Submerged (2005)

Chris Kody, the world's best mercenary, is freed from prison -- but there's a catch. Kody must use his lethal weapons and fighting skills to stop a group of terrorists who have taken over a nuclear sub.

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writers:

Anthony Hickox, Paul de Souza

Stars:

Steven Seagal, Christine Adams, William Hope

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steven Seagal	...	Cody
Christine Adams	...	Dr. Chappell
William Hope	...	Fletcher
Nick Brimble	...	Lehder
Vinnie Jones	...	Henry
Alison King	...	Damita
P.H. Moriarty	...	Chief
Gary Daniels	...	Sharpe
Ross McCall	...	Plowden
Stephen Taylor	...	Luis (as Stephen Da Costa)
Peter Youngblood Hills	...	Doc Shock
Adam Fogerty	...	O'Hearn
Chris Hazlewood	...	Harding
Nikolai Sotirov	...	Hilan (as Niki Sotirov)
William Tapley	...	Ambassador Higgins

Storyline

Chris Kody, imprisoned member of the US military, is released from prison and reunited with his old team in order to pursue a renegade scientist. The catch, the scientist has developed mind control technology that can make even your friends into heartless killers.

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Plot Keywords:

time bomb | navy | sea | underwater scene | taxi | 

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Taglines:

Terror has been launched undersea.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language

Details

Country:

USA UK Bulgaria

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 June 2005 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Enemy Within

Filming Locations:

Sofia, Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (EFO Films), Luminosity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Seagal and Anthony Hickox disagreed on much of the film which eventually resulted in Seagal leaving the film.

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Goofs

Like many 'STOP' signs all over the non-English speaking world, the 'STOP' sign at the gate in Uruguay is in English. 'STOP' is regarded as an international symbol warning of possible danger.

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Quotes

Plowden: [Henry sneaks up behind him] I'm guessing you're not room service.
Henry: So you also have brains?
Plowden: What's gonna be your next move, soldier?
Henry: Do you think I'm here to play fucking chess?

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Crazy Credits

Julian Vergov, who plays 'Rollins', is credited twice in closing credits. First as Ulian Vergov, then 14 actors later as Julian Vergov.

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: On Deadly Ground (2009)

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Soundtracks

Excerpts from Tosca
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Symfonický orchester Slovenského rozhlasu and Slovak Philharmonic Chorus
(collectively as Slovak Radio Symphony and Philharmonic Chorus)
Courtesy of Naxos
By arrangement with Source/Q

User Reviews

Good for a laugh

Submerged is yet another putrid straight to video release involving a bloated and aging Steven Seagal trying unsuccessfully to hide the fact he can barely do any martial arts any more and the fact that he is really quite overweight. He still can't hide the fact that he can't act either, despite the fact he appears to be dubbed for sections of the movie (Which is why some of his dialogue is actually semi-intelligible for a change). The film-makers attempts to hide Seagal's lack of mobility and increasing girth are largely what make these latter day Seagal flicks entertaining. Clever tricks such as close editing in the fight scenes so you can't actually see Seagal isn't doing anything very impressive, dark lighting to hide his jowls and breadth and loose clothing so as to not accentuate his less than athletic physique.

Anyway, the movie involves Seagal and a ragtag group of ex navy bad-arses being pulled out of prison (There is some lame political cover-up after an operation gone wrong angle to explain their presence there) to go after an evil scientist who has developed a mind control device and hiding out with some vaguely motivated militants in Uruguay. It is never made clear exactly why the hell the government is using a bunch of convicts for this mission- I thought perhaps they would have been selected as it was more likely they hadn't been got at by the mind control device when it had been established the US special forces had already been compromised this way but such explanation was not offered on screen- in other words if the script-writers for this movie actually put as much thought into the plot in writing the script as I did in watching it for a few minutes it was lost in the editing stage. At least Seagal isn't playing an archaeologist, a scientist or an arch bishop or some equally unbelievable profession in this one.

Although the movie is called Submerged very little of it actually set on a submarine. It was rumoured before this one came out that it was to involve Segal on a submarine battling a sea monster but unfortunately this was not the case. (No cheap jokes about Segal playing the sea monster I promise). The first section involves the group getting together and raiding the baddies base, the middle section is actually on the submarine and actually seems kind of shoehorned in, almost as though they wanted to make this mind control action picture and then found half the budget had been blown on a submarine set they were then obliged to use. The last section of this meandering and goofy storyline is set in some South American city (Yes I'm too lazy to look it up).

The plot is meandering, is full of holes and makes little sense (I was quite frankly shocked) but the film is full of action and is never dull, even if it is because of unintentional laughs, of which there are many. My two favourites- Seagal's ultra cheesy slow mo entrance- chained in shackles walking slowly toward the camera (Naturally) with loud heavy metal playing in the background in a lame attempt to make him look cool. The second and funniest is at the end when Segal kicks one of the main bad guys about forty metres through the air accompanied by some bizarre trumpet blast sound effect. Seagal doesn't actually do much in the way of martial arts (Wonder why?) but there are plenty of goofy action sequences such as a Commando like sequence where Segal and friends take on a small army, complete with tanks and barely get hurt. As I said, the movie is fast moving and all over the place shifting from location to location, from a dam/naval facility to a submarine, to the streets of a South American city, to an opera house, to a cartoonesque super-villain base/ laboratory. There is a large supporting cast to distract from Seagals non-acting, most of whom are dead by the end of the movie, including two Lock Stock and two Smoking Barrels alumni- Vinnie Jones, applying his usual cheerfully violent soccer hooligan type character that brings some much needed colour to the screen and Hatchet Harry. Most of Seagal's team is forgettable, the only other ones I remember a few days after watching it are stiff faced woman and skinny Latino dude.

In summation, if you want to watch a stupid, cheesy but on the whole entertaining(ly bad) action flick and laugh at the comedy institution that is Steven Seagal then Submerged is pure gold.