Trailer Trashin’: All Aboard a Spooky Soviet Submarine in Phantom

Happy New Year’s, everyone! Now that we’ve finished our holiday celebrations, it’s time to look ahead to 2013, which looks like it could be another awesome year for movies. And this week’s installment of Trailer Trashin’ takes a look at the upcoming submarine thriller Phantom.

Premise: The captain of a Soviet submarine holds the fate of the world in his hands. On a seemingly haunted vessel, with a rogue element on board, Captain Demi (Ed Harris) is forced to face his past in order to find redemption in the present. But in the depths of the South Pacific, man and machine are not alone.

My take: If you think about it, a military submarine is almost a perfect setting for a thriller. You have a smallish group of people forced to work together. They’re in a dangerous environment, dependent on a piece of man-made technology for their very survival. And there’s always the possibility of attack by hostile forces. Now we have a new military submarine thriller coming our way in the form of Phantom. The first trailer for the movie has arrived, and I think it looks pretty cool.

As far as I’m concerned, the main thing that Phantom has going for it is its cast. Ed Harris is an amazing actor, and I think he’s exactly the kind of quietly authoritative presence you want at the center of a story like this. It’s also nice to see David Duchovny in a movie again, and I’m interested in seeing him play what seems like a more villainous role, which I don’t think he’s really done before. The great character actor William Fichtner is also on hand; between this and him playing the villain in The Lone Ranger this summer, it’s great that Fichtner is getting some more prominent roles, rather than just playing small supporting parts. Similarly, I was happy to see Lance Henriksen as the old admiral; Henriksen has been one of my favorite character actors for a long time, and it’s always nice to see him show up. And for all you fans of The Boondock Saints, Sean Patrick Flanery is also here as one of the crewmen.

I was impressed by how relatively restrained this trailer was. Rather than giving us wall-to-wall guns and submarine action, it spends time setting up the premise and storyline. When we finally learn about the apparent mutiny, the tone completely changes and it goes full-tilt into action/thriller territory. And of course, there’s the big mystery of just what the “Phantom” device is and what it can do. But we have to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Yes, none of these guys sound remotely like they’re Russians. But you know what? It honestly doesn’t bother me. With actors this good, I’m frankly fine with them just using their normal accents and being able to concentrate fully on giving great performances. I was fine with this happening in The Hunt for Red October (1990), and I’m fine with it here.

Not much else to say, is there? This is a short, well-made trailer for a movie that looks like it could be pretty good. With a great cast, an intriguing setup, and the promise of some cool action, I think that Phantom will be a movie to keep an eye on when it comes out at the beginning of March.

ANTICIPATION: I don’t know if I’ll pay to watch it in the theater, but I definitely want to see it at some point.

Release Date: March 1^st, 2013

Starring: Ed Harris, David Duchovny, William Fichtner, Lance Henriksen, Johnathon Schaech, Jason Beghe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Gray-Stanford, and Julian Adams
Director: Todd Robinson
Writer: Todd Robinson