What happens when Wolfgang Petersen’s submarine masterpiece Das Boot meets Ocean’s Eleven? You get Kevin Macdonald’s newest film, Black Sea, although to be honest that’s just face value.
Black Sea finds recently unemployed under-sea salvage captain, Robinson (Jude Law) bitter and without income. Opportunity to bounce back surfaces when a friend/colleague informs him of a job from a wealthy backer to find a lost Nazi submarine loaded with gold. Pulling a team of Russians, Brits, an Australian and an American businessman together, Robinson seeks the lost bounty, with both expected and unexpected problems arising.
Macdonald is an excellent filmmaker, crafting a claustrophobic thriller full of tension. Plot may jump ahead jarringly but Macdonald consolidates effectively, creating amazingly tense moments in the oppressive submarine and the dark unknown depths of the Black Sea. The set design, cinematography and sound design are impeccable, oozing gritty atmosphere.
Macdonald has amassed an excellent male ensemble cast, each member adding their own flavour, from Ben Mendelsohn’s wired Aussie, Scoot McNairy’s jittery businessman to the sardonic Michael Smiley. However, it wouldn’t work without its captain. Law gives a powerful, raw, scotch-tongued performance, commanding the screen with authority and a flawed character that doesn’t work properly on dry land. It’s the best he’s been in years.
Black Sea is thrilling, memorable cinema that also conveys potent contemporary and universal messages.
