Robinson (Jude Law) has been a submariner for 30 years. He's obsolete and gets fired after 11 years with the company. He is recruited for an outlandish treasure hunt. Back in 1941, Stalin acquiesce to Hitler and sends tons of gold to Germany. The U-boat transporting the gold sunk to the bottom of the Black Sea. An investor has a plan to recover the gold while the Russians are fighting Georgia on the surface. His representative Daniels (Scoot McNairy) joins him along with diver Fraser (Ben Mendelsohn) and youngster Tobin. The crew calls Tobin a virgin and therefore bad luck. Robinson insists on equal shares for everyone and Fraser riles up the crew arguing against the Russians getting the same share.
Director Kevin Macdonald does well to infuse the movie with tension. Jude Law is good and Ben Mendelsohn is great. The main thing holding this back is the plot. There is a few too many exact coincidences. For example, they need exactly nine people to drive the boat but eight people would mean they can only surface. It's way too exact and leads to obvious conflict. I understand the need to raise the danger level but the plot takes a few too many twists and 15 minutes too long.
