Black Sea Black Sea is a
submarine disaster thriller film released in the year 2014. The plot of the film follows a former
naval officer and a veteran captain of underwater salvage, Robinson who after losing his job decides
to go on a rogue mission to find a sunken Nazi U-boat in the Black Sea rumored to be filled
with gold. To carry out the mission, he assembles a misfit crew of half British and half Russians,
promising each member an equal amount of profit. However, things take an unfortunate
turn when greed takes over the crew and they decide to go berserk on one another.
The film starts with Robinson, a veteran captain of underwater salvage getting fired from his firm
Agora Marine Management as the firm no longer needs a submarine pilot. Robinson’s manager feels
really sorry for him and gives him a settlement offer worth 8640 pounds. Having no other choice,
Robinson clears his desk and returns to his apartment dejected. Robinson has been recently
divorced and separated from his young son so he chases his estranged family to see them.
Later, he spends time with his friends Kurston and Blackie who were also fired from Agora.
After getting fired, Kurston has gone into depression and has been taking antidepressants.
Robinson tells his friends that he saw his 12-year-old son Martin outside his posh school.
He feels sad that his own son is being brought up by some other rich dude and that his ex-wife,
Chrissy, is happy without him. Kurston is unable to see himself and his friends suffering and tells
them that he has a way in mind to make money. The scene cuts to Robinson and Blackie meeting
a mysterious man named Lewis at a lavish mansion. Lewis’s executive, Daniels,
explains to Lewis the history of Stalin and Hitler and the disputes following the Russo-Georgian War.
It turns out that during World War II, Stalin was terrified that Germany was going to invade:
so Hitler used this fear and demanded a loan from Russia in gold. Weeks later after not
getting his demand fulfilled, Hitler broke the nonaggression pact and invaded Russia.
But in the 50s some rumors started to circulate that Stalin had complied with the request. Hitler
had sent a U-boat to Stalin which Stalin had stuffed with two tons of gold and sent it back.
But since the gold never arrived, Hitler broke the pact and invaded. However, in the 80s,
an oceanic research institute found a series of shallow ridges off the Georgian coast. Robinson
explains that his firm found a U-boat on one of those ridges that sank off the coast of Georgia
carrying a cargo of gold worth millions, but was unable to salvage it in 2008, due to territorial
disputes following the Russo-Georgian conflict. After listening to all the information, Lewis asks
what he can do regarding this. Robinson elucidates that he needs a submarine which costs 180,000
pounds so they can recover the gold. Moreover, he also wants men, half British and half Russian.
Lewis agrees to fund the expedition in exchange for a large share of the profits.
After getting the deal confirmed, Robinson calls Kurston and tells him that Lewis has agreed.
He and Blackie then put together a misfit team they can take with them on the expedition. Just
then, Daniels arrives and informs Robinson that Lewis has ordered him to accompany the expedition.
Later, while preparing for the expedition, Robinson keeps calling Kurston but Kurston
does not return any of his phone calls. Soon Robinson encounters a young man,
Tobin, who claims to be a friend of Kurston and informs Robinson of Kurston's suicide.
Robinson feels bummed as he has to look for another man now. But just then, he decides to
take Tobin along on the expedition. After the half British and half Russian crew is put together with
each man promised an equal share of profit, they are transported to the Port of Sevastopol, Crimea.
As per Robinson’s demand, he is provided with an antique antiquated Foxtrot-class submarine,
the only submarine of the Ukrainian Navy at the time. While Robinson checks the
interior of the submarine, the rest of the crew interact with each other.
Finally, Robinson gives a heads up to the crew to start preparing and the crew starts the work.
Since Daniels is claustrophobic, he flips out after discovering that there are no escape shafts
in the submarine. The rest of the crew laugh at him and make fun of his fear. Blackie informs
Robinson that the Russians think of Tobin as a bad omen on a boat since they assume he is a virgin.
Robinson does not believe in such superstition and gathers the crew to talk to them. He tells the
crew that they are going to find a treasure worth $40 million of gold. Robinson makes it clear that
after the 40% cut is given to Lewis, the rest will be divided among the crew. Later, Daniels
protests and tells Robinson that he should have given a flat fee to the crew instead of the equal
profit but Robinson thinks that everyone must get an equal share as they are risking their lives.
The submarine finally takes off for the voyage in full swing. Zaytsev, a Russian member of the crew
and the engine mechanic misbehaves with Tobin when he offers to help. Blackie informs Robinson about
it and Robinson sends out a message for Zaytsev to work with Tobin or get off the boat. Blackie
delivers the message and explains to Tobin how the engine’s valves work. Meanwhile, the British crew
members mess with Russians by belittling them and bad mouthing their food. The difference in
the language and the cultural line raises tension among the crew. Robinson notices that Tobin has
been staring at his phone for a long time and enquires him about it. It turns out that he is
soon to become a father so Robinson assures him that he will be a rich man once he returns back
and will be able to afford his child easily. Baba, the Russian driving the submarine,
notices a Russian sub on his way and successfully evades it after a tense struggle.
Later, the Russians keep messing around with Tobin, making his life difficult.
Soon, the sub arrives on top of the U-boat. Zaytsev informs Blackie that there is a gas
leak that needs to be fixed. Later, Robinson finds out that the Russians think that they will get
increased profit. Robinson goes to them only to discover that they have been on the radio despite
Robinson’s disapproval to use it. After destroying the radio, Robinson makes it clear that every man
on the boat will get an equal share and anyone who does not like the idea can go out of the sub.
Fraser, a British crew member who has been looking for an opportunity to number down the crew members
stabs Blackie in the chest when Blackie asks him to give him the knife. Things take an even more
unfortunate turn when Blackie stumbles upon a bucket of diesel breaking fire and causing an
explosion that cripples the sub. The scene cuts to Robinson dreaming about his ex-wife and son.
It turns out that he was knocked unconscious during the explosion. As he wakes up, he is
stunned to see two burnt corpses; one of Blackie and the other of Gittens, a British crew member.
The Britishers tell Robinson that he has been out for 18 hours during which the
Russians had gone wild due to which they had to be threatened with a flare gun to hold them off.
Now one half of the boat is taken over by the Russians and the other half by the British.
The Britishers berate Fraser for destroying the mission and risking everyone’s lives.
Having no other choice but to make amends with the Russians, Robinson tries to
communicate with a Russian crew member, Morozov. Robinson explains to Morozov that since their
sub’s drive shaft has been destroyed, they can use the drive shaft of the submarine that is lying on
the seafloor. Since the sonar scans indicate they are close to the old U-boat, they can salvage it
to take the drive shaft and appropriate it on their own submarine. Morozov emphasizes that the
sub is no longer capable of sailing so Robinson informs him that they just want to bring the sub
to the surface after which the crew is going to get into the life rafts. He then requests him
to get Baba and Zaytsev to get back to work as they need them desperately. Later, Robinson asks
Fraser and Peters to put the corpses in the tubes and eject them out into the Black Sea.
Robinson appoints Fraser and Peters to traverse the sea bed but Fraser demands to send one more
diver. While no one wants to volunteer, Tobin agrees to dive as he has done scuba training
before. The three of them set out to navigate the sea bed. After stepping inside the waters,
Tobin is scared but Fraser helps him breathe and assures him that they will get back safe.
While traversing, Tobin flips out after he comes across Blackie’s body floating in the sea. After
combing through the depth of the sea, Fraser is elated to find the wreck of the U-boat.
Upon entering the sunken ship, the divers are stunned to see the skeletons of the dead crew.
Fraser finds the drive shaft and realizes that it is designed almost identical to their sub so
he and Tobin try to recover it. Further, into the ship, Fraser finds the gold and is more than
happy about it. When Levchenko pulls the drive shaft, he tells Robinson that it is too heavy.
Robinson quickly realizes that the divers have got the gold and are bringing it on the trolley.
Daniels tells Robinson that the drive shaft is more important than the gold and that the divers
should lose the gold. However, Robinson does not listen to him and tells the divers to keep coming.
Midway through, the divers lose Peters after he falls down a trench and his air hose
accidentally severs. Finally, Fraser and Tobin recover the drive shaft along with the gold,
and return back to the sub. When the crew decides to resume their journey, Daniels protests and
insists on going up. Having no other choice, Daniels reveals to Robinson that he works for
Agora who has set Robinson up. It turns out that Agora deliberately leaked the details
of the U-boat's location to them via Kurston so that they would recover the gold, leaving
Agora to claim it after the men are arrested by the waiting Russian navy under maritime law.
Robinson does not believe Daniels as Kurston would never let him step into a trap but Daniels
unravels that Kurston was paid $30,000 to leak the information and that he is still alive.
Robinson is shocked to hear this revelation and can’t wrap his head around it. When Robinson
informs the rest of the crew about it, they lose their mind and desperately rush to kill Daniels.
However, Robinson stops them and decides to remain submerged. Instead of traveling East, he suggests
traveling South to Samsun in Turkey. At first, the crew protest against it but after Robinson awakens
the spirits in them by giving a moving speech, they agree to take a risky journey to Turkey.
They start placing the drive shaft in place and Morozov counts the gold bars. Robinson estimates
the cost of the gold bar which happens to be $448,000. Later, Daniels who is desperate for
rescue makes Fraser realize that the shaft is not going to last and that they all are going to die.
After making the necessary repairs, the sub resumes the journey smoothly.
Robinson and the other crew members are elated to finally get the sub moving. Soon, the sub reaches
the shallows and when Baba realizes that they are about to hit the rocks, he alerts the crew
about it. The sub is stopped just in time after which Robinson realizes that there is a narrow
trench to pass through and get to Turkey. When Morozov and Fraser advise against it
and suggest aborting the plan, Robinson threatens them with a gun for disobeying his orders and asks
everyone to get back to their posts. The sub again resumes the journey through the narrow trench.
Meanwhile, Daniels keeps telling Fraser that the ship is run by nine men and that he should
kill one so the rest can be rescued. He keeps persuading Fraser that Robinson’s plan will get
everyone killed so he must kill Zaytsev and save the remaining crew from getting killed.
Halfway through the trench, persuaded by Daniels, Fraser murders Zaytsev by
smashing his head with a wrench multiple times. Soon, due to the lack of adequate men to operate
the ship, it starts losing control. Robinson loses his cool after discovering that Daniels got
Zaystev killed and just when he is about to shoot him to death, a second explosion takes place,
sending the sub back to the seafloor and piercing its body. Robinson drives the
crew to repair the hole but just then, Tobin is knocked unconscious by the fierce water pressure.
Robinson rushes Daniels inside to help him, leaving Fraser to repair the leaks. However,
realizing that the leak cannot be repaired, Fraser and the remaining members try to get back inside
the compartment but the selfish Daniels locks a bulkhead leaving three of them to drown.
Meanwhile, Robinson gives Tobin CPR and helps him gain consciousness.
On the other hand, Daniels traps himself in the next compartment with his ripped clothing.
Although Daniels begs Morozov to help him, Morozov closes the final bulkhead,
leaving Daniels to die. He then arrives in the final torpedo section, protecting Tobin and
Robinson along with him. Realizing that there is no way out, Robinson reveals that he has hidden
three escape suits in the section. He gives Tobin and Morozov the suits and asks them to evacuate.
Before sending out Tobin, he wishes him good luck for his soon-to-be-born
son and explains to him that he will follow in the third suit using an emergency lever.
Morozov and Tobin arrive at the sea surface where Morozov informs Tobin that there was
no emergency lever and that Robinson had chosen to sacrifice himself to save the two of them.
Tobin is unable to believe it and soon a third suit surfaces. Thinking that it is Robinson,
Tobin approaches it only to find it full of gold bars and a picture of Robinson’s
family. The film ends with Tobin and Morozov stunned at the sight of gold in an escape suit.
This movie has a rating of 6.4 on IMDb. I hope you all liked this video. If yes, then make sure
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