Summary
- Hunter Killer is not based on a true story and takes liberties with its depiction of submarine operations.
- Andropov trusted Glass because he risked his crew's lives to save him and showed him evidence of the coup.
- Glass gave Andropov his lucky coin as a sign of respect and gratitude for their successful mission to prevent World War III.
At the end of Hunter Killer, Captain Glass makes the bold move to trust Russian Captain Andropov and together they help avoid the beginning of World War III. Directed by Jonathan Marsh and based on the novel by Don Keith and George Wallace, Hunter Killer is a 2018 movie featuring performances from Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Common, Linda Cardellini, Toby Stephens, and more.
When a United States submarine is mysteriously destroyed in the ocean near Russia, the United States military and the NSA send Captain Glass (Geard Butler) and a Hunter-Killer submarine, the USS Arkansas to discover what happened. It turns out the Russian Admiral Dmitriy Durov (Michael Gor) staged a coup and kidnapped the Russian President Zakarin (Alexander Diachenko) and attacked their own submarine in the process. The United States military leaders and President begin preparing for war, but Glass is determined to stop the war before it happens, teaming up with Russian submarine captain Andropov (Michael Nyqvist) to extract the president and stop the coup.
Is Hunter Killer Based on a True Story?
How accurate is it to real-life submarine warfare?
Hunter Killer is not based on a true story, although it is based on the novel Firing Point (not to be confused with Tom Clancy's book by the same name) by Don Keith and George Wallace. Wallace was in the Navy and served on a nuclear submarine, which largely influenced the stories of his novels, all of which are about submarines and submariners. Hunter Killer follows mostly the same story as Firing Point, although it slims down a much more complicated plot from the book, including completely cutting a side-plot about Russian hackers manipulating the US stock market during Durov's coup.
While Hunter Killer has elements of accuracy in its depiction of Naval operations and submarines, it equally stretches reality, particularly in the speed and maneuverability of the submarine, such as a moment where Captain Glass outmaneuvers and outruns an incoming torpedo. Additionally, the capabilities of much of the technology employed, military or otherwise, is often exaggerated or misrepresented in a way that borders on science fiction. Real-life submarines move much slower and combat isn't nearly as fast-paced, which wouldn't translate well to a thriller like Hunter Killer, so the movie takes a few liberties with its depiction of submarine operations.
Why Adropov Helped Glass
How did he know Glass could be trusted?
After Glass realized there were still men inside the sunken Russian sub, he sent a crew to get them out, and one of the survivors was the ship's captain, Andropov. As Glass tried to navigate the USS Arkansas closer to the Russian base at Polyarny, he encountered an impenetrable field of acoustic mines and requested the help of Andropov despite the objections of some of the crew, including the XO. Andropov was initially reluctant, but after Glass showed him the images showing the Konek was sabotaged, and told him risked the lives of his crew to save him, Andropov knew he could trust Glass.
Instead of navigating through the acoustic minefield, Andropov guided Glass and the USS Arkansas into what appeared to be a cave with a dead end. Glass trusted Andropov and ordered the Arkansas crew to follow his guidance and the cave opened up and the Arkansas emerged into Russian waters. While many of the higher-ranking officers on both sides went to naval academies, Glass took pride in the fact that he came up through the ranks doing grunt work on submarines, which helped him earn the respect and trust of Andropov since the two men were cut from the same cloth.