Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Phantom’ (2013)

Written by Scott Edwards

​Trying to live up to a family legacy can be overly stressful for children. Knowing that their parents or a relative has accomplished something great, the belief is that everyone in the family can do the same thing. While sometimes this is true, most of the time, it is not and people end up hurting themselves to try and be something that they are not. There is nothing wrong with wanting to follow in your family’s footsteps, since most people want to do it, but there is also no shame in making a path for yourself.
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Getting called into Markov’s office and getting his orders for his final command, Demi is shocked to see that he will be taking his old diesel submarine out one last time before they both retire. With a special assignment being put on him, Markov knows that his tenured captain can pull off what needs to be done for the good of the country. With very little information being passed on to him about the mission, Demi only knows that there will be some ranking members of the KGB aboard his ship, but nothing else. Preparing his crew to take to the seas one last time, Demi knows that something is off, but has no idea how off things really are.

While running routine drills, KGB officer Bruni keeps an eye on the captain and his crew to get a feel of how things work in the boat. With his agenda being made clear, when he speaks, the captain needs to listen and follow his commands, but that is not something that Demi is ready to do. When sailing closer to the United States waters, Demi gets word that an American submarine has located them and is looking to attack. With everything going according to plan, Bruni gives the order to continue on the same course and activate his new item. As the old ship is running loud, the American submarine is not able to get a fix on the location and heads back on its original course. Being shocked, Demi wants to know what this new device is how it masked his boat from being sunk by the Americans.

With everything being classified, Bruni is happy to disclose a little bit of information about ‘The Phantom’ that saved the submarine from being sunk. Being able to mask the signature sounds of a submarine and make it sound like any other sea faring vehicle, the KGB has created something that will help win the war for Russia. But when Demi wants to report the success to the higher ups, the truth of what Bruni is doing on the boat comes to light. With an active nuclear warhead aboard, he is looking to take his mission to the next step. Relieving the captain of command, Bruni and his undercover agents want to start the next world war, but Demi and his faithful crew are not ready to allow this, at least not yet.

Sometimes you just need to sit back and watch a submarine movie to put your own life in perspective. As this story played out, you learn much more about the captain and the many things he is ashamed of in his life, but not living up to his father’s reputation eats at him the most. It is really sad to see him suffer with this downfall in life and everyone can relate to it, since we have all been there a time or two. I love the KGB plot on the ship, wanting to start a war with their new technology, and not really be at war as you soon find out. It is a genius way to get other world powers out of the way so Russia can assume the helm once again. With a submarine, a power struggle, flashbacks to darker days, an officer hell bent on starting a war, a nuclear missile and torpedoes out the wazoo, this movie might wind up surprising you with the message it is trying to get across. 

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