Black Sea (2014)

“I’ve been working on submarines for nearly thirty years. 

I lost my family to this job”

An interesting trailer caught my attention a few weeks ago for ‘Black Sea’ and I was curious to go and check it out. Was I curious about Jude Law’s strange Scottish accent? Quite possibly…

After losing his job, Captain Robinson puts together a submarine crew to search the depths of the Black Sea for a submarine rumoured to be filled with lost Nazi gold.

What I really enjoyed about ‘Black Sea’ was it’s straight to the point attitude. It knew exactly what it was and got to the point without hesitation. We are given the vital information that we need to proceed and are quickly thrown into a dark, rusty and claustrophobic submarine with an intimidating crew.

Claustrophobic is the best word to describe ‘Black Sea’. As soon as you enter the submarine it’s as tight as you can get. You really get an authentic sense of what the crew are experiencing in the tight living and working conditions. As tensions flare between the British and Russian crew members, the submarine seems to get smaller and smaller with each passing minute. It’ll have you gasping for air, much like the men on board.

Despite his horrendous Scottish accent, Jude Law gives a strong performance as the gritty Captain Robinson. There wasn’t one scene when I didn’t believe that he’d been working on submarines all of his life, which is a tough thing to pull off as an actor. If you can get past his quite bizarre accent and forget about it, you’ll probably be impressed with his hard nut attitude in the film. He’s actually quite intimidating at times. 

I definitely think that Jude Law is an under-rated actor. Even though he’s done his fair share of "middle of the road” films, I am constantly impressed by his wide range as an actor in films such as 'Cold Mountain', 'Road to Perdition’, ‘Enemy at the gates’ and ‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’. He would never instantly be at the top of my list as a strong character actor but I feel like he should be with his wide repertoire of performances.

Although there are a few wobbly performances from the rest of the cast, it's nothing unforgivable. Each member of the submarine crew has a definite character and no one is lost in the mix which is nice to see with such a large supporting cast. Each member’s job on the submarine becomes important and interesting which really raises the stakes. The tension Kevin MacDonald manages to pull off in such a small space is impressive. You can feel the atmosphere shift with each new challenge the crew face on the dangerous venture to the bottom of the Black Sea. There’s a clearly defined danger in everything they do which makes for a very interesting watch.

Writer Dennis Kelly deals with a lot of challenging themes such as class, greed, racism and paranoia. They are explored through the men on the submarine and how they interact throughout the voyage. Kevin MacDonald directs the film beautifully and it is really interesting to see such big ideas being dealt with in an interesting way. The claustrophobic setting with the large cast really enhances the themes and brings them to light. I always enjoy a film that makes me question my own morality and calls forth my judgement and opinions on the situations being presented.

I thought I was going to be able to predict where the film was going to go from the trailer but I was pleasantly surprised when it took a slightly different turn. There are a handful of elements that change the course of the plot and provide a few decent twists and turns that’ll keep you entertained.

Overall, the film is an entertaining thriller that’s extremely tense and will keep you guessing, which is what any good thriller should be able to do. It’s a welcome change to the run of the mill Hollywood blockbuster and will keep you on the edge of your seat till the end.

Although Jude, if you’re reading this, nothing personal mate but I really hope that’s the first and last time I hear you doing a Scottish accent. It’s up there with Mel Gibson’s poor attempt in ‘Braveheart’ but let’s not go there today...