Review: 'Black Sea' starring Jude Law and Scoot McNairy

They say in space no one can hear you scream, but the same can be said of the inky ocean depths. The best submarine movies tap into the visceral tension and paranoia of being trapped in a metal tube hundreds of feet underwater, but despite a number of classics such as Das Boot, Crimson Tide, and Run Silent Run Deep the genre is pretty much a dying breed drowning in homage. While Kevin MacDonald's Black Sea doesn't go far enough in trying to break the mold, it's a lean, mean old school sub thriller that could bring these movies back to the surface.

MacDonald has had a rough go of it since the acclaim he earned with The Last King of Scotland, and much like it Black Sea explores social ills under cover of a genre flick. Jude Law, who seems to have fully embraced the aging ruffian look (remember when he used to be a pretty boy?), takes on the role of Robinson, a submariner who just got laid off by his company and given a rather pathetic settlement. Drowning his sorrows in a British pub with other laid-off losers, each looking at a pathetic life of embarrassing fast food jobs, Robinson decides it's time to fight back. Fight back against what? The crippling effect of crony capitalism on the working class, that's what. Why should these fat cats get richer while he and others like him get kicked in the teeth? What were all those years of work, blood, and sweat really worth? There's a confrontational spirit to Dennis Kelly's screenplay that is immediately engaging, and Law seems to tap into that energy early on despite a wobbly Scottish accent.

Hearing from a friend about the possible discovery of a sunken Nazi sub full of gold in the Black Sea, Robinson decides it's time for the big payoff. With funding from a mysterious American backer, he buys a crusty old Russian sub and hires an even crustier crew of mates. Half the team is made up of angry old Russians, necessary to pilot the sub, while most of the others are comprised of volatile Brits and Aussies. There's Robinson's best friend Blackie (Konstantin Khabenskiy); Irish Navy pal, Reynolds (the great Michael Smiley); a handful of angry Russians with invaluable technical skills; and to give the film a touch of heart there's Tobin (Bobby Schofield), an 18-year-old rookie who is about to become a father. Between the Russians and the Brits the ethnic tensions are already at a fever pitch, and the spark to set them off is the psychotic Australian diver, Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn), who always seems to be on edge. There's also a shifty money guy (Scoot McNairy) sent to safeguard the investment.

The ship goes off without a hitch, but from there it's an all-too-quick descent into madness. Within minutes problems arise when Robinson explains that each crewmember is to receive an equal share of the loot, which drives Fraser dangerously over the edge. The simmering tensions are never given enough time to properly reach a boiling point, and most of the men are sketched out in the briefest of strokes. Even for Robinson, all we really know about him is learned from occasional flashbacks to a happy past (Jodie Whittaker plays his wife in these scenes but never utters a word), but that's it. The rest of the crew fare even worse and it's hard to gauge their personalities when allegiances begin shifting.

But there's also something pleasing in watching a bunch of roughnecks play out their personal vendettas in such a confined space. The Russians are superstitious (they think Tobin is a virgin, which is bad luck apparently) and stick to themselves, which drives Fraser even crazier until something terrible happens. Everything stems from the paranoia found in men on the verge of untold wealth; if all shares are equal then the shares get better when people die. The level of obsession driving these men, and the tensions that arise, don't stray far from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, only presented in a more workmanlike fashion. That extends to MacDonald's functional direction which keeps the pace moving and the anxiety building, although the visual effects are less than impressive. A brief walk across the sea floor is poorly lit and confusingly shot, but choreographing action has never been strength for MacDonald. At two hours in length audiences may start to feel enclosed in by the rusty metal surroundings in Black Sea and wish it would stop and come up for air. MacDonald has assembled a great collection of veteran character actors and watching them muscle in on one another is what the film does best, although it's Mendelsohn's mercurial performance that stands out from the rest. When it comes to playing the resident hot-head few can do it better.

While Black Sea makes for a solid popcorn thriller about tough men driven by greed, that it explores larger societal issues is a powerful torpedo in its arsenal.

 Rating: 3.5 out of 5