The Wolf's Call - Entscheidung in der Tiefe

The sound expert Chanteraide holds the life of his fellow mates in his hands. Onboard high tech submarine Titan a small mistake leads to a confrontation with a mysterious submarine. As the danger of a next war becomes all too real, it's up to Titan and its crew to save the day.

Wolf's Call is the first feature from screen writer Antonin Boudry and it is a tense and inventive thriller where an approaching global disaster is played out on a smaller scale and rests on the shoulders of a few men. Handpicking his hot young stars, the trio of Omar Sy, Francois Civil, and Reda Kateb, Boudry builds on the relationship between the three men, throwing the characters into the crisis of a life time.

A minimalistic score by Tomandandy nicely supports the vast underwater scenes and claustrophobic in-cabin sequences. It is no wonder the film was snatched up by Netflix, it has an interesting concept, well written and acted.

WOLF'S CALL proves that a smaller scale underwater thriller can be tense and engaging even with a very restricted budget.

I did watch the dubbed version, and it was very well done. This movie has exceedingly high production values, with very modern and realistic materials. The acting is excellent, and the pacing is good overall. There is an overriding ambience of tragedy to the story which reiterates the opening epilogue of the movie: "There are three kinds of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who go to sea." (Aristotle.) This is more a thinking person's action movie. Good viewing.

There's a lot of reviews here making points such as "could not happen".

Ok sure, there's some unrealistic stuff going on.

But there's also a lot of original and thoughtful scenes that are explored. There's a lot of ideas here that feel completely fresh.

The idea that a French submarine, once committed to a nuclear strike, will not receive any orders to abort, is a weak one. Unfortunately a large part of the movie hinges around this concept. The second half of the movie does feel a little silly at times because of this.

I liked the sonar guy as the hero.

Reading the reviews here, it seems to be a love it or hate it movie - I don't understand why. I grew up watching the original Das Boot as TV series and went through all the submarine movies. Instead of comparing the incomparable and saying what is flawed etc., I simply want to point out what I liked watching this movie twice:

• refreshing actor set, no B-movie characters just like "could be your neighbour" type
• storyline that could happen, although we normal people would never hear about it
• great music/ambience perfectly fitting the setting
• straightforward effects, less is more
• happy end without happy end, evoked emotions
• overall a very refreshing, non-cliche Hollywood-type movie.

If you're into military thrillers, movies like Failsafe, you might like this. It has plenty of twists, good pacing, and a unlikely hero, a flawed sonar man who loves his country and is very good at his job.

The movie is not free of tactical and strategic logic holes, but the pacing, progression of events, f/x, live shots at sea, military action dialogue, and story keep you locked in. For English only viewers, the English dub is excellent.