Black Sea

Movie review by Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media
Black Sea Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 16+

Entertaining but imperfect sub movie has strong language.

R 2015 115 minutes
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Parents say

age 12+

Based on 2 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Black Sea is a tense, frequently violent submarine thriller starring Jude Law. Language is the biggest issue, with almost constant uses of "f--k" and "s--t," as well plenty of other words. There are a few killings and several deaths, with some bloody wounds and burned corpses seen, but the majority of violence hinges on the sub itself crashing. There's also a pervasive sense of tension and anxiety. Characters smoke and drink in a background way, and there are subtle references to teenage sex, as well as some kissing. Characters do exhibit some teamwork (though it eventually falters), but the bigger message is a condemnation of greed; characters' decisions are affected by the presence of gold.

Community Reviews

SuccaMayAhrs
SuccaMayAhrs Adult
May 12, 2019
age 10+

Wtf who wrote the main review?

“Bad language” is not a negative aspect. Life doesn’t have edits. Grow up.

This title has:

Great messages
B-KMastah
B-KMastah Adult
February 14, 2015
age 14+

A perfect matinee.

It's rather rare for me to not know of a movie's existence until about four days prior to its release, but that kind of makes sense considering what kind of movie Black Sea is. This may not be a perfect movie, but it's a perfect matinee. Its story is basic and the movie itself has some pacing issues, but the strong performances and several strong scenes make Black Sea a modest success in its own right. What you see in the logline--a submarine pilot gets laid off and recruits others to help him find a Nazi submarine at the bottom of the Black Sea, and their greed and cabin fever begins to turn them against each other--is pretty much it. It's stylishly directed, though, so it more or less works. It's suitably grimy and claustrophobic and actually uses handheld camerawork pretty well. There are several good set pieces that utilize its subterranean, confined setting, even if a few feel kind of excessive. They work, though. Jude Law does good work as a Captain Ahab-esque leader, and the rest do solid work with their only-adequately written parts, namely Michael Smiley from The World's End and Scoot McNairy. The script is the problem here, being not as deep as it could have been (hahaha get it like deep sea lololol). If you want to kill 115 minutes, Black Sea does its job pretty well, and even if you won't remember it in a couple of weeks, it does enough to make it a watchable, and serviceably thrilling matinee. It's not just good, it's good enough. 6.8/10, okay, one thumb (barely) up, (barely) above average, etc.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much swearing
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Fired from his longtime job at a marine salvage company, submarine captain Robinson (Jude Law) is adrift until he learns of the existence of a sunken, allegedly gold-filled Nazi sub in the Black Sea near Russia. Because of legal tangles, no government can go after it, but a private party can. Securing funding from a shady source, Robinson assembles a crew of American and Russian sailors and divers, promising them each an equal share of the gold. But fighting among the men leads to a terrible accident, stranding the sub on an underwater ridge. They'll have to work together to get out alive, with the lure of the gold, as well as other, unseen dangers, pulling them back.

Is It Any Good?

BLACK SEA is a solid, mostly thrilling submarine movie ... with one big flaw (see below). Director Kevin Macdonald (of the similarly tense Touching the Void) uses clarity of space on board the sub, establishing physical relationships between characters and using them for suspense. And as in some of the great films about gold, especially Greed and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, greed begins creeping in like a disease, rotting the characters and their moral centers.

Macdonald has assembled a fine cast, with Law giving one of his sturdiest performances and character actors like Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn following his lead. But right in the center of the movie is a single character who seems to have been brought aboard the sub for no apparent reason other than to drive the plot in specific directions. The character as written is a shortcut, a device to solve certain story problems more quickly. It's an annoying betrayal in an otherwise decent movie.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Black Sea's violence. How much is shown? What do you think its intent was? How did it affect you? Was it realistic? Shocking? Thrilling?

  • How much, and when, do characters smoke and drink? Do they smoke or drink on the submarine? Why or why not?

  • What's the appeal of submarine movies? How is this one similar to or different from others you may have seen?

  • How does this movie treat the themes of greed? How do greedy characters behave? How do we combat greed? Who is guiltier in this movie, greedy men or greedy corporations?

Movie Details

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