Review of Phantom (2013) by Captain_Chaos — 26 Sep 2018

Phantom is a fictional account of the true disappearance of the Soviet electric/diesel submarine K-129 in 1968. Officially deemed a mechanical failure, the ship's record remains sealed to the public to this day. However, there are reasonable refutations to this explanation- one theory holds that the ship might have been, intentionally or unintentionally, scuttled by its crew. Phantom presents its own take on that idea, by depicting a mutiny with potentially apocalyptic consequences by Soviet political fanatics against true patriots in their navy. It is as intense as any submarine film I have watched, and the stakes just as high. In retrospect it reminds me vaguely of Crimson Tide, though the events depicted are quite different.

The visuals of the movie are excellent. The oppressive lighting, sound and music design and even the look of combined weariness and determination on Ed Harris' face- its a good movie for watching, to be sure.

Much like the film Enemy at the Gates, amusingly also starring Ed Harris, Phantom depicts a largely Russian set of characters, but played mostly by Western, in this case mostly American, actors with no attempt to affect Russian accents. Arguably this works in its favor: the intense delivery of the dialogue might have suffered if forced through a false accent.

Popular response to this film seems to be fairly negative, but I can't imagine why. It's a good movie in its own right, even if some kind of documentary about what happened to the real ship might have been more interesting.