The guy whose name I keep forgetting and who – together with that other British guy with the glasses whose name I keep forgetting – is the most famous actor whose names I keep forgetting. Him, anyway, he is a guy just sacked from his submarine or ship company, and decides to put a crew together to get his hands on a sunk boat that got drowned in the Black Sea with plenty of Nazi gold on board. All have forgotten about it, but going there still means diving under the Russian Black Sea fleet, which apparently is something not considered a good idea.
This is played straightforwardly, the initial setup, introduction of characters, and then all are locked up in a submarine that does not look as if you would like to spend an hour in, let alone a couple of days or weeks. Things go wrong, tensions flare, things go more wrong. This is good, low-key entertainment, benefiting from the claustrophobic atmosphere that comes automatically with submarines. All the characters are well played, with a pleasant realism to the setting and the characters populating them. Not a spectacle, even though it gets a bit cliché-spectacular towards the end, but still an interesting and pleasant addition to the genre. Kevin McDonald has made better films (“Last King of Scotland”, most notably), but many directors have made worse.
Jude Law, by the way… and Colin Firth being the other one. Now I will remember! For a day.
thomas4cinema 