Review by Neeraja Raje.
A story of monstrous machines, despondent men and sinister plots, Black Sea follows the underwater escapade of former Royal Navy captain Robinson (Jude Law) and his group of eccentric nautical experts. The group risks everything to find a multi-million-dollar treasure lying in a German U-boat that sank just before the Second World War and now rests at the bottom of the deadly Black Sea. Will the heist end their lifelong woes, or will it prove to be their last underwater jaunt?
More on Screen Realm:
Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), Black Sea is based on an original script by television writer Dennis Kelly (Utopia). The film draws heavily from the likes of Das Boot (1981) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Shot inside a gigantic vintage 1967 Soviet hunter-killer submarine, this is a technical coup of sorts. Cinematographer Christopher Ross certainly deserves some credit for the gripping angles. If this film were to be described in one word, it would be ‘intense’.
Macdonald skilfully weaves exposition into the dialogue so that the audience is not left wondering about mechanisms or technical concepts. Black Sea may not be the best work in the underwater genre, but it manages to build tension consistently while remaining plausible for the most part. Although little time is spent on character development, you begin to understand the characters fairly early in the film.
Law portrays a vastly different persona from his unconventional turn in Dom Hemingway. His Aberdeen accent sounds convincing. Law plays the gruff, dejected seaman with ease and transforms into the rebellious, anti-capitalist skipper with equal finesse. As he starts losing his men to the sea, doubt, greed and envy take over. Peacemaking takes a back seat, and Robinson is forced to push everyone to their limits. His struggle to lead the journey to a successful conclusion is apparent in almost every scene.
Black Sea creates a “will they or won’t they?” situation that makes for some serious nail-biting. When you are almost certain that the crew will survive their ordeal after all, there is a twist, and then another. Intertwined with these moments of tension is a wonderfully subtle chemistry between Law and Karl Davies, who plays Liam. It is plausible that a man who longs for his estranged son would feel the need to protect an innocent young man.
It is a good thing that the filmmakers refrained from using a background score for much of the film. The sound of gushing waves and creaking engines is enough to give you a sense of the world beneath the surface.
Unfortunately, Black Sea has its share of flaws as well. Some characters seem like mere placeholders. You get the feeling that they were included simply to create hurdles at certain points in the story. Cases in point are the sociopathic Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn) and Daniels (Scoot McNairy). The revelation at the tail end of the story is slightly difficult to believe. Some may even feel cheated.
Despite some unfortunate flaws, Black Sea makes for an engaging watch. Replete with thrills, aggression and understated emotion, it manages to keep its audience engaged as viewers anticipate what comes next.
