Black Sea Review

Danger is in the deep, with a badass accent. A rusty submarine, a crew of English and Russians, what could possibly go wrong?

Black sea is a film that was released in the United Kingdom December of 2014, but released in the states in January of 2015. Jude Law plays a submarine captain who after being fired from his job is recruited to man a sub to find Nazi gold, then people die. I am a huge sucker for underwater exploration films, and boy did I really like this one.

When I saw the trailer to this movie, I wanted to see it. But, the trailer depicted the film as a cliche where the men start getting greedier and greedier, knocking each other off one by one while under the water. Well what actually happens in the film is that that was only a small bit and then they moved on, and man was I so relieved because it made the film so much more enjoyable.

On the submarine there is a subplot where the English characters are thinking the Russian's are getting too much money out of the deal and a 'who is trustful?' plot thread is dangled throughout the whole film. While I do understand why they did that, I think it could have been handled much better. There are times where it feels like these guys are hating on the Russians for no reason, and one or two times almost out of character. And that's where the few negative comments I have about the film comes from.

I applaud the movie for being able to tell a complete story, but it does have its kinks. The first ten minutes is a little slow and your mind wonders what is going on, and that doesn't  look like good acting, but once you get to the end of the film the beginning makes sense. There were, at times, moments that threw me out of the movie where I had to question if that character would really do that, and I think the reason it kept happening was the writers didn't know how to organically get to the next plot point so they had to tweak a motivation here and there to get to where they are going. This only happens a few times, but I think if the script had another month of editing it could have been almost a near perfect story.

Once you get past the tiny negatives about the film, it starts to really pick up and your willing to go along for the ride. For the most part you learn about every character on the crew of the submarine, and your invested in what they do. One of the characters is a Russian who listens outside the sub, his scenes are really tense. When they have to stop the sub to let another one pass them without noticing them, to navigating around underwater constructs, it really makes your heart beat faster and faster. And that is one of the best things about this film: the intensity. On another occasion three people had to leave the sub and swim out into the bottom of the Black Sea. Not only does it really capture the vastness of the deep, but your nerves will be on edge and your body will be resting on the edge of your seat as the characters cross over underwater trenches and try to survive. The underwater scenes are definitely the best part of this movie. My body was always rigid, eyes wide open as I watch these men risk their lives with fifty year old gear. You never have a break in the tension until they are finally back on board the submarine.

Is this a perfect movie? No, but for what it has I was thoroughly impressed. Sadly, the film is probably not in theaters anymore, but I expect dvds/Netflix option in the coming months (hopefully) and if you ever run into this movie give it a chance. You may like it.

B