Review of Black Sea (2009) by Amilcar A — 08 Feb 2015

It is usually good to put out a film product in a genre that we haven't seen for a while, and that is the case here. Black Sea is a submarine thriller. It is not a warfare piece. Our sub is an old rust bucket. The crew is a mixed English - Russian complement led by Jude Law.

The movie treads a lot of standard plot points such as the harassment of the greenhorn, and the destruction of principle lines of communication both electronic and human. So we know early on that there will be no easy cavalry rescues. And so the tension ratchets up and up and up.

I confess that I have a thing for down and out brit labor flicks like Brassed Off, and The Full Monty. This one is tonally quite different, and extremely well done. The score, in service to the action is perfection. The Russians are played by genuine Russian guys. I like that. They needed a translator on set, much like the storyline's crew requires a translating man in the middle.

This refreshing break from CG, is shot largely in camera. Sure the externals are miniatures, but they exist and are not just computer bits. There is some really good and doubtlessly laborious underwater camera work. They did some actual shooting on an old Russian submarine, yes a real rust bucket. The location feels completely real. We even get a breakout performance in Grigoriy Dobrygin as navigator Morozov, who goes from literally silent to the truest emotional expression of the film.

This is a really good film.