20140104: Drama Review--Phantom

Phantom

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 98 minutes, thriller, mystery.
2. IMDB: 5.8/10.0 from 7,854 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 18 million USD; aspect 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 25% on the meter; 36% liked it from 4,745 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.7/5.0 from 191,338 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Todd Robinson.
6. Starring: David Duchovny as Bruni, Ed Harris as Demi, Lance Henriksen as Markov, Sean Patrick Flanery as Tyrtov, Jonathan Schaech as Greg Pavlov, William Fichtner as Alex, Jason Beghe as Dr. Semak, Jason Gray-Stanford as Sasha.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Demi is about to retire, but the powers that be, through Markov, inform him that he has one more mission.  The date is late spring, 1968.  Demi will captain the B67 instead of his usual ship.  His crew have had only three weeks shore leave instead of the expected three months.  Several of them are on leave far away; he will have several unknown faces.  The B67 will be decommissioned after this last cruise; Demi gets the call since the B67 was also his first assignment.


2. Bruni and Pavlov come on at the last minute.  Alex (first officer) notes that the old tub can barely accommodate the 86 men required to sail her.  Bruni says it's good to see him again; Demi seems to only barely remember this.  Pavlov and the captain go though the ceremony of  the captain receiving the 'real' orders from the KGB.


3. From the first dive, there are indications that he captain is having some problems: a phantom sound on the forward outside hull; the sight and sound of an angry dog.  Where did these come from?


4. The KGB representatives inform the captain that he is about to step into part of the ship where he is not allowed.  Bruni suggests that the captain bothers to read his orders.  Alex has a chat with the captain.  Some of the newcomers are Oznas (radical KGB commandos); some of the new crew are dead; many of the new crew have no history, just name and rank.


5. The KGB officers countermand practically everything the captain proposes.  They force a collision with a civilian tanker.  This will ensure that everyone in the area will know the submarine's location.  Cleaver.  Their orders were to observe the massing of American naval forces.


6. Very unfortunately, the captain suffered a brain injury a few years back with triggered grand mal epileptic seizures about once or twice a year.  It would seem that some of the newcomers on board know of this.


7. When an American attack sub passes by, the old crew manage to evade.  However, Bruni overrides this, has the B67 surface and turn on their diesel engines.  The KGB officers turn on the 'Phantom' which effectively cloaks their position.


8. When the captain arranges to get confirmation of orders from Fleet HQ, Bruni stages a mutiny.  After some discussion with the old crew, Demi and company figure that Bruni and the Oznas are aiming to use the Phantom to start a war.


9. Will the mutineers succeed?  Will the captain and his allies neutralize them in order to save the world from a nuclear war?




3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Regular Russian submarine crew deal with KGB mutineers in 1968.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Reasonably good, but some of the images suffer from low light.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Acting: 10/10 Fine jobs by William Fichtner, Ed Harris, Jonathan Schaech, Jason Beghe.  The rest were at worst competent.


4. Screenplay: 9/10 A bit slow going at first, but picks up to a fine conclusion.