Review of Black Sea (2009) by Jason R — 02 Feb 2015

A ridiculously tense pressure cooker of a thriller, the extremely well played Black Sea can be described as Die Hard on a Submarine or Das Steel-Toed Boot, but it ultimately boasts too much unique hard-charging depth of its own to be pigeon-holed. Its a hardscrabble action movie; its an atmospheric thriller; its a hard-hitting drama; its three-three-three films in one! To paraphrase an old hard-sell TV advertisement for a monster truck rally: Black Sea sells you the whole seat, but you only need the edge. For example, as the characters tempers begin to simmer and then explode, Black Sea dives and rises with heightening suspense as if there is a perpetually lit fuse burning under you the entire time. In a confined dark space that feels like a jagged-edge soup can, greed gets pitted against compassion in a bare-fisted battle between the two poles of human nature. This all, of course, ignites more feral emotion and conspiratorial plotting into a veritable chess game...albeit a game in a pressurized rusting casket. And THEN, there's a shocking twist.

In this R-rated thriller, a submarine captain (Law) takes a job with a shadowy backer and combustible crew to search the depths of the Black Sea for a Nazi U-Boat rumored to be loaded with gold.

Straddling these genres so well makes sense given that director Kevin Macdonald's CV already boasts exceptional flicks that likewise accomplish this juggling act (Last King of Scotland, State of Play). These films also showcase gangbuster performances, however. After giving tough guy action a go with middling results (Repo Men, Dom Hemingway), Jude Law proved his knockabout mettle with Sherlock Holmes. Here, however, he establishes himself apart from the jokey fisticuffs in that particular flick (plus, he and Robert Downey, Jr. are more of a one-two punch whereas he stands alone with Black Sea). Though his hands do plenty of talking, this actor shows a seismic shift from calm to rage with just his eyes. He leads an awesome cast working from a wonderfully layered script by relative newcomer Dennis Kelly.

Bottom line: Sea of Much Love.