Phantom (I) (2013) User Reviews (105)

Decent sub thriller

[siderite · 7/10 · 14 July 2013]

I've read the reviews of others and I was surprised to see such a strong polarizing. People either loved or completely hated the film. I am no expert in Russian Navy protocol, subs or war in general, so that is probably why I liked it. I didn't like it too much, though; even if it has a stellar cast, it is rather average and that is how I will rate it. However I see it as a decent sub movie.

To summarize a few reviews, people hated the American actors that pretended to be Russians without Russian accents. That is so ridiculous that I will not even deign it with an analysis. If you can't like a story unless sugar spooned to you, then it's your problem. Then there were people that reported erroneous depictions of Russian life, beliefs and reality in the 60's. I can't argue with that, but then again, the slip-ups were minor and one can easily ignore them if having good intentions. The rest of the film was pretty much a combination of Red October and The Abyss (how come nobody noticed that? :) ) which were both movies I liked.

Bottom line: I considered this film a reasonable achievement, even before I learned it was an independent film with only 18$mil as a budget. I personally liked it and can't account for many negative issues with the movie. Is it awesome? No. But I had fun watching it and was not bored at all.

No, it's not "Das Boot."

[lewaynelwhite · 6/10 · 21 April 2014]

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?

A mix between the Hunt For Red October & Crimson Tide. Exciting and tense and true. I enjoyed this and recommend it. I say B+.

[cosmo_tiger · 7/10 · 23 June 2013]

"There are only 2 reasons for a boat to go rogue. One is to defect and the other is to start a war and I don't think we're defecting." This movie is based on actual evens set during the Cold War between the US and the USSR. After returning home and excited about being on leave the A Russian sub captain (Harris) and crew are stunned when they are chosen to go on another mission right away. The mission is classified and the only one on the sub that knows the details is a KGB agent Duchovny). When certain details emerge the crew starts to rethink the orders they are given. I was looking forward to seeing this for really one reason. I am a huge Ed Harris fan. He did not disappoint in this movie. The movie itself is also really good and the best way to describe it is a mix of Hunt For Red Octber and Crimson Tide. The fact that the movie is true makes it even more interesting to watch. It is a little predictable but that does not take away from the enjoyment of the movie at all. If you are a fan of movies like Red October then this movie is for you. I recommend this. Overall, very tense and exciting. I give it a B+.

Russians as real people, for a change

[mail-978-69761 · 6/10 · 29 September 2013]

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.

Sort of plays out like a second rate 'THE HUNT FOR RED October'.

[Hellmant · 6/10 · 11 July 2013]

'PHANTOM': Three Stars (Out of Five)

Cold War submarine thriller starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner. It was written and directed by Todd Robinson, who's also directed multiple documentaries (on subjects ranging from rock music to Billy the Kid) and wrote the 1996 Ridley Scott directed sailing thriller 'WHITE SQUALL'. The film is about the captain of a Soviet missile submarine, during the Cold War, who must stop a rogue KGB agent from taking over his ship and seizing the nuclear missile onboard. It's loosely based on actual events of a missile crisis in 1968 involving the K-129 sub. It sort of plays out like a second rate 'THE HUNT FOR RED October'. It had a very limited theatrical release (in which it made about one eighteenth of it's $18 million budget back) and the film has received harsh criticism for it's inaccurate depiction of a Soviet sub (and no attempt was made to have the actors speak Slavic at all, with subtitles, or speak with accents). The film is definitely cheesy at times but for the most part it's intense and amusing. The acting is great as well.

Harris plays a Soviet Navy captain named Demi, in the 1960s, who's set to retire when he's asked to go on one last mission with his old crew on his old ship. Demi feels his career has been a disappointment and is still haunted by mistakes he made in his past, which cost the lives of several of his men (he also suffers from seizures at times, due to a past injury). So he jumps at the chance to command his ship on one last mission, and possibly redeem himself, even if it's a mysterious classified one. He's joined on the mission by a KGB group, lead by a man named Bruni (Duchovny), who obviously have ulterior motives. It soon becomes apparent that Bruni and his men have went rogue as they seize control of the ship and the missile on board. It's up to Demi and his loyal men to stop them before they start a nuclear war.

The film co-stars the likes of Lance Henriksen, Johnathon Schaech and Sean Patrick Flanery. Like I said the acting is all more than decent. Harris is always a pleasure to watch and Fichtner is a likable and interesting actor as well. Duchovny is kind of just menacing and mysterious in this but he fits the part. The directing I'd say is adequate; the mood and atmosphere are decent. It's the script that could have used some more work, I especially didn't like the ending (which is by far the most cheesy part of the whole movie). Up until the ending I was into it though. It's not nearly as good as something like 'THE HUNT FOR RED October' but it was fun and suspenseful enough to keep my interest. Movies like this aren't a bad way to pass the time, in my opinion, at least.

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Sorry but this is a fake

[holgard · 3/10 · 18 June 2013]

I am a Soviet submarine officer, retired. I have to notice that this film contains a lot of fakes. Here the fakes I faced with during first 10 minutes: 1. We never rose our greatcoat collars, 2. In Russian (as well as in Soviet) army it is forbidden to give a salute without headress, 3. It is absolutely impossible if a Soviet officer get married in church. All Soviet officers were members of communistic party and marriage in church was considered as a breach of discipline. 4. There is no benches in Russian Orthodox churches. 5. The Captain wears American underwear. 6. The Captain of Soviet submarine is an epileptic??? This is an absolute nonsense. 7. Names of Soviet officers - Demy, Bruni, Alex??? 8. Any Soviet officer was restricted to travel abroad except maybe socialist countries and in the film the character travels to New York! 9. Submarine technician officer is a claustrophobic????

An OK submarine movie

[WatchedAllMovies · 6/10 · 30 June 2013]

This is a Hollywood movie so obviously the dialogs are in English. But I thought they would at least have Russian accent. None. It's hard to make believe these are Russian when everyone speak with perfect American accent.

Casting David Duchovny as one of the bad guys is a mistake. Not only does he not have any menacing expressions that villains should have, he has very little expressions period. Any other actor in this movie would make a better bad guy.

I don't know submarine dogfight tactic so I can't say whether they got it right or not. But it is suspicious when a critically timed attacked is initiated by the captain yelling detonate to a weapon crew who then detonate the torpedo. So the captain has to take into account the delay introduced by the weapon crew? The movie never showed what happened to the missile that was fired. Is that an oversight or running out of budget? Overall it is still a thrilling movie to watch.

Fake!Fake!Fake!

[pallance · 5/10 · 18 June 2013]

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.

Quality actors in tense Cold War drama

[OJT · 7/10 · 29 January 2014]

What a long wait it has been since I saw u-boat flick! It's been so many years, I have to check when they came out, all of the great ones; "Das Boot", "The hunt for Red October", "The enemy below", "Crimson Tide"... I must say, after seeing this, I'd like to see more. Films like this are bound to be tight, and well acted, if you get the right actors to do it. Director Todd Robinson obviously did here.

Based on a true story, we follow a Cold War Russian u-boat crew when they come in, and are sent out right away the morning after on an old submarines allegedly last trip before it's to be emptied and sold to the Chinese. The mission also includes a couple of strangers with a command to follow, with a secret mission. What, is not to be revealed until they are out on open sea.

Ed Harris is the one bargaining of this to be quality, and boy it is. We also get to see David Duchovny, William Fichtner, Kip Pardue and Lance Henriksen in central roles.

I'm relieved this isn't a film in which the actors are to talk English with a Russian accent. This film is too good to fall into that category. Another quality sign. This is history telling, of history we don't want to re-live. Thank God those days are over. Let's hope they never return.

Ed Harris and William Fichtner caught in a stale submarine movie ...

[merklekranz · 5/10 · 18 August 2013]

I suppose "Phantom" might be passable entertainment for those submarine film completests. Other than reliable acting from Ed Harris and William Fichtner, there is little of interest here for a general audience. Especially missing is the tension that a claustrophobic film like this demands. There is virtually no character development other than Ed Harris and William Fichtner. This means that everyone else becomes a "so what". It is very easy to become detached from this type of story when sailors we know nothing about are crawling all over the submarine doing things that are not explained. To me "Phantom" seems like a missed opportunity to make a good movie, and I'll let it go at that. - MERK

Phantom!

[tptouchdown · 8/10 · 10 November 2013]

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.

"Sometimes you gotta pick a side."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 29 April 2019]

Though some of the inspiration for this film came from an actual missing submarine event in the Sixties, I couldn't help but notice a plot similarity to the Roger Moore/James Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me". In that one, an evil, diabolical genius (is there any other kind?) abducts both a British and a Russian nuclear submarine, intending to use their respective missiles to destroy New York City and Moscow. While the superpowers engage in wiping each other out in retaliation, he'll step in to remake the world according to his own twisted vision.

This movie was compelling up to a point. The build up to the confrontation between submarine commander Dimitri Zubov (Ed Harris) and KGB radical Bruni (David Duchovny) was well staged, and the cloaking device dubbed 'Phantom' was a twist in a story that pitted Zubov's crew against hidden subversives among his own men. The eventual altercation that erupts is made somewhat confusing because one isn't able to identify who's who among the fighting men until Zubov subdues Bruni. Once that occurs though, the movie is practically over; it's almost a jump cut in the picture that sees the nuclear situation resolved and Zubov's crew back on dry land. All rather an odd way to reach a conclusion, as you would expect additional action once the rogue (but diffused) missile was launched from the B-67 sub.

I don't think I've ever seen Ed Harris in a role I didn't like. Being this was a Russian sub with a Russian crew, you had to overlook the idea that well known American actors were providing the role play as Russian nationals. As much as I liked David Duchovny in the 'X-Files', his casting here didn't really seem to work that well. It was hard to picture him as a villain, even more so a violent member of OSNAZ, a name in the film that was used to identify a radical branch of the KGB, but if you try to look it up, you'll get mired in a discussion of obsolete terms regarding Russian special forces.

Of the handful of submarine type movies I've seen, this one doesn't stack up very well. "Das Boot" is hands down the best in a limited genre, and up to this point, out of the fourteen total films I've seen, this one comes in dead last using an IMDb scorecard. For all that, I wouldn't recommend not seeing it, but be advised that it may leave you wanting.

Watchable

[jaywalker812 · 5/10 · 22 June 2013]

The movie come with many named actors. The movie had a good storyline and was played out well. However, no famous names nor acting can make up for weak directorship.

I had the feeling the movie was slapped together quickly making it quite predictable. You pretty much would have known by the 20th minute who the baddies were and how it will turn out.

My biggest gripe about the acting was the role of Bruni and his overly calm manner..or perhaps too calm as if he could not care less how the whole mission turned out.

And whats this with American-accented Russians?? Someone forgot to tell the actors that they were supposed to be Russians?

I would rate this as another watch and forget movie..

OK but could be better

[hamsolo-884-406114 · 7/10 · 30 December 2013]

Ed Harris did a great job as the lead. Kudos to him. Trust me when i say i know a lot about subs. If you see this movie, don't expect to learn anything new about cold war soviet subs. Horribly inaccurate but lets remind ourselves, THIS IS A MOVIE MEANT FOR ENTERTAINMENT! Not for learning facts. There is no way tho that this could happen. The whole "Phantom" thing device. We still have limited understanding of what the "Phantom" device can do in reference to what it did in the movie today. My advice, rent it from the library. What kind of soviet submarine would have a claustrophobic missile officer? Could have thought that through a little better. If you want a good sub movie, watch one of the following. Hunt for Red October, K-19 the widomaker, U-571, or a documentary. All in all watch it for the excitement. Lots of heart racing Acton. A little to much blood tho.

Entertaining, as long as you don't care about authenticity.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 25 February 2017]

The always rock solid Ed Harris shines as Demi, a veteran officer in the Russian Navy. His comrade Markov (Lance Henriksen, in a much too brief cameo role) sends him out to sea, as commander of a sub, and some last minute passengers tag along. One of them is Bruni (David Duchovny), a rogue KGB agent, and you just KNOW that his agenda is going to be dubious and scary. Tensions run high above the sub as the men are forced to confront the idea of going to war with America.

First, let's get to the debits. Going by other IMDb reviews here, it's clear that writer / director Todd Robinson either didn't do much research, or else he just didn't give a damn. There are a bunch of inaccuracies. We could start with the fact that we've got a largely accent-free American cast playing supposed Russian characters, but that's just stating the obvious. The special effects, admittedly, could have been better. Thankfully, they don't detract too much from the experience.

The story is set up as being inspired by a real life incident which could indeed have begun a nuclear war; to this day the facts of the matter are apparently kept under wraps by both the Americans and Russians. This does make for some reasonably watchable drama, action, suspense, and excitement, along with the appeal of a classic submarine thriller in the Hollywood tradition.

While almost everybody here is completely unconvincing as a Russian, you can see that the performances are still quite engaging - for the most part. Duchovny isn't enough of an actor to bring a lot of gravitas to his villainous role, but Harris and William Fichtner (as Harris' reliable XO) pick up the slack. Harris projects perfect authority and you do believe him as a leader of men. Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Derek Magyar, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, Julian Adams, Kip Pardue, and Jordan Bridges (son of Beau B.) co-star. By the way, Adams plays a character named Bavenod, which is close enough to (Boris) Badenov that you can't help but smirk every time his name is uttered.

Overall, a decent and enjoyable flick with a fairly clever ending. Just be prepared to suspend a sizable amount of disbelief.

Seven out of 10.

Seriously!!!

[flubaluba-358-274943 · 2/10 · 13 June 2013]

After reading such glowing reviews i was looking forward to two hours of great acting and sit on the edge of your seat tension. We all know the genre, sitting in the depths waiting to see if someone can blow you up or find you to target you. Sadly when watching this i was reminded how not to always take notice of the reviews you see , especially not all of the glowing ones. Maybe i should just look at the middle rated reviews and then judge from there.

For people to think this is a movie that deserves any type of reward is just crazy, it was a 3rd rate story with a third rate director, nothing felt plausible, nothing felt real, it was one of the worst submarine movies i have seen and that is saying something as i have seen all of them i can.

I don't know how to explain the disaster, the story was weak some of the acting was just stupid, the tense parts were not tense and the cinematography reminded me of movies from the 80's .

I actually think i have seen some of the parts in this movie that have been stolen from others.

Don't waste your time i am wondering myself who to demand the last two hours of my life back from.

pretty good

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 8 June 2016]

I can't be as critical of "Phantom" from 2013 the way some of the more knowledgeable people here are. I read with interest the comments from an actual Russian, and I do think had they hired a Russian consultant it would have been more accurate. However, since I wasn't aware of any of that while watching it, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film.

Inspired by actual events, Ed Harris plays Demi, a Russian captain who, had he not been from a prominent family, would have been long gone after a major screw-up that lost lives. During the incident, he suffered an injury which has caused him to have seizures.

In command of a submarine, he is approached by men, led by David Duchovny, who say they are on the submarine to carry out a secret mission. It turns out to be the testing of the 'Phantom' which cloaks the submarine and fools the enemy into thinking the sub is from another country.

Demi knows that he's only commanding a sub because the Russians did not want his family shamed, so he also knows that no one in the KGB or anywhere else would choose his sub for a top secret mission. So who are these people, and what is their real purpose?

Filmed in a submarine, while this film isn't as good as Das Boot or some other sub films, it's quite exciting, and Ed Harris, David Duchovny, William Fitchner, and Jonathan Schaech all are terrific.

My only quibble is that I did pick up one thing the Russian reviewer did - there is a man with claustrophobia on the sub who refuses to do something he's asked to do. A claustrophobic wouldn't be in that job, and I don't even think would be on a submarine. I'm claustrophobic and you couldn't get me in one above water, let alone below.

The subject of accents came up on the message board as these actors spoke without accents. Yes of course they did. They were not speaking English, but Russian -- not English with a Russian accent.

This film is a good reason to read up on what went on during the Cold War, and a K-129 disappearance in the Pacific in 1968. There is a very scary scenario set up in this film which anecdotally appears to be true. It was a dangerous time.

I love submarine movies but this is not one of them.

[alan-51-111974 · 2/10 · 13 June 2013]

This has the same heavy handed touch as Lincoln.

Nothing much happens in the first 20 minutes... except mystery (long stares... blowing wind... dark chords from an orchestra) then we have detailed character exposition coming out of people's mouths: "Oh you're the Captain whose Father... blah blah blah".

Then what we have is essentially a remake of Ice Station Zebra (1968).

The story is interesting (if we believe one of the stories about K-129) yet we have a submarine full of Americans that are supposed to be Russians that talk like Americans, think like Americans and resolve conflicts like Americans and the best among them is the most American.

Is the point that someone that thought like an American saved the day?

How marvelously convenient. Pat on the back for our values. Heave.

Pace blah, cinematography blah, score blah, performances blah.

The ending is ludicrous. It's also stupid, vapid, moronic, cretinous.

As actors given an excrement sandwich of a script I guess they did the best they could.

Mmm... nutty.

Ice Station Zebra (1968) has a lot less going on than this but is a much better movie, even with Ernest Borgnine playing a Russian.

John Carpenter loves it as do I, even though it's so flawed.

Below (2002) is also much better, scenes from that film still haunt me, no scenes from Phantom will.

Excellent thriller, based on actual but very shady events.

[aggpvg · 7/10 · 17 June 2013]

With great North-American actors and with a well written plot based on actual events, this movie carries you into the belly of an old Diesel Submarine, Russian Submarine, at the height of the cold war. When you think that the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis was on the brick of nuclear war just for a few yards, well, during this crisis, depicted by this movie, the world was only just a few inches away from nuclear devastation. Ed Harris leads the cast of North-American actors, and when I saw it, I didn't expect to be hearing North-American actors' speaking Russian; if production could have cast Russian actors? Sure, but I'm glad they didn't, this cast doesn't need any justification. A solid 7: it will entertain you with a great plot and quite a few well played action scenes; it will make you think, so, a little bit of brain cells are needed.

Das Low Budget

[LydiaOLydia · 2/10 · 9 October 2013]

"Phantom's" opening scene is of Harris, the veteran submarine commander, taking in the sights of the harbor of the Soviet submarine base at Rybachiy supposedly in the 1960s or so while standing on the bow of a tugboat. This scene required one actor - Harris. There are still plenty of former-Soviet harbors that look now much like they would have looked then - a few new ships but a lot of rusty stuff and old soviet or soviet-like equipment. But no, the budget apparently didn't have what was necessary to fly one actor and one film crew to such a location for a day to get a plausible shot, so instead he's clearly in an ultra-modern container port. The difference is enough to be noticed by anybody.

Thus Phantom starts out on a bad note... and gets progressively worse. There is a lot to criticize in this movie--screenplay, plot, acting, and dialogue (the latter resorting to "I am the bad guy and now will give the grand exposition of my plot" moments). Much has been covered elsewhere, including the fact that whoever wrote this crap obviously knows near zero about how soviet people behaved, talked, looked, etc. However, for my personally, the absolute biggest scorn I leave for the set designers / prop people / costume people for absolutely mailing it in. Old soviet artifacts are easy to find, but instead it seems that somebody simply raided a souvenir store full of kitsch. FOr example, when ed Harris takes a drink from a flak of alcohol, the flask has one of those big red stars on it like you might find only in a post-1991 souvenir shop selling fake or newly-manufactured soviet kitsch. When somebody decided that soviet submariners wear blue and white striped turtlenecks, somebody went out and got one at the GAP. Correspondingly (and especially coupled with the American accents and, much much worse, American MANNERISMS that predominate), nothing about this movie feels even vaguely 'soviet' (or even 'period' for that matter, as there are well too many anachronisms).

it's a low budget movie all around sunk further by mail-it-in effort by all involved. in fairness, i'd find it hard to get excited to work on a movie based on a script apparently written by a 12 year old as well. The only 'good' part of this movie is reasonable technical submarine jargon cribbed from better, albeit American-submarine-based movies.

Harris and Duchovniy collected their paycheck and in fairness did what they could, but nothing can save this forgettable mess of a movie. If you feel that you'd like to see a decent (imperfect, but much much better than this) cold war movie that may be new to you, try 'the Bedford incident' (1965).

Satisfying, tense submarine film!

[BBKSManager · 8/10 · 19 August 2013]

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.

It meant well...

[beegeakins · 7/10 · 9 August 2013]

US Submariner currently serving. I give this a 7 based on the ending and extras on the DVD because I'm a sucker for history. I felt the ending was respectful and honored the lives lost and the plausible fate those men were met with is the reason why there are FISH on my chest today, to make sure I come back to my wife and the kids. Minor inconsistencies, but better than both "Hunt for Red October" (the movie that may of got me suckered in to living the dream) "Crimson Tide" and "Last Resort" (both are abominations). "DAS BOOT"(Best Submarine movie ever), "Down Periscope", and "Hellcats of the Navy" still have this movie beat by far however. This movie felt like it I was listening to a bunch of old Cold War Sub Vets God bless em. Interior Communications (how we talk) paraphrased, Orders to the Helm (how the ship is controlled) paraphrased, Contact reporting via Sonar butchered (fine by me) Combat tactics(OK sure Old Man drive it like you stole it) Could they have spun it to have the Scorpion Versus the CIA? So the Writers could of got all the inconsistencies right on the money? Would it have been great film then, to see the downpour of rain that accompanied the family of the Scorpion that fateful day in Norfolk, Va when she did not return to port? No.

Ridiculous film with poor history lesson

[rmmil · 2/10 · 13 April 2022]

I had a couple of big problems with this film.

First of all, I disagree with reviewers who state the very-American accents on a supposedly Russian sub "don't matter." The story attempts to root itself in real historical events, so making it very obvious this "Russian sub" was piloted by a bunch of American actors was a huge misstep. Way to make it impossible for the audience to suspend disbelief.

Second, the history in this film is just wrong. It assumes an attempt by Russians to create a false flag event between the U. S. and China to start a nuclear war, but in 1968 the Chinese were incapable of doing this, as they had only tested their 1st nuclear fusion weapon a year earlier (1967). The Russians would know this.

But really I just couldn't get past the lazy sloppy accents. Hire some European actors, problem solved.

Not a bad movie but you won't miss it

[Ekul1021 · 7/10 · 5 June 2013]

Its very rare to see any good submarine movies nowadays. K-19 was good, Red October was a nail biter, and Das Boot was the masterpiece. What is unique about the submarine movies is the cramp space the actors have to run through and imagine that happening during war and trying not to make a peep or else will reveal your position.

Phantom takes the horrible tragic of K-129 and uses one of the possible theory of why the ship sank in the first place. The story goes is a group of rouge KGB agents try to get the US to declare war on China, eliminating both rivals leaving the Soviets the only superpower left. However, predictably the KGB are dispose of but the ship is lost and for you history buff, everybody dies in the end.

If you look past the fictional storyline and look at the visual arts, then the movie is worth a lot. The details of the submarine was great along with the creaking sound of pressure. The acting, wasn't that impressive as it seems at the same time, everybody in American accent, but you know the crew is Russian.

Anyways, the ending is completely fiction and that's where the movie "based on a true event" ends there as we all know that the Soviets lose the entire submarine and it was the Glomar Explorer that would rise parts of it up.

In all a good Saturday flick if you're bore if you have Netflix or if this movie will ever be on the Comcast program. For submarine movie fans though, this is sure a good one to have in the collection, but there will be some days, where you rather just pull out a good submarine movie such as Das Boot or Red October out.

Russians against . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 26 September 2013]

Russians! All played by Americans with funny accents! Filmed on a REAL submarine! What's not to like? Granted, the plot of this film is so complicated that it takes 5 sheets of paper to print it out from this site, even when you reduce the print size. True, there is a new story coming out nearly every week about how the U.S. and Russia nearly blew each other to smithereens during the so-called "Cold War" in the 1900s. The idea that Russia beat the U.S. to "stealth" technology decades before the B1 bomber series, and that rogue elements of Russia's intelligence service were able to hijack such a sub with a plan to make it sound and sail like a Red Chinese warship just before destroying the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, thus prompting America and China to wipe each other out with nukes, is a pretty far-fetched yarn. How did Russia plan to sidestep all the fall-out (which would have reduced the Chernobyl Meltdown which happened a few years later to a molehill, though Scandanavians were pretty upset at the time over being covered by Soviet radiation)? Still, do NOT rent this movie unless you have a "fallout shelter" (a quaint remnant of the 1900s where Junior keeps his sex slaves in TV's UNDER THE DOME) to watch it in.