BLACK SEA
DIRECTOR: Kevin Macdonald
CAST: Jude Law, Tobias Menzies, David Threlfall, Bobby Schofeld, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy
CLASSIFICATION: 13 LV
RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes
RATING: ***
The vessel at the heart of Black Sea – a submarine thriller set on a rusting bucket of antique metcomic film, at first glance, seems similarly worn out: a crew of misfits undertakes a mission to find “F***ing useless sub if it don’t,” replies his more seasoned shipmate.
The premise of the darkly comic film, at first glance, seems similarly worn out: a crew of misfits undertakes a mission to find a cache of gold bullion, mired at the bottom of the Black Sea in a sunken Nazi U-boat. Yet the film, directed by Kevin Macdonald, is surprisingly seaworthy. It floats – or, more aptly, sinks to unexpected depths – thanks to the assured captaining of Law (pictured), in the role of the sub’s damaged, Ahab-esque skipper, Robinson. His injuries are psychological, though.
So what if Black Sea isn’t Moby Dick? With aspirations less epic than those of a water-logged The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – another morality tale, glimpsed through the lens of obsession – Black Sea is a throwback to the kind of movie-making that’s increasingly out of fashion. The redemption that it offers is not just hard-fought, but wholly earned.
The story begins with something commonplace: a layoff. After 11 years commanding submarines for an undersea salvage company, Robinson is given his walking papers and an insulting severance cheque. But when he learns of the afore-mentioned treasure, he’s determined to get it.
Sick of doing someone else’s dirty work, he buys a second-hand Russian submarine, financed by a mysterious banker named Lewis (Tobias Menzies), and assembles a Dirty Dozen-style crew of equally down-on-their-luck British and Russian salts. Part of the film’s subtext is economic inequality; it’s almost a propaganda piece by the Occupy movement.
One old hand, Peters, is a geezer with emphysema (Threlfall); another, Tobin, is a teenager (Schofield). Some have special talents – cooking, engine maintenance, navigation, etc. The sub’s master diver, Fraser (Mendelsohn), is described as a “psychopath”.
As it turns out, that’s no joke. Stirred by the tight quarters, the language barrier and his resentment at the fact that each crewman is getting an equal share of the loot – said to be at least $40 million – Fraser starts to flip out. In a submarine, that’s a recipe for disaster. On screen, it’s a formula that makes for a rip-snorting yarn, albeit one that never entirely shakes off the cliches.
Still, Law convinces, in a role that calls for his Robinson to be the fragmentary crew’s glue, as well as its despot. He exudes an intensity that is, like used motor oil, hot, gritty and efficient. Not only is that energy a welcome change from the actor’s default tool – his anodyne, if slightly lupine charm – but it comes in handy when Robinson has to lubricate an impasse arising from an incident of violence recipitated by Fraser’s volatility.
He gets the job done, even if in so doing he becomes less like the working stiffs he’s commanding, and more like the boss man. Lewis’s on-board flunky (McNairy) mainly serves to remind the rest of the crew that they will never be, no matter how much gold they find, one-percenters.
The film’s patina of richly textured grime lends it a gloomy, claustrophobic beauty that serves its misanthropic message: greed isn’t good, and most people aren’t either. – The Washington Post
If you liked Cake or A Most Violent Year, you will like this.