In the shadowy depths of the ocean, lost within the untold history of Nazi/Soviet deals gone awry, there lies a long forgotten submarine full of Nazi gold and ready for the taking. At least, that’s what Kevin Macdonald’s new thriller Black Sea imagines, letting loose a band of modern day thieves and liars on an expedition to the sunken vessel, which promises each of them a cash reward in the millions. Plucking a group of working class, blue-collar divers and sailors led by a brutish Jude Law toying with a lean Scottish accent, straight from the scenes of a social-realist drama Ken Loach never made, Macdonald quickly places the collective of thuggish cohorts into the plot of a B-movie heist film, which, despite the film’s cartoonish premise, never spills over into the realm of melodrama. Instead Black Sea just about manages to offer a sound, even compelling thriller which is able to find the sweet spot between its own faith in the story and the ability to not take itself too seriously.

Let go from his job as a submarine pilot, Robinson (Law) stumbles around in the hope that he may be able to find more work, but is left largely cynical about the state of the economy and the tendency for higher-ups (‘Bankers’ as they are routinely identified by other characters) to screw over the little guy who does all of the work and is given less than their fair share in return. The chance to restore balance to this practice of social inequality presents itself in the form of Robinson’s friend Kurston, who, drunk and on anti-depressants, relates the story of how a Nazi submarine is rumoured to be resting at the bottom of the ocean, filled to the brim with the proverbial MacGuffin of ‘sunken treasure’. In need of funding for this venture, Robinson under the guidance of an American named Daniels (Scoot McNairy), pitches his plan in what can only be described as the criminal equivalent of Dragon’s Den, and after successfully receiving the support of a mysterious investor, he heads off to Russia.

Beginning their voyage, tension quickly rises between the English-speaking and Russian members of the crew, prompting an atmosphere of mistrust and inevitable violence that permeates throughout the film’s duration. Each man’s motive is clear: to rescue the gold from its watery imprisonment and (somehow) turn it into actual currency. But each character is coloured by a similar distrust of everyone else, not only between those of the two differing nationalities, but between friends as well. This stems from the knowledge that if, for some ‘reason’, one man is not able to claim his take, the more everyone else will be able to walk away with once the gold is divided. This male-dominated atmosphere of claustrophobic, slow-burn paranoia, which immediately calls to mind films like The Thing or even Reservoir Dogs, provides a brilliant chance for the film’s supporting cast to shine: a marvellous outlet for superb character actors Ben Mendelsohn and Michael Smiley, amongst others, to play up to the increasing psychological tension and inevitable breakdown the situation calls for. In fact, whilst Law’s performance is perfectly satisfactory, it really is the supporting cast who stand out, through their interplay of abrasive personalities and self-serving, often manipulative control of each other.

Even as the film progresses and elements of character and narrative fall into cliché, it still manages to keep the audience’s attention locked down with its tried and tested box of genre tricks. After all the expected narrative twists and turns, backstabbing and last bids for glory, Black Sea is at its core a connect the dots exercise, but one executed in an engaging and very entertaining manner.