Phantom (2013 film)

Phantom is a 2013 American submarine thriller film about a Soviet submarine during the Cold War in the 1960s. Todd Robinson wrote and directed the film. It stars Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner.

Phantom
Film poster.
Directed byTodd Robinson
Produced byJohn Watson
Julian Adams
Pen Densham
Written byTodd Robinson
StarringEd Harris
David Duchovny
William Fichtner
Lance Henriksen
Johnathon Schaech
Julian Adams
Music byJeff Rona
CinematographyByron Werner
Edited byDan Lebental
Terel Gibson
Production
company
RCR Media Group
Trilogy Entertainment
Solar Filmworks
Distributed byRCR Distribution
Release date
  • March 1, 2013 (2013-03-01)
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.2 million[1][2]

The film tells the story of a Soviet Navy submarine captain attempting to prevent a war. It is loosely based on the real-life events involving the sinking of the submarine K-129 in 1968.

Plot

Captain Dmitri "Demi" Zubov (Harris) is a veteran Soviet Navy captain finishing up a career that failed to live up to the legacy of his legendary father. He is given an assignment by Markov (Henriksen) to lead a top secret mission and given the command of his old ship. Due to mistakes he made during his service, involving the deaths of six of his past crew in a collision and fire, this will be his last assignment and his only opportunity to command any ship at all. Demi interrupts a party involving his crew, including Alex Kozlov (Fichtner), his up-and-coming executive officer headed for great success. However, as Demi leaves his home to lead Alex and his crew on the secret mission, the presence of a KGB contingent led by agent Bruni (Duchovny), and ominous portents, begin to alter the objectives of the mission, causing Demi and Kozlov to become concerned. Furthermore, Markov commits suicide at his office window while watching the submarine depart.

Demi and Kozlov are wary of Bruni and his men and soon discover his mission: to use a device known as the Phantom to alter their ship's acoustic signature to make them appear to be a civilian merchant vessel, or a number of other ships. After a demonstration, Demi questions Bruni about the device and the mission's objectives. Soon after, Bruni's men hold Demi at gunpoint. Bruni eventually reveals to Demi that he and his comrades are rogue operatives and not here under orders from the Soviet government. He explains that the United States military has started a secret program called "Dark Star" that will make the United States invulnerable to the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons, and he and his fellow operatives fear for the safety of their homeland if its nuclear capabilities are rendered useless. Their plan is to start a nuclear war between the United States and China by disguising the ship as a Chinese vessel and launching a nuclear missile at the American Pacific Fleet off Midway. After Demi refuses to cooperate, he and those loyal to him are taken and locked away in the ship, where Demi explains his past failures and explains how he began to suffer from seizures and brain trauma after suffering a concussion from his sub's fateful collision with Markov's sub.

Demi, Kozlov and the loyal crew plot and execute a plan that eventually takes back the ship and alerts another Russian submarine that they are in distress. Two other members of the crew, Tyrtov (Flanery) and Sasha (Gray-Stanford), attempt to disable the missile. They succeeded in disabling the warhead, even though the missile was fired. Eventually, fighting ensues onboard, resulting in the deaths of many of both Demi's crew and Bruni's men. The submarine is soon badly damaged by Soviet torpedoes and sinks to the ocean floor. The crew begin breathing in poisonous chlorine gas fumes produced by the mixture of seawater and battery acid, as Alex is sent on a rescue attempt for the remaining crew. Bruni explains to Demi that he was on board when the fire took place and that he was the man ordered by Demi to trap the men, leading to their demise.

Eventually, the submarine is recovered and the remaining crew, including Demi and his men, are seen standing atop the ship. From the nearby dock, Demi's wife and daughter praise his actions while Alex, now a captain, salutes the sub, paying respects to his former commanding officer. It is then revealed that Demi and his men, watching from the submarine's deck, are ghosts, watching from the afterlife.

Cast

Production

Onboard scenes took place in the former Foxtrot-class B-39 Soviet submarine which is now a museum at San Diego.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Phantom was released on February 26, 2013.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."The Early Dawn"Jeff Rona3:03
2."This Is Not a Drill"Jeff Rona1:18
3."Can We Be Redeemed For the Things We’ve Done?"Jeff Rona1:14
4."Time for Farewells"Jeff Rona1:53
5."We All Go on the Same Way on a Boat"Jeff Rona2:51
6."Welcome Aboard"Jeff Rona1:05
7."We Sail at Dawn"Jeff Rona2:54
8."True Zealots"Jeff Rona1:24
9."Twenty Ton Screws"Jeff Rona2:30
10."These Government Drugs Are Shit"Jeff Rona2:14
11."Like a Thousand Snowflakes"Jeff Rona1:10
12."Engage the Phantom"Jeff Rona0:54
13."Only Two Reasons"Jeff Rona2:06
14."My Father"Jeff Rona3:22
15."You Should Be Flattered"Jeff Rona0:55
16."Sending a Signal"Jeff Rona2:22
17."Go Below"Jeff Rona3:27
18."They Already Have the Codes"Jeff Rona2:20
19."If They So Much as Blink"Jeff Rona2:39
20."Torpedoes in the Water"Jeff Rona2:28
21."This Is Your Captain"Jeff Rona3:04
22."Arming the Warhead"Jeff Rona3:11
23."We’re On the Bottom"Jeff Rona4:03
24."Give Her a Message"Jeff Rona4:32
25."To Stay Here With You"Jeff Rona1:26
26."I Wish He Knew"Jeff Rona4:07
27."An Ocean Away"Rachel Fannan (Carmen Rizzo Mix)3:43
Total length:66:15[3]

The score was co-produced by Jeff Rona and Nathan Rightnour.

Reception

The film has received negative reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on over 53 reviews, with the consensus: "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". West Coast Midnight Run[4] gave it a B score declaring it solidly entertaining if uneven: "solid acting all around and nice flashbacks that peel off the layer of intrigue for the viewer ... despite a less than grandiose feast of special effects ... offset mostly by skilled acting from Harris, Duchovny and Fichtner."[5]

References

  1. Phantom at Box Office Mojo
  2. Phantom (2013)
  3. The Phantom Soundtrack TheOST. Retrieved Dec. 23, 2013
  4. http://midnighttracks.net/2013/rdr47.html West Coast Midnight Run
  5. Benetti, Francis. "Phantom Takes Us Into the Depth of Nuclear War Review in West Coast Midnight Run". Citadel Consulting Group LLC. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
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