Review: Black Sea

Ex-Navy captain Robinson (Jude Law) is bitter and disgruntled, forced on the dole by the ocean salvage corporation for whom he's sacrificed the last 11 years of his life. The job cost him his family; his son grew up without his presence and now has a posh stepfather who can provide the life and parenting that Robinson never could. There's nothing left for the old seadog to lose, so when his mate tells of a treasure waiting to be recovered from the Black Sea, Robinson wastes no time assembling a half-British, half-Russian crew to search for two tons worth of gold.

The gold was the intended payoff from one dictator to another, Hitler capitalising on Stalin's fear that Germany would invade Russia. The gold never made it to Hitler's coffers, resulting in the violation of the non-aggression pact between the two countries. Rumours swirled in the Fifties that the gold was lost at sea and, three decades later, a U-boat purported to be the one carrying the gold was detected. The location of the U-boat is reachable, but the journey is not without its dangers as Robinson and his crew are all too well aware.

The more pressing peril lies within the confines of the barely seaworthy submarine - "Boats are like whores, the old ones know how to look after you best." - they purchase with seed money from well-to-do Lewis (Tobias Menzies), who stands to gain 40% of the findings. The remaining 60%, Robinson decides, will be evenly split between the crew. Every man shall have an equal share.

The hatches are barely battened down when unrest escalates amongst the men, who are firmly divided along cultural lines. It helps little that half-man, half-fish, all psychopath diver Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn) stokes the seeds of discontent, taunting the Russians and declaring the equal share payoff unfair. Why should someone who does less work get the same amount of riches as someone who put in more of the heavy lifting? Lewis' lackey Daniels (Scott McNairy) sees it in plain mathematical terms: the fewer the men, the greater the cut.

Submarine and space dramas, with their inherent dangers both external and internal, are almost ready-made journeys into fear. The enforced intimacy warps the mind a little and, when combined with a scenario that nods to both The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Wages of Fear, it's inevitable that the men would position themselves in a game of survival of the greediest. Avarice may be the primary motivation, but it is closely followed by class pride. They are not men to be used and discarded, and getting the gold will prove that.

Director Kevin Macdonald is no stranger to brawny dramas, having piloted Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland. He expertly modulates the rising tension, and maintains a tautness throughout. Dennis Kelly's screenplay cuts a corner here and there and characters are a bit stock in trade, but is solid overall. The actors make for compelling presences, though Mendelsohn and McNairy are essentially playing characters they've played before. Grigory Dobrygin, excellent in A Most Wanted Man, is criminally underused as one of the few English-speaking Russians.

Law continues to find his groove as a character actor. He has always been one but the pretty boy looks always got in the way, though his most glamorous role as Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley is irrefutable evidence of a raw and almost feral talent. Now with actual character in his face and his hairline continuing to recede, he has become a more liberated actor (see Dom Hemingway) and he convinces as the hardened captain who finds his judgement compromised by those glinting gold bars. There is no more unsettling scene than the moment Robinson decides that the gold is more important than the safety of his crew. "Keep coming," he instructs to the divers dragging the gold across the seabed, and one can practically see the cupidity cataract those steel blue eyes.

Black Sea

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald

Written by: Dennis Kelly

Starring: Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Scoot McNairy, Michael Smiley, Grigory Dobrygin, Tobias Menzies, Jodie Whittaker, David Threlfall, Bobby Schofield, Konstantin Khabenskiy