Review of Submarine (2011) by Sandra R — 25 Apr 2013

Submarine didn't seem to make me laugh as much as it did many other viewers primarily due to the fact that I found myself unable to see it as a comedy at all and rather saw it as a solid drama with a certain level of charm, but it was indeed a good film.

I found Submarine to be a fascinating fast run through of a characters mind but with little connection to the meaning of a Submarine of humourous moments.

And sometimes, it felt like too much had been crammed into Submarine for its own good and so it became an over-the-top character driven story which deviated back and fourth between two key plots in a mesmerising form and so it left me somewhat paralysed by everything.

Nevertheless though, Submarine was a great film and a prime example of Richard Ayoade's skills as an uprising director.

The cinematography and musical score in Submarine, as well as the film editing is all sublime.

The script in Submarine is fascinating because the main character Oliver constantly expresses thoughts that many of us have thought in our teenage years that respond to themes of loneliness and uncertainty, and so Richard Ayoade's handling of a script based on Joe Dunthorne's novel of the same name is given proper treatment and is handled sufficiently well, by not only Ayoade but strongly by narrator and lead actor Craig Roberts.

Craig Roberts gives a breakthrough young performance in Submarine, capturing the charm of a young British boy as well as perfectly embracing the innocence of his character Oliver Tate and using skill in his voice to reach and appeal to the audience in a similar manner to Malcolm McDowell's unforgettable performance as Alex DeLarge in the 1971 science fiction classic A Clockwork Orange, but in a significantly more friendly manner. Yet his performance has much of the same character complexity which is a fresh thing to witness.

And the backup performances from Yasmin Paige, Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor all provided a certain level if uncertainty to the future of Oliver and life in general, so they gave the key themes of Submarine and characterisation of Oliver much support.

So Submarine as an interesting and charming little story which shows the promise of many new participant of their future in the film industry, even though its a little excessive and not as funny as many people may claim it to be.