BELOW

Submarine movies are making a comeback with U-571 and K-19. Set in 1943 in the midst of the battle for the Atlantic, BELOW tells the story of the U.S.S. Tigershark from a slightly different perspective than most submarine movies.

The movie opens with a reconnaissance plane sighting the survivors from a destroyed British hospital ship. The U.S.S. Tigershark is sent to rescue the three survivors. One turns out to be a woman, which immediately sets everybody on edge. After all, women on submarines are bad luck (if only, because the men fight over them and make lewd comments).

One survivor turns out to be a German sailor prisoner of war. When the Tigershark is attacked by an anti-submarine destroyer, the German is accused of having tried to give away their position by turning on a phonograph. Mr. Brice, the commanding officer, shoots the German at point blank range.

However, the problems do not stop with the death of the German sailor. The phonograph goes off inexplicably, the rudder freezes up, the ship develops an oil leak, and crisis develops upon crisis, setting the men against each other and killing most of them.

BELOW is a very tightly directed movie. The acting is exceptional. Bruce Greenwood, who played J.F.K. in 13 DAYS does a wonderful job as Brice.

The horror is palpable. The question arises; is the former commander, who died inexplicably, haunting the ship? Some of the apparitions and maledictions are truly frightening. A cross plays an important part by the end of the movie, but there is also, however, a lot of superstition and occult babble as each sailor takes a different point of view toward the strange happenings.

BELOW could have been a four star movie. It is certainly better than K-19. The problem is that the characters are not clearly developed. BLACK HAWK DOWN used this docudrama approach successfully. Here it does not work. A sub is a tight space, where character matters. The jeopardy is there, the fear is there, the anxiety is there… all the motivating factors, but the audience is just not given a reason to care about these men. Too bad! BELOW is a movie that had great potential.

Further, BELOW has too much foul language and violence at several points, going over the top. The blood and gore goes beyond what is necessary to tell the story. MOVIEGUIDE® liked Twohy’s previous movie, PI, for its intellectual excellence and Christian elements. In this movie, he seems to have gone in a different direction, however, exploring the genre, but avoiding the philosophical issues.