Black Sea (8/10)

Black Sea just kind of sneaked up on me this week. I didn't even bother checking out a trailer before going for it. Truth be told, I just wasn't expecting much from it and I based that on nothing because, obviously, I haven't seen any marketing about it.

I thought the first quarter of the movie setup the premise of the movie as well as can be and the director, Kevin Macdonald, did not waste any unnecessary scenes to do that. It was quick and painless.

And then straight into the submarine we go. That's where we want to be anyway. Again, Macdonald took just enough time to set up the scene and the crew, and the animosity between the British and the Russians.

What unfolded through the plots were all done very well. I was kept interested throughout and I was captivated by Jude Law's performance. I thought this movie was a very good choice for him among all the bigger blockbusters that we usually see him in. It's character driven and gives him a bit of range to stretch himself.

The rest of the cast had less chances to shine, other than maybe Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy. But everyone played their part well, and that's what Macdonald is really good at. He always brings out the authenticity when it comes to the different nationalities in a movie, so that audience can really get into the story.

But at the end, what the story really spoke to me was, and this would may contain SPOILERS so I would suggest to skip the next two paragraphs.

The crew and the submarine may have been able to survive had Law's leadership brought the crew to an alignment. Instead, he used money as the incentive, and then the morality was tested. Had everyone worked together as a unit, the first disaster would have been avoided and, later, they could have survived with just 9 crew members.

And whether you agree with Law's character or Mendelsohn and McNairy's, there's a debate here to be had. Did the gold bars really clouded Law's judgement (which I thought could have been delivered slightly clearer from Macdonald); or did fear gripped the other two too hard. Either way, in the end, greed always is human's downfall. I thought that message was a very good take away point from the movie.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, and even better when I didn't know what I was going in for. Good on Brunei to have brought it in.