Phantom (2013)
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 55
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 41
A cast of solid actors do what they can to elevate the material, but Phantom's script is too clunky and devoid of tension to bear comparison to its thematic predecessors.
Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 20
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 16
A cast of solid actors do what they can to elevate the material, but Phantom's script is too clunky and devoid of tension to bear comparison to its thematic predecessors.
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Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 4,257
Movie Info
Academy Award (R) nominee Ed Harris (A Beautiful Mind, The Abyss), David Duchovny ("The X-Files," "Californication") and William Fichtner (The Dark Knight, Black Hawk Down) star in PHANTOM, a Cold War-era suspense thriller about a Soviet submarine captain, haunted by his past, who is forced to lead a covert mission that could spark a global nuclear war. Written and directed by Todd Robinson (Lonely Hearts, White Squall) and inspired by true events, PHANTOM is a riveting deep-sea adventure about
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Cast
-
Ed Harris
Demi, Dmitri Zubov -
David Duchovny
Bruni -
William Fichtner
Alex -
Lance Henriksen
Markok -
Johnathon Schaech
Pavlov -
Jason Beghe
Dr. Semak -
Dagmara Dominczyk
Sophi -
Derek Magyar
Garin -
Sean Patrick Flanery
Tyrtov -
Jason Gray-Stanford
Sasha -
Julian Adams
Bavenod -
Kip Pardue
Yanis -
Jordan Bridges
Sonar Operator -
Jacob Witkin
Priest -
Matt Bushell
Sentry -
Daren Flam
Stepan -
Pedro Hossi
Vlad -
Tessa Robinson
Demi's Daughter -
Brien Perry
Guard -
Wayne Scott Miller
Starshina -
Ashlyn Nicole Selich
Sasha's Bride
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Phantom Trailer & Photos
All Critics (55) | Top Critics (20) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (41)
Ed Harris and company can't lift this one off the seafloor, and "Phantom" fades away into the murky mist.
The film remains mediocre, with flat cinematography and crudely anachronistic dialogue.
A game effort by a decent cast highlights the old-fashioned submarine thriller "Phantom," but heavy-handed dialogue, flurries of melodrama and a silly ending make the whole enterprise sink like a stone.
It's not something you want to plunk down $12 for, but just diverting enough to check out when it arrives on Netflix Instant.
[Its] admirable air of realism dissipates once Robinson takes viewers outside the sub, where torpedo skirmishes are staged with too-perfect CGI bombast.
"Phantom" has a pulpy B-movie intensity and economy to match its cast of quality character actors.
When limited by budget, a good independent film turns in on itself and spotlights the actors, and that's where the meat is in this movie.
Done well, submarine movies are intense affairs that keep viewers glued to the screen as characters play breathtaking games of cat-and-mouse. Done poorly, they turn out like Phantom.
It's fun just to hear the lingo and watch the sailors go about their tasks, but not so fun when the captain's Dark Secret starts giving him cheesy, strobing flashbacks.
At least it seems to have a working knowledge of submarine procedures and terminology.
Inexcusably tedious, resulting in yawning boredom
Scuttle it.
Seriously, where's that giant octopus when you need him?
Harris, Duchovny and Fichtner lead a strong cast in a engrossing submarine adventure
Taut, tense sub drama is entertaining, despite cliches.
Phantom features some wonky visual effects, but one either buys into a film of this kind or not.
Dramatically waterlogged and, despite the efforts of a strong cast, more than a little silly.
Slow start, fast finish.
Ed Harris is back in command and the world depends on him. Look out.
When it's focused, it comes together in satisfactory way, blending crew procedures with stratagem. When it loses its step, it's utterly forgettable, even with its submarine setting.
It's an okay military thriller. But considering the real-life story behind the tale, it could and should have been so much more. (Full Content Review for Parents also available)
Techs are OK and the cramped claustrophobia of pre-nuclear submarines is palpable. But, "Phantom" does not approach the last great submariner flick, "Das Boot (1981)"...
Even some faultless acting in the lead roles cannot redeem the preposterous goings-on in this throwback of a suspense thriller set aboard a Russian nuclear submarine at the height of the Cold War.
We get stern orders, dry technospeak and the occasional physical incident, but far less than what's required in such an apocalyptic setting.
Audience Reviews for Phantom
Super Reviewer
It's the script for Phantom that feels the most unpolished. The exposition is rushed and a bit hammy, and the dialogue often stilted. The characters are placed in situations which should be tension filled, but pass too suddenly, and to a largely muted effect. This is also a direction issue, with a far too many stylistic indulgences by Todd Robinson.
The cast features some reliable talents, but is undoubtedly headlined by Ed Harris, who lifts every scene he's in, and injects the film with the sort of apprehension it seemed to be going for. Duchnovny is a character actor, to be sure, and is a bit miscast but still manages to deliver on his part. William Fichtner, terribly underrated, also brings a fair amount of presence to the screen, and has surprising chemistry with Harris. Though the cast didn't make up for the film's lack of polish, it certainly elevated the otherwise lackluster material.
As a pure thriller, Phantom does hit on the major beats one would expect. The story, that of a rogue Soviet ballistic missile sub, is compelling, especially considering it was inspired by real-world events. That it's a very Americanized version, the actors don't even speak with accents, is a bit disconcerting, but the heart of the story does seem to pay off well at the end.
Not without some flaws, but an adequate enough drama.
3/5 Stars
Super Reviewer
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Top Critic
You would think that complaints regarding a lack of Russian accents from our leads would be a nitpick and not seem like a big deal, and sure, when it comes to the quality of the acting, it's not, but the American accents distance not only the believability of the film's setting, but your investment in the distinct conflicts that the leads of this film face as Russians during the Cold War - when Communism and conflicts with, of all people, the Americans were as alive as they were in any country in the world around this time - by serving as an instrumental component in the establishment of characters who you cannot fully associate with this subject matter, due to its not being compatible with characters of this, if you will, nationality. If nothing else is offputting about the lack of Russian accents, it's simply the storytelling decision's being a glaring reflection of directorial laziness that borders on embarrassing, maybe even incompetent, which isn't to say that laziness within Todd Robinson's generally rather ambitious storytelling ends there, because even when you look at the script, Robinson retards momentum with repetitious and often meandering fat around the edges of story structure that are made all the more glaring by atmospheric dry spells that, while never really all that dull, bland things up, and prove to be much too recurring for their own good. Even the pick-ups in tension feel rather held back, but more often than not, it's the steadier moments in this drama that you have to worry about, and you can rest assured that there are plenty of those, thus, the final product feels rather limp, as surely as it feels undercooked, as irony would have it, featuring expository depth that is limited within the heads of this small and potentially very accessible cast, and all but thinned into nonexistence when it comes to the secondary leads. The film is underdeveloped, and it's hard not to blame Robinson's writing for that, because as if the limp moments in story structure, as well as fall-flat moments in dialogue, aren't problematic enough, characterization is thin, crafting character types who end up running together, carrying predictable fates behind them, thus leaving the final product to fall short of potential even as a character piece. If nothing else, the near-trite characterization reflects the other near-trite areas in this film's storytelling, which follows a formulaic path in a bland fashion that leaves you to not only meditate upon the natural shortcomings which you can imagine are found within this drama of only 100 minutes, but leave the final product to feel like not much more than another piece in a pile of films of its type. There's not particularly bad about that, because the film is ultimately likable, largely because it is inspired enough to earn your investment at times, but the areas that go tainted by laziness are impossible miss, going into producing an undercooked, formulaic and ultimately rather bland drama that I can't promise will be all that memorable by any means. That being said, while the film is occupying its time, expect most every moment in which your investment is shaken to be met by a moment that helps in keeping you going.
Quite honestly, Jeff Rona's score is not without its problems, and they're not always the doing of Rona himself, for although the conventionalism and occasional piece of overstylization within Rona's compositions throw you off a bit, Todd Robinson's cheesily near-abusive usage of the compositions in the context of storytelling help greatly in keeping the overbearing atmospheric areas pumping, while betraying the quality of Rona's efforts, which is, in fact, still rich enough for you to appreciate this film's score more often than not, particularly when the thoughtful, yet somewhat intense kick to Rona's noble efforts are played up at the right moment to flavor up the atmospheric effectiveness of the film, rather than do it injustice. Sure, outside of Rona's efforts and the occasional pretty point in Byron Werner's generally kind of flat cinematography, there's not much in the way of artistic punch-up to compliment within this project, but if there is entertainment value within the film it is typically anchored by the flavorful musical efforts of Rona. There are highlights in style, but it's substance that needs to be most worried about in this drama, so the film stands at great risk of collapse into mediocrity, because its storytelling is faulty, but not so faulty that you're blind to a certain intrigue to this film's subject matter dealing with a dramatization of Soviet men of the Navy facing great internal and external conflicts to keep a raise in warfare at bay, for although the value of this story concept is often betrayed, its presence breathes life into a bit of immediate intrigue, which is then fed by inspired areas in storytelling, or at least acting. There's so little for our performers to work with that they don't even have Russian accents, and that really hurts the effectiveness of our leads as components to the convincingness of this character study, yet the leads ultimately all but compensate, because even though David Duchovny seems to be a touch bland, most everyone has a high point in dramatic acting, with leading man Ed Harris more-or-less carrying the film with a certain distinguished charisma that convinces you of his Captain Demi character's leadership, until broken up by a subtly striking moment of emoting that sells you on the human depths of our primary lead and helps considerably in reinforcing your investment. Harris' performance is too underwritten to be outstanding, but it's a particularly fleshed out and inspired beat within an acting department that is all but populated by decent, if not borderline strong performances, and while the acting can do only so much to compensate for the directorial shortcomings, they anchor this drama, though not alone. As problematic as Todd Robinson's efforts as both writer and director are throughout this somewhat lazy project, when ambition becomes inspiration, effectiveness is, well, not too hard to deny, because Robinson's missteps really do do some damage, but not so much so that those willing to run with this film aren't bound to run into moments of genuine compellingness that convince you on the claustrophobia and, in some cases, intensity of this thriller. If Robinson succeeds at doing nothing else, it is keeping entertainment value from ever slipping too much, for although the film is a bit bland, it rarely, if ever dulls down so much that you can ignore the things that are done right, of which there are enough to make an enjoyable, if underwhelming thriller.
Overall, the lack of Russian accents distance you from the effectiveness of characterization enough without being accompanied by underdevelopment which reflects a certain hurrying in storytelling, broken up by many a slow spell that, alongside genericism, bland up storytelling enough for the final product to slip into underwhelmingness, but not quite into mediocrity, thanks to lively score work, a reasonably intriguing story concept, decent acting, - particularly from leading man Ed Harris - and enough entertaining, if not dramatically effective highlights in directorial storytelling to make Todd Robinson's "Phantom" a decent piece of filler within the submarine film sub-industry, at least while you can still remember it.
2.5/5 - Fair