No it’s not about Sub Search–the 3-dimensional Milton Bradley board game precursor to Battleship–although it sure looks like it could be.  In an era where Hasbro is partnering with movie studios to create tie-in films, why not?  What we do have is Jude Law, star of the movie Sherlock Holmes series as well as genre classic Gattaca, leading the next submarine flick coming soon to theaters, Black Sea.

We’re always waiting for the next “best submarine thriller.”  Back in February 2013 we previewed the David Duchovny and Ed Harris submarine film Phantom here at borg.com.  The one to beat is, of course,  the best submarine thriller ever made–The Hunt for Red October, based on the novel by Tom Clancy featuring Sean Connery as a Russian sub captain and Alec Baldwin as the original Jack Ryan.  Red October was inspired by actual events–a failed mutiny aboard the Russian anti-submarine ship Storozhevoy by Valery Sablin in 1975.

Black Sea features genre actress Jodie Whittaker (Attack the Block, Marchlands).  It’s about a sub search–a quest for a Nazi U-Boat on the ocean’s floor, supposedly full of gold, and a rough crew at odds with each other as they try to secure it.  After the break, check out the first trailer for Black Sea:

While you’re waiting for Black Sea, you should track down the second best submarine thriller ever made, The Bedford Incident, from 1965, starring Richard Widmark (The Alamo, Coma), Sydney Poitier (Sneakers, The Jackal, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs), Martin Balsam (All the President’s Men), and James MacArthur (Hawaii Five-O).  Or classic World War II sub movies, like 1951’s Operation Pacific with John Wayne, Patricia Neal, and Ward Bond, 1951’s Submarine Command with William Holden, 1957’s The Enemy Below with Robert Mitchum, and 1958’s Run Silent, Run Deep with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.  Or if you just want some Naval realism you can always watch Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles.

If classics aren’t your thing, then there are lesser modern efforts, like 1995’s Crimson Tide with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington or 2002’s K-19: The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, both still decent action flicks.  Of course it’s always fun to see how they re-created Jules Verne’s original classic Nautilus in 2003’s steampunk The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Black Sea hits theaters January 23, 2015.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com