A Brief Review of 'Phantom'

 

Phantom is a 2013 Cold War thriller that is "inspired by true events". The film stars both Ed Harris and David Duchovny but, despite having some good actors in leading roles, the movie is a bit of a tough watch. 

The plot involves the Soviet Union using a new device called 'The Phantom', which is mounted to a soviet submarine, with the goal of starting a war between the U.S. and China. The Phantom device can disguise the sub's acoustic signature to make it appear on radar to be any number of other ships. Thus, the Soviets can make it seem like the Chinese have launched a nuclear attack on the U.S. and start a war. The plot is a bit clunky and, surprisingly, almost completely devoid of tension. You will feel every minute of this 98min runtime. Plus, the effects are not good.

Overall, this is a perfect film to pop in on a lazy Sunday afternoon... if you want to take a nap.

I give it a 1.5 out of 5

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Western Wednesday: Appaloosa

Appaloosa is a 2008 Western directed by and starring Ed Harris and overall, it's pretty entertaining.

The movie follows a familiar plot but it's done well enough that it doesn't feel stale. The small town of Appaloosa is being terrorized by gang of men led by Randall Bragg (played by Jeremy Irons), who has recently killed the town's marshal and two deputies. So the local lawmakers hire the duo of and Virgil Cole (played by Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (played by Viggo Mortensen) to be the new town marshal and deputy, and restore order to Appaloosa. There's some good chemistry between the two, but I found Everett Hitch to be the more likeable character. 

It doesn't take long for Cole to quickly starts up a romantic relationship with a woman named Allie French (played by Renée Zellweger), who is also new to Appaloosa. And right after that, one of Bragg's men comes to town and tells Cole that he will testify that he saw Bragg kill the former marshal. Following the trial, the movie starts to drag a bit to me. Cole and Hitch are transporting Bragg by train, when some hired guns that kidnapped Allie force them to release Bragg. Then Cole and Hitch have to go after them, and just as they catch up to the outlaws some Apaches attack, and so on. 

There's a good 15mins that could've been cut from the second half of the film in my opinion.

Eventually Bragg is granted a full pardon by the President, returns to Appaloosa, buys the hotel and claims he's a reformed man. However, Hitch discovers that Allie is secretly in a relationship with Bragg, and he challenges him to a duel. After drawing first and killing Bragg, Everett Hitch rides off into the sunset.

It's not a great Western, but it's good and the whole cast is solid. I'm not really sure if Jeremy Irons was supposed to be a likeable villain, but he was definitely my favorite part of the movie. It is a little slow at times but there are enough good qualities to make up for it.

I give this one a 3 out of 5.

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