Phantom | |
---|---|
Film poster.
|
|
Directed by | Todd Robinson |
Produced by |
John Watson Julian Adams Pen Densham |
Written by | Todd Robinson |
Starring |
Ed Harris David Duchovny William Fichtner Lance Henriksen Johnathon Schaech Julian Adams |
Music by | Jeff Rona |
Cinematography | Byron Werner |
Edited by | Dan Lebental Terel Gibson |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | RCR Distribution |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $1.2 million |
Phantom is a 2013 American 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.
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.
Demi (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 many of his past crew in a 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 KGB 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 as the submarine departs.
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 informs Demi that his plans are to start a war between the United States and China by disguising the ship as a Chinese vessel and launching a nuclear missile at the American fleet. Those loyal to Demi are taken with him and locked away in the ship, where Demi explains his past failures and explains how him smacking his head on the ship wall gave him seizures and brain trauma.
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. Eventually, fighting ensues, causing the deaths of many on Demi's crew and of Bruni's men. The submarine is soon badly damaged by Russian torpedoes and sinks to the ocean floor. The crew begin breathing in poisonous fumes as Alex is sent on a rescue attempt for the remaining crew. Bruni explains to Demi that he was on his crew when the fire took place and that he was the man ordered to trap the men to their deaths.