Kevin MacDonald's BLACK SEA

Movie review by Dennis D. McDonald

I’m a sucker for submarine movies and books. BLACK SEA delivers. It may not be on the level of a Das Boot but as a tough as nails undersea thriller it’s competent, tense, and — dare I say it — grittily realistic (mostly).

Jude Law shines as the tough, no-nonsense head of a motley crew out to rescue a load of gold from a long-lost Nazi U-boat that now rests on the bottom of the ocean. Their craft is a rusty old Russiansubmarine. Somehow they get it moving and inexplicably locate the sunken Nazi sub. Along the way we are treated to the usual undersea calamities played out against a crew that has a hard time communicating and working together.

Lots of belief must be suspended during this movie but that’s OK with me. Law is terrific in the role. In fact, the whole crew shines as greed, dreams of gold, and mistrust work their evil ways. I especially liked the jury-rigged “active sonar” pinging they use at one point to figure out where the wreck is. This is a good meat-and-potatoes thriller.

Related reading:

• Todd Tucker’s COLLAPSE DEPTH
• Todd Robinson’s PHANTOM
• Andrew Williams’ THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
• Andrew Karam’s RIG SHIP FOR ULTRA QUIET
• Eugene Fluckey’s THUNDER BELOW
• Stephen Budiansky’s BLACKETT’S WAR: THE MEN WHO DEFEATED THE NAZI U-BOATS AND BROUGHT SCIENCE TO THE ART OF WARFARE
• Andrew Williams’ THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC
• James Cameron’s THE ABYSS

Review copyright (c) 2015 by Dennis D. McDonald