Rating: C-
Dir: Jamie Bailey
Star: Ryan Giesen, Simon Phillips, Anne-Carolyne Binette, Dela Reilley
The makers of this deserve some credit, for apparently having shot the bulk of it in a mere six days, and on an actual submarine to boot. Presumably not one nestled on the ocean floor just off the coast of Russia, but still: well done. It’s an environment the exact opposite of one intended for filming, and it’s not as if you can knock a wall down or move that pesky periscope out of the way when necessary. Given this, the results look good, and occasionally impressive. The problems here are elsewhere. Its story offers a burn that’s too slow, and it contains several performances which are awkward in tone, almost feeling as if they come from different movies.
This begins with an American submarine on patrol during a period of severely heightened tension between the United States and Russia. Under Captain Michael Banks (Giesen), they are playing cat and mouse with an enemy sub – and they’re the rodent. Weirdly, music is filtering in from the outside, but that’s nothing compared to the naked, mute woman (Reilley) who suddenly shows up in one of the torpedo tubes. As the situation on the surface escalates, going first to DefCon 3 and then higher, her arrival triggers paranoia in Banks, and for good reason. Not helping matters: a British sailor on secondment (Phillips) who is in possession of additional information regarding what’s going on. He has his own agenda regarding the end-game for the submarine and its lethal cargo of ICBMs.
It’s all a bit much for the film to handle, and there are points where it teeters on the edge of collapsing under the weight of all the conflicting agendas. The same may apply to the makers’ intentions. Are they going for a political thriller, a mermaid slasher, or an exercise in feminist gender theory? You can probably figure out, such a trifecta is an awkward combo to pull off, and are likely part of the reason why, as mentioned above, the actors feel as if they are pulling in different directions. There are a few scenes that do work on their own terms, such as the newcomer’s seduction and destruction of the torpedo engineer (top). Yet these are almost inevitably followed by tedious talkies.
I definitely also wanted more from the “monster”. Quotes used advisedly, since there’s a case she’s actually the heroine, if you’re adopting the gender theory approach. Outside of the opening shot, there’s really nothing inhuman about her. Which I guess is the most economic approach, yet feels a bit of a cop-out. Reilley is also better when she’s mute. Towards the end she finds her voice and it’s just not convincing. She’s supposed to be alluring – a literal siren – yet when she speaks, it has no passion or sense of conviction in her words. I wasn’t sold. When the monster at a film’s core is severely underwhelming, it’s difficult for it to recover its bite.