campaign in the Second
World War, provides a tumultuous backdrop to director Aaron
Schneider’s rousing tale of heroism at sea. Adapted by lead actor Tom Hanks from CS Forester’s novel The Good Shepherd, Greyhound is set in February 1942. Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks, pictured) assumes his first command at the helm of the US destroyer Greyhound, one of four armed military units escorting 37 ships to Liverpool. These vessels are laden with supplies for the allied war effort and it is imperative they reach England. Air support can fend off German U-boats for part of the journey – but for a long section of the treacherous North Atlantic known as The Black Pit, the destroyers are the convoy’s sole protection from torpedoes.
Around 50 hours from rendezvous with British air support, the convoy picks up sonar signals from a pack of German U-boats. Over two hellish days, Krause must attempt to outmanoeuvre the enemy. ■ Availbale from July 10 on Apple TV+.
THRILL-SEEKERS get far more than they bargained for in director Andrew Traucki’s bloodthirsty, waterlogged horror, which has the misfortune of surfacing in the wake of yesteryear’s infinitely superior woman-versusalligator nail-biter, Crawl.
Set in Northern Australia, Black Water: Abyss contrives to trap five unfortunate souls below ground in a rapidly flooding cave with a voracious predator that hunts by vibrations in the water.
“Crocs are territorial. He’s not gonna be happy ‘til we’re all gone,” handily explains one thinly sketched character in Ian John Ridley and Sarah Smith’s script, which struggles to find a pleasing balance between edge-of-seat scares and heart-wrenching drama.
They follow the lead of Ridley Scott’s masterclass in sustained tension, Alien, and capsize gender stereotypes to promote female characters when the going gets tough.
The dimly lit, subterranean setting should allow Traucki to slowly crank up tension and conceal surprise attacks from his reptilian menace.
However, it’s painfully
THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA (Now TV/SKY Atlantic)
obvious when cast are poised to depart in a grisly fashion and we are braced far in advance for a creature to leap out of the water and clamp its jaws around a torso to a symphony of reverberating screams and crunching bones. Gung-ho thrill-seeker Eric (Luke Mitchell) and his level-headed girlfriend Jennifer (Jessica Mcnamee) invite good friends Yolanda (Amali Golden) and Viktor (Benjamin Hoetjes) to join them on an expedition to a remote, uncharted cave system. Travel journalist Viktor, who is used to making up articles from the comfort of a hotel room, is concerned about the potential risks.
“I thought you said going into remission made you want to live life to the full?” calmly argues his girlfriend Yolanda. “Don’t you want to experience something new?”
The plucky quartet is joined by Eric’s friend Cash (Anthony J Sharpe), who stumbled upon the cave while searching for missing Japanese trekkers.
A tropical storm blows in
LAVISH six-part drama. In 1940, aviator hero Charles Lindbergh (Ben Cole) makes waves with xenophobic speeches criticising the Second World War and the influence of the Jewish people over America’s involvement in the conflict. He is endorsed by Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf (John Turturro) and secures the Republican party nomination to run for president against Franklin D Roosevelt. As America turns towards fascism, the Levin family, led by Herman (Morgan Spector) and his wife Elizabeth (Zoe Kazan), fear the worst. The Levins and friends, including Elizabeth’s sister Evelyn (Winona Ryder), feel more and more like outcasts in their own homes. ■ Streaming from July 14. The series begins at 9pm the same night on Sky Atlantic. from the north shortly after the group abseil into the mouth of the cave and stumble upon a subterranean lake.
As rain lashes down, a nearby river floods its banks and Eric, Jennifer, Yolanda, Viktor and Cash are trapped below ground.
The disoriented adventurers find a potential escape route blocked by at least one crocodile, setting in motion a bloodthirsty battle royale between terrified human interlopers and fleshhungry reptiles.
Black Water: Abyss is a predictable survival thriller, which splish-splashes through confidently staged set-pieces.
Scriptwriters Ridley and Smith refuse to wedge tongues in cheek when characters loudly tease impending doom – “I don’t like the look of this”, “No-one knows we’re down here, right?” – or when they engineer a hilarious finale ripped out of the Jaws playbook.
Mcnamee and Golden are spunky damsels in deluged distress, who cope well with the gruelling physical demands of their underwritten roles.
LITTLE VOICE (Apple TV+)
GRAMMY and Tony Award nominee Sara Bareilles, who wrote the music and lyrics for hit West End musical Waitress, provides the original songs for this heartfelt valentine to the New York music scene created by Jessie Nelson.
Streaming in weekly episodes, Little Voice centres on talented performer Bess King (Brittany O’grady), who is determined to realise her dreams in the Big Apple where success depends as much on luck and personal connections as raw talent.
As she navigates complicated family issues and personal loss, Bess musters the courage to share her authentic voice with the world. ■ Eight episodes, streaming from July 10.