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Perseus · 07-27-13, 09:29 AM

Ugh. Give this one a wide berth: 'Phantom'

Arguably one of the worst submarine movies I've ever had the misfortune of seeing.

Nearly everything is wrong with this movie. The story, the characters, the technical stuff, the references, the tactics, everything.

It is loosely - might I add, very loosely - based on a novel by Kenneth Sewell which he wrote about the sinking of the K-129 Golf-II SSBN northwest of Midway.

The K-129 actually did sink amid still unclear circumstances. You can read about that here.

But again, that was a Golf-II SSBN. Not the B-67 Foxtrot they show us in the movie.

When a mad KGB agent inside the boat forces the captain to nearly ram his SSBN into a Panamanian freight vessel by diving to 5 meters below it and actually having the con tower hit the freight vessels' aft propellers, I was ready to turn off the TV.

It was without a doubt the most absurd scene I have ever seen in a submarine movie

The captain is a traumatized epileptic and an alcoholic, the first obviously not being his fault and the second, well - let's just say that I know of no navy that would allow an epileptic alcoholic with a trauma about an earlier collision incident to drive a boomer, or any other vessel. Not even the Red Banner fleet of the 1960s, mad as they were.

And it's sad, because Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner are fine actors. But even their acting couldn't save this monstrosity of a movie.

07-27-13, 09:29 AM	#77
Perseus Mate Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 57 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Phantom Ugh. Give this one a wide berth: 'Phantom' Arguably one of the worst submarine movies I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. Nearly everything is wrong with this movie. The story, the characters, the technical stuff, the references, the tactics, everything. It is loosely - might I add, very loosely - based on a novel by Kenneth Sewell which he wrote about the sinking of the K-129 Golf-II SSBN northwest of Midway. The K-129 actually did sink amid still unclear circumstances. You can read about that here. But again, that was a Golf-II SSBN. Not the B-67 Foxtrot they show us in the movie. When a mad KGB agent inside the boat forces the captain to nearly ram his SSBN into a Panamanian freight vessel by diving to 5 meters below it and actually having the con tower hit the freight vessels' aft propellers, I was ready to turn off the TV. It was without a doubt the most absurd scene I have ever seen in a submarine movie The captain is a traumatized epileptic and an alcoholic, the first obviously not being his fault and the second, well - let's just say that I know of no navy that would allow an epileptic alcoholic with a trauma about an earlier collision incident to drive a boomer, or any other vessel. Not even the Red Banner fleet of the 1960s, mad as they were. And it's sad, because Ed Harris, David Duchovny and William Fichtner are fine actors. But even their acting couldn't save this monstrosity of a movie.