'Black Sea': The submarine movie is full of clich茅s
In 鈥�Black Sea,鈥� we are asked to believe in Jude Law as a grizzled聽Scottish seafarer, and the surprise is that he鈥檚 not bad. Neither is the聽movie, although there鈥檚 isn鈥檛 a whit of novelty in this submarine flick聽about mercenaries searching beneath the waves for a huge lost gold聽shipment. What they really are looking for, it seems, is a treasure-trove of聽cliches. They found it.
But I鈥檓 something of a sucker for submarine-movie clich茅s; watching聽this movie, I was happy the very first time I heard a disconcerting聽ping. The movie鈥檚 conceit, supposedly fact-based, is that in 1941 the聽Russians sent via U-boat a vast amount of gold to Nazi聽Germany just before the two powers went splitsville. The U-boat was聽apparently sunk.聽
Law鈥檚 Robinson聽pulls together a team of scurvy sea dogs, a mix of Russians and English聽speakers, who almost immediately start fighting each other. A standout is聽Ben Mendelsohn鈥檚 Aussie nutcase, another in his聽burgeoning gallery of聽nutcases. Kevin Macdonald, better remembered for 鈥淭he Last King of聽Scotland,鈥� directed. Grade:聽B (Rated R for language throughout, some graphic images and violence.)
