That's on me. I changed it to show more details available in the shadows and such. The source file is way more "washed out", one of them "HDR"-files.
It's primarily because of the time in which the film is set. You have to remember, this is still in a timeframe where the Cold War was on. It was shortly after the film's release (in August) that the Berlin Wall fell (which was in November 1989). Hell, it basically about how the Cold War is pointless (especially with the Special Edition, where Bud's message basically points that out). Coffey, the captain of the sub, Coffey's Superiors... They're all a part of the Cold War, and they see everything as Russian (as pointed out by Lindsay). There have been times where Russians have been scared off by the actions of Americans just showing up, just as much as there have been times where Americans have been scared off by Russians showing up during this period of time, mostly because neither side wanted to escalate the conflict (this is reflected in many other films from that timeframe. In fact, Steve De Jarnatt, when it came to his film Miracle Mile (1989), has said he could have made the film sooner in the 1970s or early 1980s, but every studio that was approached with the script didn't want to have the Americans to be the ones to fire the first shot, which was how it was written in the story. More often than not, in most of the stories, it's often the other side escalating or firing the first start, not the home side). Was the captain reckless? Yes. That's because he was being vigilant, and it's that vigilance that got him and the others on board killed. If there had been no Cold War going on, then he and them would still be alive (as well as Coffey and a large bulk of the Rig's crew would also be alive). It's not the first time that Cameron made a war analogy in his films (I mean, just look at Aliens, which he has flat out stated was inspired by the Vietnam War on more than one occasion).
To be fair, the NTI cutting off the power is what lead to the crash. So, it wasn't solely on the Captain and his crew. And, from what I recall, it doesn't come off as the sub was going fast, and it was that the sub couldn't turn in time due to the power cutting off and then coming back on (with the only thing going fast was the NTI).I call going through an unmapped trench at full speed reckless and idiotic, not vigilant.
That's not my point. The sub was an SSBN, a nuclear ballistic missile submarine and if the captain of one encountered what he thought was a Russian submarine he shouldn't and wouldn't go chasing after it, that's not his job. What he would/should do is do his best to not be detected by it, not go chasing after it. Chasing after Russian subs is not what any good boomer captain would do, Cold War or not. If he detected what he thought was a Russian sub near his position what he would and should do is make himself as quiet as possible and make sure that he isn't detected, not go chasing after it.
Mapping underwater trenches is not the job for a boomer, maybe an attack sub, but most likely it would be done by surface ships trailing a scanning sonar. The job of a boomer is to remain hidden and hope that they never receive launch orders.
Well, considering they were interacting with an NTI and had no idea what it was, the reason they were so close to the trench may have been to avoid being spotted by it if were a danger to the vessel. Keep in mind, they had no clue about who the NTI belonged to or if it posed a threat to their sub. But it doesn't change the fact they weren't going really fast and the cutting off and on the power distracted those on the sub and not realize they were about to hit a wall of rock. So, they were probably going less than the average speed a sub like that was capable of (the mentioning to "back off" may have been to move away from the wall because of how close they were, because it was mentioned that "it's getting too tight in here"). The NTI killing the power was just as much responsible, and unintentionally, for the sub's demise as was the captain and crew were (due to adjusting their position that put them unintentionally on course to impact the wall). They weren't chasing it, they were trying to avoid and observe it. Or at least that's how it came off to me every time I've watched it. I guess the only way to really confirm if the sub was chasing it is with the Orson Scott Card novel adaptation (which unfortunately, I do not have a copy of).
As someone who had a moment where I was going 20 miles per hour in a 40 mile an hour zone and hit a patch of water, resulting in my car sliding off the road, I can say your example doesn't justify your stance. If I had gone any faster, I more than likely would have spun out on the road before flipping over. The point is you can crash regardless of if you're going slightly below or even at the speed in which your vehicle is capable of, just as much as you can going flat out. Hell, look at how much damage the Rig suffers later on in the film when it got pulled by crane after it got detached from the Benthic Explorer. It wasn't even going as fast as the sub (certainly not fast enough to cause major human bodily harm from acceleration/deceleration injuries), and it suffered a lot of damage as a result of bumping front first off a what looked to be a small drop-off (seriously, how tall was the drop-off in 1:1 scale to cause the Rig to go front first like that?).
To me, nothing the sub's skipper did suggested to me that he was trying to hide from the NTI. I'll have to rewatch the beginning sequence again but I seem to recall him going too fast in the trench and his XO warning him about pushing things. Besides, hiding in a trench does nothing for subs, they don't operate using visuals, submerged they rely almost exclusively on sonar so "hiding" in a trench doesn't do anything unless there's a thermocline (a distinct change in the water temperature) or a change in salinity, both of which can hide a sub by either masking or deflecting any sounds they emit.
Well, he orders the sub to go down five degrees, which also made it be closer to the wall. But, it seems more like he was being cautious while trying to keep track of the NTI to me every time I've watched it. Also, another thing that's odd, we're told this is a trench, right? You've described it like a canyon. Yet, we only see one side of this canyon with no clear indication of how far away the other side is (seriously, we've only seen one side of this trench and apparently, the other side seems far away that not only do we not see it from where the Rig rests, we also do not see it from where the NTI's "city" is either). So, it seems odd that the sub is hugging one wall and it be described as "getting to tight in here" by going five degrees down when it's noticeable that the other side of the canyon wall is far away to the point where the sub wouldn't be in a space considered "too tight" (unless the XO was talking about the distance between the sub and the wall being "too tight", or too close). Maybe I'm misinterpreting that.
That's the thing, he's a boomer driver, he shouldn't be trying to keep track of it, he should have been trying to lose it. With passive sonar, which subs probably at least 90% of the time, you can't tell if someone is tracking you or not unless you've made some fairly loud noise then you can be fairly certain that you were heard. So if there's something out there that he suspects is a Russian submarine, or at least something unidentified, he should have been going in the opposite direction to try to lose it since his job is to keep his sub hidden and undetected in case WWIII ever broke out and he receives launch orders. Ohios, the class this sub likely was, are supposed to be very quiet, so he should have backed off and become a hole in the water. Chasing after suspected Russian submarines is the job of attack boats like the LA class and the skipper of a Russian boomer would also be doing their best to remain undetected and not chase after suspected American subs.
But the rub is this: He wasn't chasing the NTI, or at least that's not how it seems when I watch the scene. It seems more like the NTI is following the sub and circles it to me (think of like the scene with Lindsay when she's outside near the oxygen tanks, the small comes up, seeming like it's curious as to what she's doing). When I say he was trying to keep track of it, let me put it in a context that you may be able to get: if you're in the woods and hear a bear roar, and you're trying to avoid the bear, wouldn't you been looking around to try to see where it might be in order to avoid it? To me, that's what it kinda felt like. Like he was trying to keep track of where this unidentified thing that is in proximity to the sub is while trying to avoid coming in contact it because he doesn't know if it's a threat. And, again, I could very well be misinterpreting things
As I've stated:
Novelizations can help flesh out a film but at the same time, they're most often based an on early draft of the film so there will be differences. This is because novelizations tended to be set to release at the same time as the film so there's no way that the novelization can be released at the same time based on the final shooting script and final cut of the film.
Well, come next Monday, I'll see what the novelization says about this scene when it arrives in my mailbox. Maybe it has an explanation, or at least give us an idea, as to what the skipper was thinking, how fast the actual sub was travelling and any other actions that lead to the sub's demise.
