Courtesy of Focus Features
Rated: R
Starring: Jude Law and Tobias Menzies
Directed by Kevin Macdonald
Black Sea is an action thriller set largely aboard a submarine. Jude Law portrays Robinson, a former British naval officer. After his military career ended, he had spent more than a decade working as a captain for an Aberdeen-based ocean salvage firm.
Now, he finds himself unceremoniously discharged from the company. He discovers that the same fate has befallen quite a few of his colleagues. As the laid-off men congregate at a local pub, they bemoan their callous treatment over pints of beer. After working in the salvage business, the men have been relegated to the scrapheap of life. What will they do now that they have no jobs?
The disconsolate Robinson is approached by a twitchy American, Daniels (Scoot McNairy). He is the emissary of a wealthy investor, Lewis (Tobias Menzies), with a proposition for the out-of-work seaman. Robinson is blindfolded and driven to Lewis’ palatial estate. There, Robinson meets Lewis and hears his decidedly unconventional business proposition. Lewis recounts the 1939 Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact. During this temporary truce, the Germans surreptitiously loaded gold ingots onto a U-boat moored in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. En route back to Germany, the U-boat sunk. In the chaos surrounding the final throes of the war, the secret shipment was forgotten. Lewis posits that a fortune in gold ingots is still there, lurking inside of a U-boat, which is submerged in Russian waters.
Can Robinson navigate a submarine through the Black Sea and elude detection by the Russian fleet? What’s his motivation to undertake this perilous mission? How about a $2 million share of the submerged lucre?
Law is excellent in the lead role. He captures a flinty resolve and a determination to do the right thing. His paternalistic attitude towards young neophyte crewmembers provides an extra dimension to his character. Law does a credible job of mastering a Scottish brogue.
The script by first-time screenwriter, Dennis Kelly, embodies an engaging premise and some nifty plot convolutions. It contains a keen class consciousness, pitting the working-class stiffs against corporate oligarchs. Director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) does an excellent job of progressively ratcheting up the tension. He milks the escalating strain between the British and Russian crewmates for maximum effect.
A submarine setting is rife with dramatic possibilities. Fathoms beneath the surface, the sense of claustrophobia is ubiquitous and inescapable. Black Sea adds the gold lust theme straight out of John Ford’s classic, The Treasure of Sierra Madre to the mix.
While Black Sea falls short of masterpiece status, it is an engaging film, distinguished by fine acting and a pervasive sense of atmosphere.
