Phantom

The absence of thick accents almost makes you miss the fact that Phantom is set in cold-war Russia. That, and the presentation of the characters as real people, not your mediocre Party worshipping, vodka glugging, every-sentence-with-comrade-ending Soviet stereotype.

That's just one factor which makes the movie worth watching. Ed Harris plays his role as epileptic submarine captain with a similar character profile to his Major Koenig in Enemy At The Gates, with a little more personality thrown in this time. His vulnerability adds shades of meaning to his grit and courage as he and his supporters stave off a mutiny. William Fichtner and Jason Beghe play their supporting roles admirably, while Johnathon Schaech plays nearly to perfection the indecisive political officer. However, David Duchovny fails to impress in his role as ideological antagonist, and seems to be the only poor casting choice.

The plot, by itself, does little to stand out. The combat sequences are adequately executed; I feel that the levels of suspense generated could have been taken up a notch or two. There are moments where the dialogue could have delved deeper; the debate between Harris and Duchovny over the necessity of a missile launch being a case in point. None of these failings, however, take away from the movie its human portrayal of the Russian submarine crew, and that alone makes this movie worth watching.

Very well acted, with a great cast. If you are fan of Red October you will like this movie. The sub plot about the captain was unnecessary. Ed Harris does a great job in delivering his character.

Story is well told, although not new. I am surprised that this didn't do better in general release. William Fitchner should also be pointed out as an actor who always delivers good character roles.

I like the fact that they didn't try to have the actors deliver lines in broken Russian/English. We didn't need to hear bad accents to believe that this is a Russian boat. They didn't try to make the characters appear more 'Russian' by giving into stereo types.

Submarine films are few and far between - which is a shame, because there are few settings which breed tension in the way that a steel coffin submerged 200m below the sea's surface can. 'Phantom' isn't groundbreaking, but if you're after tension, heroism, drama and bravery, few current new releases deliver in the way that this movie does. There are a few real tearjerker moments - and at the end of the day, the movie does what it says on the box. Submarine. Conflict. Awesome. Sure, it's not going to fetch many stars from the art-house crowd - but if you want a simple, tense actioner; that doesn't ask you to suspend belief too much - you could do much, much worse.

Like another reviewer from Samara has mentioned here, you can count tons of fakes here. Usually a Hollywood movie at least tries to be as much accurate as possible. Here, apart of gears showing authentic Russian readings and navy/military uniforms looking right, everything else looks and feels American. I can mention few "gems" here, like what and how "Russian" officers drink! They do not gulp (as any normal Russian does) - they sip, just like ladies. Then all these "sir" and "mister", and then a Russian captain reflecting and even crying about killed sailors. Really? And all those nice and glowing scenes from an Orthodox church! Yes, of course. Churches in Russia in 1960s. The director, Todd Robinson, should have hired just one Russian as a consultant, that would serve the movie for sure.

However, if you ignore the lines in the story that this is supposed to be about Russian people and Russian navy and few real things like those gears, and imagine that this is about a US navy, and about rogue CIA agents, then everything falls in its place and looks natural. This could be a good watchable movie.

Much is made of perceived weaknesses in "Phantom," most notably the absence of Russian accents. This doesn't bother me, certainly no more than watching anything by the BBC in which everyone, regardless of character nationality, has an accent found somewhere in the British Isles. I'm not familiar with the minutiae of Soviet era submariners, so I can't suitably critique the proper etiquette or uniform details. Looked accurate enough for me to accept it. If you're willing to look past that, you'll be able to enjoy a competent, if slightly derivative, submarine flick. Frankly, it's worth watching for the performances of Ed Harris (the sub captain) and William Fichtner (Harris's second in command) alone. They carry the movie, and, in my case at least, kept me watching through to the end. David Duchovny, as the rogue KGB agent is a little harder to accept, but I suspect that has less to do with his performance than my own inability to not think, "What the hell, Mulder?" every time I see him. The supporting characters do their best with what they have, and honestly, I admire anyone who can work in even a mock submarine's space. Ultimately, this movie is about sacrifice, whether on the part of the family separated by military service, or the things one is willing to do for the sake of one's nation. If you've actually read this far into the reviews, or even this far into this one review, I think you'll be engaged enough that it won't be a waste of your time to watch "Phantom," especially if you can see it via whatever instant service you use. Like it says above, it's not "Das Boot," but really, what else is?