Phantom a surprise

[George Bellefontaine]

When I rented this I thought it would be just another submarine themed thriller. I was wrong. It is an excellent film starring Ed Harris as the Russian captain of an atomic sub on its last patrol before being scrapped. Why Harris, who suffers with psychiatric problems as the result of a bad incident in his past, is chosen to take this final patrol ( also his last before retirement ) is revealed when an extreme Russian operative ( David Duchovny ) and his men take over the sub.
Plenty of suspense as Harris works to go about reclaiming his sub. It's a tightly written, well paced story and well acted, especially by Harris as the troubled captain. :T

[bigburner]

That looks interesting so I'll watch it.

The film has an odd poster. Why is Ed's name under David's photograph and vice versa?

Nigel.

[Ovation]

That looks interesting so I'll watch it.

The film has an odd poster. Why is Ed's name under David's photograph and vice versa?

Nigel.

That happens from time to time when they want to split the billing--Harris gets top "print" billing but Duchovny gets the first (as we read left to right) visual billing. If you look at enough movie posters, you'll notice this cropping up every once in a while.

[impala454]

I love submarine movies (Hunt For Red October and Crimson Tide are among my favorite movies of all time). Did this one go straight to dvd?? I don't ever remember seeing anything about it... Thanks for the review George!

[George Bellefontaine]

Did this one go straight to dvd?? I don't ever remember seeing anything about it... Thanks for the review George!

It was released in theaters in March of this year. I don't believe it was well received by critics. And perhaps the audience was looking for a mindless action flick, because it didn't do well at the boxoffice. I especially liked it because of Ed Harris's believable character, and for the somewhat unorthodox ending. I feel it belongs right up there with Crimson Tide and Hunt For Red October. But not all may agree.

[Ovation]

I think some of the disappointment (at least for critics) was the "inspired by true events" tagline. When a movie announces "inspired by" rather than "based on" with respect to "true events", it is usually playing a lot more loosely with the facts. However, the general public (and, surprisingly, many critics) does not make the distinction. To be fair, I think it is something of a misleading distinction anyway, but I research historical feature films quite frequently, so I'm probably more aware of these kinds of nuances than the general viewing audience.

I'll probably get around to seeing this (I like the two leads and I like submarine movies) but this isn't the kind of thing I'd consider using in a class (unless it was to specifically illustrate the difference between "based on" and "inspired by" when it comes to historical feature films).

[George Bellefontaine]

You make some excellent points regarding " inspired by " rather than " based on "., Paul. I closed my mind to the " inspired by " claim and watched it for what it really was, a piece of fiction.

[Ovation]

Given the rather minimal relationship between the film and the events that "inspired" it, your approach is the way to go.