Jude Law freaks out below the surface in intense 'Black Sea'
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Backed by a shady benefactor, to retrieve a cache of Nazi gold.
City Paper grade: B+
As much as casting perma-posh Jude Law as a hardscrabble Scotsman with salt water in his veins seems like an odd reach, it’s one of many aspects of Kevin Macdonald’s claustrophobic deep-water thriller that works. Built around aggressive clashes made doubly bilious by the rust-eaten walls of a World War II submarine, Black Sea is a conventional crime caper with unconventional ambitions. Law is Robinson, a captain for a private salvage outfit who’s laid off from his job with little explanation. Looking to get up on the corporate paper-pushers that have kept their boot on him for years, he agrees to head up a mission, backed by a shady benefactor, to retrieve a cache of Nazi gold that disappeared into the depths decades back. Though the members of his half-British, half-Russian crew are promised a hearty cut, the pressure starts making the boys feel restless, paranoid, greedy and downright homicidal — sentiments that aren’t beneficial to morale when you’re piloting a junker through hostile territory. Though it’s really not much more than a good old-fashioned dick-measuring contest, the shifting alliances and mind games keep the overall pace taut and time-conscious, and Law’s fiery shot-caller is a strong-armed point of reference. (His Scottish accent is not so strong.) Real-life Glaswegian Macdonald’s heart-stopping underwater sequences signal-boost his knack for innovative action, a talent he hasn’t shown off since 2011’s The Eagle.
