A thoroughly engaging story with a great ensemble cast make Phantom a well made, enjoyable movie full of grittiness and tension.Don't like Americans playing Russians? Get over it.Not 100% authentic? I guess you thought American Sniper was a documentary?Seriously though, this is much better than many sub movies I've seen whether big budget or small and deserves all the praise it's been given thus far and little or none of the detrimental whinings of negative reviewers.Once again, have a look at the 1s and 2s and take note they they are predominantly one review only (namely this one) and have apparently been members of IMDb for decades. Take from that what you will.

The work of Pen Densham is exceptional. The movie displays directorial talent but this just one of many. Ed Harris is one of America's most talented actors. The movie gets your blood racing and opens unanswered questions that never lose their relevance.The Captain of a vessel is in a sense the leader of a select group and primal issues of tribal coherence are uncovered.

I'm no historian. I've never been to Russia or seen the crew of a 1968 Russian Navy sub. But I remember the 80s and I'd say within the first 10 minutes of this film you had a content veracity problem. An early scene shows a hasty church wedding. A naval officer who knew about a religious wedding and didn't report it might subsequently find himself in conversations with KGB at minimum, I'd have thought. Add that to a very casual communication style on the sub and several naval crew being unshaven? Hard for me to believe. Despite all of that though, I loved the acting. A choice was made to dispense with any Russian accents, which may hurt the story cred, but not the acting itself. Ed Harris has a challenge playing a captain with a past who has been demoted to his old sub, a diesel - not a nuke for a special assignment. He manages an admirable job of maintaining a haunted, nothing-left-to-lose demeanor in his role opposite David Duchovny, who should have been in shorter hair for this role. Duchovny plays cool emotion well, but missed some opportunities for more dimension to the ruthless edge his GRU character requires. William Fichtner's loyal and pained performance is my favorite of them all, however.

I was very impressed by this Film. I felt like it grabbed me very early, kept me entertained and on the edge of my seat, and didn't let go until after the credits rolled through. I really liked Ed Harris' performance as the captain. He made me side with him while still giving the character the feel of a shady and dishonorable past. I only had one problem with this film and it is a minor one. The lack of a soviet accent by the characters, all the actors speak in perfect English. The only problem with this is that it makes it harder to identify the characters as soviets. This does not take away for the fact that this is still a very good film, it is just a minor detail I noticed. The end of the movie really brought it home for me, it was an superbly well executed ending to an all around good film. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good suspense film, people who enjoy war movies and anyone who just wants to watch a good entertaining film.