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USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage looks at the period in World War II from March 31st, 1945 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, leading to the titular ship exporting its devastating payload to Hiroshima, but it’s a so top secret a mission that they’re not getting any cover – since if they had a fleet of protector ships, then it’d spook the enemy – and they were never there, so if they died, the US government would disavow any knowledge of their actions… so it’s like Mission: Impossible, although they look at it as “a glorified postal service with two packages, and no protection”.
Their biggest fear are the Kaitens – a manned suicide torpedo, like an underwater Kamikaze pilot. You can’t outrun those.
Based on a true story, and split into three sections, overall, it feels very uneven, beginning by balancing the war drama with the men goofing around on deck, and at home where Mike (Adam Scott Miller) proposes to judge’s daughter Clara (Emily Tennant) before he ships out; then leading to the men being in the water, followed by the resulting investigation and a powerful conclusion. The mid-section is where it comes across the weakest, as it ends up like a cross between Titanic-lite, Jaws and The Shallows. That is slightly ‘buoyed’ by that fact that it also has a tie-in with Jaws, as Quint was a survivor of the incident.
Alas, there’s some dodgy CGI at times, not that that stopped Clint Eastwood relate a more recent true-life water-bound tale with Sully: Miracle on the Hudson.
The film is presented in the original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and in 1080p high definition, and there’s no issues with the print whatsoever. It looks stunning as you’d expect for a modern movie, and I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV, connected to a PS4.
The audio is in DTS HD MA 5.1, with lots of great split-surround audio action, whether in the thick of battle or even when a light is swinging violently around Cage’s quarters after an attack – that’s nicely impressive.
The only extra is a Making Of (33:11), split into five charts, this comprises of the usual mix of clips and chat from the cast and crew, but as I love Prague, I did enjoy the segment where the score was shown being performed by their Philharmonic Orchestra.
The main menu is features the cover but with some subtle animation behind Cage, including clouds moving, plus a portion of the score. There are subtitles in English only, and just a bog-standard 12 chapters, while I always work on the rule of thumb of one every five minutes.
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage is released tomorrow on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size versions.
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FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
6 10 8 1 |
| OVERALL | 6 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 128 minutes
Year: 2016
Distributor: Lionsgate
Cat.no: LIB95326R0
Released: January 9th 2017
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Languages/Audio: DTS HD MA 5.1
Subtitles, English SDH
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Producers: Michael Mendelsohn and Richard Rionda Del Castro
Screenplay: Cam Cannon and Richard Rionda Del Castro
Music: Laurent Eyquem
Cast:
Captain McVay: Nicolas Cage
McWhorter: Tom Sizemore
Lt. Adrian Marks: Thomas Jane
Bama: Matt Lanter
Admiral Parnell: James Remar
Waxman: Brian Presley
Hashimoto: Yutaka Takeuchi
Connor: Johnny Wactor
D’Antonio: Adam Scott Miller
West: Cody Walker
Lt. Standish: Callard Harris
Garrison: Craig Tate
Alvin: Joey Capone
Clara: Emily Tennant
Quinn: Shamar Sanders
Lt. Chuck Gwinn: Max Ryan
Jean-Pierre: Patrice Cols
Captain Ryan: Currie Graham
Deuce: Matthew Pearson
Cdr. Cavanaugh: Timothy Patrick Cavanaugh
Sanchez: José Julián
Louise Mcvay: Weronika Rosati
Judge Bazemore: Gary Grubbs
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.