Down Periscope Sequel <VALIDATED • Full Review>
The Navy scrambles its best hunter-killer subs—all nuclear, all fast, all predictable. Volkov’s AI sub evades them effortlessly, using predictive algorithms and silent, magnetohydrodynamic drives.
Dodge is offered a real command: a new Virginia-class submarine. He declines. “I’ll take the Sandlance . She’s ugly, she leaks, and she’s ours.”
The Sandlance rams the Viper at “full speed” (12 knots). The Viper crashes into an underwater canyon. The AI, now damaged, begins reciting safety protocols. Volkov surrenders via periscope, holding a white t-shirt. Back at port, the Admiral is furious but cannot punish Dodge because the media loves the “underdog museum sub that saved the day.” Pascal tries to take credit, but a live microphone catches him saying, “I always knew Dodge was a loose cannon.” He’s reassigned to a weather station in Alaska.
They locate Volkov’s Viper near the wreck of the USS Oriskany in the Gulf of Mexico. The AI sub is faster, quieter, and deadlier. But it has one flaw: it follows logic, not chaos. down periscope sequel
DOWN PERISCOPE: THE LAST PATROL
Volkov, in a military prison, is offered a deal by a mysterious figure (maybe a callback to the original Admiral from the first film). “We have another wargame coming up. And we need someone unpredictable.” Volkov smiles. Cue up-tempo Russian folk music. This sequel honors the original’s tone—crude, clever, and full of heart—while updating it with AI themes, a modern villain, and the same crew chemistry that made the first film a cult hit.
Pascal, now an aide to a blustering four-star Admiral (played by Stephen Root), sees a PR disaster. In a moment of desperation (and to save his own career), Pascal suggests: “What about Dodge? He beat us before with a pile of junk. Let him fail on TV, and we blame him.” He declines
The Admiral, desperate, agrees. Dodge is dragged out of his Pentagon cubicle. The mission: Take an obsolete diesel-electric submarine, the USS Sandlance —a museum piece docked in Baltimore, filled with tourists and gift shops—retrofit it in 72 hours, and intercept Volkov.
Lake and Dodge share a quiet moment on the dock. She kisses his cheek. Her daughter rolls her eyes but smiles.
Fade to black.
Dodge’s conditions: He gets his old crew.
The Sandlance is being decommissioned for real this time. But as the crew walks off, Winslow pulls a hidden lever. The sub slowly sinks into the harbor—on purpose. Buckman plays taps on his harmonica. Nitro live-streams it.
