Our Kind of Traitor

For a movie written by Hossein Amini (he also wrote everyone's favourite movie, Drive), based on a novel by spymaster John le Carré and with a cast of stars that should be impeccable, this thriller ends up being a laborious adventure in mediocrity. It probably has to do with the director Susanna White's first time attempt attempt at a thriller and the insanely distracting camera work.

Perry (Ewan McGregor) and his wife Gail (Naomie Harris) are having a holiday in Marrakech in order to reconnect after some specified bad blood between the two. One night, Perry meets Dima (Stellan Skårsgard), a Russian oligarch who soon reveals that he has previously worked for the Russian Mafia and has information he would like to exchange for he and his family's safety. Once back in London, Perry gets in contact with MI6 agent Hector (Damian Lewis), who deems the information Dima holds to be of value. However, he is unable to convince his superiors of the value and must embark on an unsanctioned mission with the help of Perry and Gail.

Despite being a relatively good story, there are a few points when the script gets sticky. Early on, there is a scene in which Dima meets with Hector for the first time and while it plays out like an amazing game of cat and mouse, it happens way too early in the story. This really affects some similar scenes that happen later on. The climax of the film also falls flat as well. It is something that you can see a mile away, but then when it happens, there's no real emotional response. I suppose one of the biggest distractions for me however, was Ewan McGregor's line readings. Whenever he said anything, it felt like he'd looked at the script for the first time and gone, "woah, I get to say that?"

But it's not as though the rest of the cast is this bad. Naomie Harris is a splendid performer and I really felt like she cared for the family they were trying to save. She didn't really have a chemistry with McGregor, but I'm guessing that's kind of the point. Stellan Skårsgard is always great at playing either the reserved quiet type or the over the top criminal. Here he straddles the middle ground quite nicely. It's good to see Damian Lewis returning to his natural accent because the American accent he does in the TV show Billions is quite grating. The only reason I bring that up is because this is how Susanna White must have got this job because she's a director on that show.

Finally, the camera work. I don't know where to begin. It's just so distracting. During the opening sequence, there was a highly stylised glittery thing going on that had me thinking, "Oh this is only for the intro, it'll settle down." But it didn't. The amount of reflective surfaces that they sparkled lights off was unbelievable. And then they decide to shoot it from some new and unusual angles. The result ended up being a disorienting mess. Some of the time, I didn't even know where we were supposed to be in the room.

The slowness of this movie made it nowhere near as enjoyable as it should have been. The story had all the intrigue that a spy movie should have, but it also just felt like a lighter version of 2014's A Most Wanted Man, also a le Carré adaptation. In fact the endings of both films are slightly similar, just this one feels a little more resolved. It just needed more excitement.

Black Sea

Kevin Macdonald's latest film Black Sea is a weird, dark and undoubtedly thrilling submarine film which mixes in elements of the heist genre. It has the feel of a Cold War era action film, but is it an entertaining ride? 

Captain Robinson (Jude Law) works in deep-sea salvage, and has just been made redundant. As he discusses his problems over a drink with his mate Kurston (Daniel Ryan) and a Russian man, Blackie (Konstantin Khabensky), Kurston tells them that in WWII a German U-Boat, supposedly stuffed to the brim with gold, sank in the Black Sea and that whilst some large third-parties were interested in salvaging it, they had become embroiled in political red-tape. Kurston has a plan to salvage the gold, and sends the other two to negotiate a deal with a rich man named Lewis (Tobias Menzies), who can fund the expedition. Before they begin the trip, Robinson finds a young man, Tobin (Bobby Schofield) waiting at Kurston's apartment, who informs Robinson that he's committed suicide. Robinson recruits Tobin in his place and the crew travel to Crimea, where they join a Russian crew and the old Russian sub that they're to use. However, once under way, the expedition doesn't go to plan with the claustrophobic conditions, value of the find, and division between the crew adding to the conflict.

Black Sea doesn't hang about. After a brief establishing conversation, Robinson is already working to get the plan under way, and this pace continues through to the very end of the film. It covers so much ground that it's difficult to believe that it's less than two hours in length. The 'U-boat full of gold' back story is interesting with enough intrigue to work, and apart from a few unnecessary flashbacks that create the illusion of character development, the story - and indeed, the characters - fixate on the events within the submarine. The influence of other sub films like Das Boot are pretty obvious, with scattered references throughout, and the overall feel of the film, the tension and claustrophobia, is reminiscent of some Cold War era features. 

Captain Robinson hints throughout that he sees himself and his crew-mates, as the working class, treated like shit by the companies that originally hired them, and that they deserve the gold more than any of the "bankers" that are also hunting it. In his attempts to maintain an egalitarian mood on board the submarine, he's (ironically) frequently putting people into line, which is really where some of the complications begin. Many of them are out for a larger piece of the pie, and almost everybody on the sub is an enemy at one point or another, as they divide against each other. Another interesting character is Fraser, who seems to be a complete and utter nutter, with some conflicting viewpoints. For instance, after some psychopathic measures on his part early in the film, he argues for the moral choice against Robinson, then proceeds to flip back to his previous persona. Really though, all of the characters are quite well-rounded - enough for this type of film anyway - and the acting all-round is great.

This is ultimately an action film, and it succeeds admirably in creating a claustrophobic, dark, damp atmosphere in-fitting with the setting. There are very few wide shots in the film - all are external to the submarine - and from the very beginning of the film, the audience is right up in the face of the characters. There's a minimal use of CGI for the exterior shots and whilst it isn't 100% believable, it's never distracting. I love the fact that it's set in a rusty old Russian submarine, which is absolutely oozing with character (among other things). 

Black Sea has its faults - mainly with some jarring plot developments and unusual characters, but for what it seems to be setting out to achieve - to be an entertaining, atmospheric thriller - it certainly succeeds. Fans of other submarine films are sure to enjoy this.