Director Wim Wenders is known for making journey and road trip movies along with the occasional documentary. SUBMERGENCE is the story of two lives that intersect before they go on their respective missions. James McAoy is the British spy James Moore who falls in love with the ocean scientist Danielle Flanders (Aliccia Vikander) that is trying to prove the existence of ocean life in the deep ocean depths. James is waiting for the mission that will put him in harm's way in Somalia while Danielle is on a break before going on the long ocean voyage to explore the depths of the Greenland Sea. James is captured by jihadist rebels. They both remember the intense and brief romance they have as each hopes to be reunited with the other.

SUBMERGENCE is a romance in the same way THE ENGLISH PATIENT is a romance, but the movie leaves it hanging as it doesn't really resolve things neatly. SUBMERGENCE will frustrate some moviegoers as they want clear cut resolution as they want the couple to get together and not a tale of their romance only to split apart by their own jobs as you hope they get back together in the end. The two leads hold you memorized, but I wish the movie offered a better ending or a more fluid script (which is based on a novel by J.M. Ledgard).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
10 minute behind-the-scenes promotional featurette which has interviews with cast and crew- They talk abut how they were attracted to the novel the movie is based on and how the casting and Vikander wanting Wim Wenders to direct it.

Theatrical trailer for SUBMERGENCE and previews for 100 STREETS, THIS BEAUTIFUL FANTASTIC, and SWEET COUNTRY

FINAL ANALYSIS: SUBMERGENCE is for the fans of the two leads, James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander, and those looking for another movie from director Wim Wenders. It is not Wenders's best film, but it isn't among his worst either. The movie is beautiful poetry at times, but the leads are the only thing that keeps SUBMERGENCE from sinking.

This review is (c)5-31-2018 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com and look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com