Movie Review: Black Sea

Movie Review: Black Sea

A wigless Jude Law transitions into the “hard-man” phase of his career with submarine thriller Black Sea.

Following 2013’s Dom Hemingway, in which he played a cockney London bruiser, Law completes with Black Sea his transformation into one of the UK’s most imposing screen presences. This, we were not expecting. What next? Ray Winstone, now out of a job, auditioning for Alfie 2?

Having shed his pretty-boy good looks, Law is convincing as the rough-as-guts skipper in Kevin Macdonald’s underwater drama.

He plays Robinson, a sub captain recently made redundant and seeking revenge against those who did the sacking.

Opportunity knocks when an old mate recruits him for an off-the-books mission to recover Nazi gold from a sunken Russian sub (an undelivered gift from Stalin to Hitler) before their former employers can find it.

Funded by a mysterious millionaire, Robinson puts together a team comprised of trustworthy colleagues (David Threlfall, Michael Smiley), and at least one untrustworthy colleague in expert diver Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn). Fraser is described early on as a psychopath, despite the reliably manic Mendo’s casting in the part doing the convincing all on its own.

The remaining crewmembers are made up of Russians and company man Daniels (Scoot McNairy, in Paul Reiser from Aliens mode), the latter stationed by the millionaire to keep an eye on the mission and the dodgy seadogs running it.

Of course, with millions in gold bars up for grabs, and the equal share amongst the thirteen men increasing with every on-board death, everyone goes mental with greed almost immediately. Do not come to Black Sea for a sensitive, slow-burn exploration of obsession. The crew’s devolution is so sudden you might crawl out of the cinema suffering from the bends.

Despite heading to sea with an impressive ensemble and an irresistible premise, director Kevin Macdonald can do little to elevate Dennis Kelly’s clunky, forced screenplay.

Law, as mentioned, is appealing as the gruff Robinson, McNairy is well versed in cinematic sniveling, and Australia’s Mendelsohn is surely the most reliable nut on celluloid today. Sadly, their characters are anchored to the sea floor by uncharacteristic and baffling emotional left-turns. Robinson’s hiring of an untested 18-year-old (Bobby Schofield) for the trip and his subsequent, father-like love for him rings particularly untrue, never mind the late-stage redemption of Mendo as the voice of reason. Mendo should never be the voice of reason. Mendo can only be Mendo.

What could have been a taut psychological thriller that explored male bravado and mankind’s innate, animalistic tendencies is instead just a disposable little drama that can’t quite hold the tension throughout its 112 minutes.

Black Sea submerges quickly and never quite rises to the surface.

2.5/5

In cinemas April 9. Rated M for coarse language, themes and violence.

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