Critic Reviews

• Laremy Legel, Film.com

  Ed Harris and company can't lift this one off the seafloor, and "Phantom" fades away into the murky mist.

• Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

  The film remains mediocre, with flat cinematography and crudely anachronistic dialogue.

• Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle

  A game effort by a decent cast highlights the old-fashioned submarine thriller "Phantom," but heavy-handed dialogue, flurries of melodrama and a silly ending make the whole enterprise sink like a stone.

• Lou Lumenick, New York Post

  It's not something you want to plunk down $12 for, but just diverting enough to check out when it arrives on Netflix Instant.

• Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

  [Its] admirable air of realism dissipates once Robinson takes viewers outside the sub, where torpedo skirmishes are staged with too-perfect CGI bombast.

• Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

  "Phantom" has a pulpy B-movie intensity and economy to match its cast of quality character actors.

• Todd Jorgenson, Cinemalogue.com

  At least it seems to have a working knowledge of submarine procedures and terminology.

• Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate

  Inexcusably tedious, resulting in yawning boredom

• Kelly Vance, East Bay Express

  Scuttle it.

• Dave White, Movies.com

  Seriously, where's that giant octopus when you need him?

• Jackie K. Cooper, jackiekcooper.com

  Harris, Duchovny and Fichtner lead a strong cast in a engrossing submarine adventure

• S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media

  Taut, tense sub drama is entertaining, despite cliches.

• Leonard Maltin, Leonard Maltin's Picks

  Phantom features some wonky visual effects, but one either buys into a film of this kind or not.

• Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion

  Dramatically waterlogged and, despite the efforts of a strong cast, more than a little silly.

• Boo Allen, Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

  Slow start, fast finish.

• Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics

  Ed Harris is back in command and the world depends on him. Look out.

• Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com

  When it's focused, it comes together in satisfactory way, blending crew procedures with stratagem. When it loses its step, it's utterly forgettable, even with its submarine setting.

• Jim Judy, Screen It!

  It's an okay military thriller. But considering the real-life story behind the tale, it could and should have been so much more. (Full Content Review for Parents also available)

• Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews

  Techs are OK and the cramped claustrophobia of pre-nuclear submarines is palpable. But, "Phantom" does not approach the last great submariner flick, "Das Boot (1981)"...

• Shirley Sealy, Film Journal International

  Even some faultless acting in the lead roles cannot redeem the preposterous goings-on in this throwback of a suspense thriller set aboard a Russian nuclear submarine at the height of the Cold War.

Read all 21 critic reviews