{"id":4760,"date":"2013-03-01T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T09:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=4760"},"modified":"2013-03-01T01:00:50","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T09:00:50","slug":"phantom-delves-into-the-depths-of-average-melodrama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=4760","title":{"rendered":"PHANTOM delves into the depths of Average Melodrama"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nIt\u2019s getting a little tiring to see commercial after commercial claiming that a movie is inspired by actual events. What exactly does that mean? The wording is as vague and non-committal as it gets, suggesting that a writer can literally read a story in a paper, use it as a germ of an idea, and then advertisers will market it as truth. This time out, the event in question is the loss of a Soviet submarine during the height of The Cold War. Despite the best efforts of its cast and crew, \u201cPhantom\u201d purports a theory so steeped in cinematic clich\u00e9s that at no point does it ever seem remotely authentic.<\/p>\n

Captain Dmitri Zubov (Ed Harris) is one mission away from retirement. His final assignment is to take KGB agents Bruni (David Duchovny) and Garin (Derek Magyar) on a top secret operation in one of the fleet\u2019s oldest subs. Soon, the epileptic ship captain begins having disturbing visions of the future as well as a violent seizure. His ominous feelings are confirmed when he discovers that not only is the crew testing a top secret piece of cloaking technology, but that Bruni is part of a rogue faction out to start a nuclear war with the US. Despite Dmitri\u2019s protests that Americans possess \u201cempathy\u201d which would never permit them to launch a first strike, Bruni remains unconvinced. With the help of his loyal officer Alex (William Fichtner), the captain must stop the KGB agent from launching a nuclear weapon. Sound like a true story?<\/p>\n

Regardless, an exaggerated and playful action film could have been fun to watch. However, the tone presented is deadly serious throughout. While the genuine period sub used is attractive to look at, as photographed it never feels as claustrophobic an environment as it should. The impressive cast is also not helped by the unusual choice to have them speak as though they are from Kiev by way of Hackensack, New Jersey. Sadly, because so much of the first two thirds of the film are discourse-based, the movie grinds to a slow pace quickly and has difficulty building tension.<\/p>\n

And frankly, there are a lot of bizarre, off-handed comments that don\u2019t seem like anything a Soviet soldier would utter. Dmitri and his first mate are so subtly critical of their own political system that one would understand if Bruni feared that the captain and his crew might be defecting. Additionally, while Duchovny is physically imposing, a lot of tension is broken when he\u2019s forced to say so many ridiculous things. Paraphrased, one highlight includes shouting, \u201cYour religious icons won\u2019t help you now!\u201d after discovering the captain brandishing a cross.
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\nA maudlin ending doesn\u2019t help matters, which may further alienate viewers who feel they were promised a film brimming with authenticity and realism. While the attempt to make another submarine thriller in the mode of \u201cDas Boot,\u201d \u201cThe Hunt for Red October\u201d or \u201cCrimson Tide\u201d is noble, what\u2019s presented onscreen never rises above the depths of average melodrama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s getting a little tiring to see commercial after commercial claiming that a movie is inspired by actual events. What exactly does that mean? The wording is as vague and non-committal as it gets, suggesting that a writer can literally read a story in a paper, use it as a germ of an idea, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5296,6680,16024],"class_list":["post-4760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-david-duchovny","tag-ed-harris","tag-phantom-movie-2013"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}