{"id":7701,"date":"2024-02-08T16:34:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T22:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/?p=7701"},"modified":"2024-02-08T16:34:44","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T22:34:44","slug":"phantom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interestingauthors.com\/blog\/film-reviews\/phantom\/","title":{"rendered":"Review\u00a0\u2014 Phantom (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/span>\n\n\n\n

I don’t care that many critics emptied their colons on Phantom<\/a><\/em>. You can watch it for free on Plex and make your own decision. Personally, it is one of the few submarine movies I’ve watched that really held my interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ed Harris<\/a> is just incredible at disappearing into a role. Even if he ends up in a B-grade movie it’s always a good watch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Fichtner<\/a> is one of our country’s great actors. He was awesome in Drive Angry<\/a><\/em> and doesn’t disappoint here. Admittedly his role is a bit smaller as this is an ensemble cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jason Beghe<\/a> is an actor I wish got more work. He’s got that “every guy” quality about him. Not a lot of actors have that. Jimmy Stewart had it in spades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man, the myth, the monotone! David Duchovny<\/a> is how I stumbled onto this movie. When I saw he was in it I took a look at the rest of the cast and immediately put the movie on my list. No, I’m not a Duchovny fan boy, just have a spot in my heart for the X-files<\/a><\/em> back when it was cool. Haven’t seen him in much else. Yes, he’s done a lot, I just haven’t watched it. The three actors above are what pulled me in, he was just a bonus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synopsis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One cannot really review Phantom<\/em> without giving a bit too much away. In somewhat X-Files<\/em> tradition there are some silent screens with text trying to make this more of a docudrama than a movie. When cutting the movie they took the “inspired by actual events” pretty seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of the hook was that I didn’t know what the mystery mission was because I didn’t know the “actual events” this was based on. They keep that secret until about half way through. Gospel truth the “reveal” early on is a misdirection. The actions of the Russian super secret whatever they were are all based on a simple, believable premise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The only nuclear war Russian can win is the one it doesn’t participate in.<\/p>\npremise in the movie<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Phantom Details<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unlike War Games<\/a><\/em> or its sequel, there is no computer to learn the futility of nuclear war. There are just a bunch of chess playing drunks who decide you can have a nuclear war that Russia wins by starting a nuclear war between China and America. Let them nuke each other until they glow, then pick up the pieces as the only global power left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mission is to take an ancient sub that is about to be sold to the Chinese, put a nuke on it, get close to the American forces, and nuke America from a distance too close to defend from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disney Ruined This Movie for Many<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As kids we all saw something like this, be it on a paperback book cover or in one of the many movies made based on the book. A submarine with great big glass windows. No!<\/strong> A submarine is basically a beer can. It is blind and if it goes too deep it gets crushed like a beer can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have all heard of sonar. Many of you will have watched a movie or been to a museum where you hear that “ping.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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