Phantom (2013)
Thriller

You'll never see it coming At the height of the cold war, the world holds its breath when a Soviet submarine armed with nuclear missiles goes missing in the Pacific. On board the vessel, the battle-tested captain (Harris) and a rogue KGB agent (Duchovny) are waging a life-and-death game of cat and mouse. With enemy forces closing in and time running out, the captain fights to keep control with nuclear armageddon hanging in the balance. Starring four-time Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, Golden Globe winner David Duchovny (TV's The X-Files), and William Fichtner (Armageddon).

Storyline: 'Ed Harris' plays the captain of a Cold War Soviet missile submarine who has secretly been suffering from seizures that alter his perception of reality. Forced to leave his wife and daughter, he is rushed into a classified mission, where he is haunted by his past and challenged by a rogue KGB group (led by David Duchovny) bent on seizing control of the ship's nuclear missile. With the fate of humanity in his hands, Harris discovers he's been chosen for this mission in the belief he would fail. 'Phantom' is a suspense submarine thriller about extraordinary men facing impossible choices. Written by RCR Media Group

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Casey Broadwater on June 25, 2013 -- In 1968, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviet ballistic missile submarine K-129 mysteriously dropped out of radio communication and was found by the U.S. Navy six months later, northwest of Oahu, sunk 16,000 feet below the surface. The C.I.A. mounted a recovery effort, photographing and salvaging part of the vessel, but to this day, the findings remain classified. What caused the sub to sink? Where was it headed? What was its mission? The Russian explanation is that K-129 was accidentally flooded when it dove in "snorkel" mode, but historian Kenneth Sewell posits a theory that's far more exciting. (If less plausible.) His book, Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.óthe title says it allóis the basis for writer/director Todd Robinson's Phantom, 98 minutes of historical hypothesizing wrapped in the trappings of the submarine movie sub-genre. The claustrophobia. The desperate dive to "crush depth." The onboard power struggles. Phantom is no Das Boot or The Hunt for Red October, though. It's not even K-19: The Widowmaker material. The low-budget film has a compelling premise, and it looks the partóit was shot almost entirely on an actual decommissioned Soviet submarineóbut unfortunately, its script is waterlogged and bloated.

But let's start with what you'll notice first. This is one of those movies, like Valkyrie, where the actorsóregardless of the nationality or background of their charactersóspeak with their own normal voices. Thus, you get a sub full of salty, Cold War-era Russian seamen who weirdly talk like Cold War-era Americans, their immediate political rivals. It's initially disorienting, sure, but it's just something you have to get past. Ed Harris, with his New Jersey accent, plays Captain Demi, the drunk, disappointing middle-aged son of the man who "wrote the book on submarine warfare." Demi's career has been marred by a tragic incident during his very first command, and though this made it clear he'd never fill his father's boots, the Soviet Navyónot wanting to sully the family name by firing himóhas given him a series of middling posts over the years. In a bit of poetic justice, his final assignment before retirement is aboard K-129, the same sub he was captaining when a poor decision led to the death of 36 sailors. His glitchy, quick- cut flashback nightmares of this fiery accidentóa burnt hand pounding a window! a snarling dog! religious iconography!óare more horror movie- worthy than the stuff of your usual submarine thriller, going overboard in the attempt to portray a man haunted by his past. If that weren't enough, Demi also secretly suffers from epilepsy, a fact that could be used against him if revealed. And you know it will be.

You also get the feeling that some of the stylistic excesses and personality quirks are, in part, meant to overcompensate for Phantom's lack of real intensity. The simple plot doesn't take much summing up. Setting off on a mission with unknown objectivesóhis orders are to be kept in a safe for the time beingóDemi quickly susses out that this will be an unusual voyage. He learns from his loyal second-in-command, Alex Kozlov (William Fichtner) that several of his normal crew members have been replaced by sailors with no known personnel records. Then there's the strange issue of KGB agent Bruni (David Duchovny)óan OSNAZ Special Forces commando and "true believer"ówho has reserved a spot onboard and cordoned off a section of the vessel that even Demi himself can't enter. Bruni is overseeing tests on a "Phantom" device that allows Soviet subs to mimic the sonar reflection patterns of any kind of commercial or military shipóa near-perfect cloaking deviceóbut obviously, his intentions aren't limited to R&D. He's got a real-world application in mind, and it could potentially start World War III.

This may read like a formula for underwater tension, but Phantom is too fastidious, too routine, obligatorily working its way through the submarine movie check-list. Yes, there's an armed mutiny. (Two, in fact.) Yes, they dive to potentially metal-crushing depths. Yes, there are torpedo shootouts and poison gas leaks and lots of jargon about fluid dynamics and sonar capabilities. But there's no sense of dramatic urgency here, no intensity, even when the movie is at its most frantic. Part of the problem is that the actors are saddled with a script that's oddly stagy, with lines that often just don't flow well. Try to imagine David Duchovny passionately arguing this in the heat of battle: "We will step aside as our enemies destroy each other. We will emerge on the right side of history." You can't say that without sounding robotic. Robinson's writing style is a bit too thematically obvious, and not quite attuned to the way people actually speak. It's a shame, because Phantom has a great ensemble of actors, who do what they can but ultimately can't smooth out the stilted material. Ed Harris has the grizzled, hollow-eyed emptiness you'd expect of an alcoholic submarine captain whose demons won't leave him be. Duchovny is buyable as a strict ideologue. And William Fichtnerósoon to appear as Shredder in Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles, believe it or notómakes the most out of a rather thankless role as the ship's executive officer. As talented as they are, one can't help but feel that Phantom's story would be better and more authentically told by a Russian director with a Russian cast.

It's not one of the great submarine films (Das Boot, Hunt for Red October), or even one of the merely good ones (U-571), but Phantom is at least watchable if you're starved for more underwater war movie action. While director Todd Robinson fails to make the most of it, the historical conspiracy theorizing behind the film's story is genuinely interesting, and if true, it would make the Cuban Missile Crisis look like a friendly diplomatic get-together in comparison. Ultimately, I'd classify Phantom as a "bored on a Sunday afternoon" movieóit's nothing special, but it's a semi-entertaining way to pass timeóand while 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray release is watertight, a Netflix or iTunes rental is probably the way to go with this one.

[CSW] -3.1- This is an interesting historically-based low-budget Cold War movie. In 1968, a real-life Russian nuclear missile submarine did sink near Hawaii under still mysterious circumstances. The movie speculates on what may have happened. In a sense, this story is a metaphor for the whole Cold War. Sane world leaders with stockpiles of nuclear weapons are unlikely to start a war that would likely destroy the entire world, but what happens if low-level rogues on one side or the other try to take action on their own? The movie looks great because it was mostly filmed inside a real Russian submarine (now in a museum, but from the inside you can't tell). The script and acting are mixed, but passable. If you lived through the Cold War or have interest in that part of our history, this movie is worth watching. Even if you completely dismiss the implausible device as only a plot driver it is still worth seeing.
[V4.0-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.

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