UNDERWATER - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/
Release Date: January 10, 2020
Director: William Eubank
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jessica Henwick, T.J. Miller, Vincent Cassel, John Gallagher Jr.
Who are these people, well.. Kristen Stewart is known first for her role in the Twilight Saga, but she has quite a list of credits to her actress repertoire. As far as horror goes, she was in The Messengers in 2007. Jessica Henwick I recognized while watching the movie but couldn’t place her, I found that she’s the character Colleen Wing in Game of Thrones, so I’m guessing that’s why she looked familiar to me. I was told that T.J. Miller is known for Silicon Valley by fans of that TV show, but I know him from the comedic friend behind the camera in Cloverfield, I actually recognized him by his voice before I placed visually where I’d seen him. Vincent Cassel stars in Westworld, but I remember him in a creepy way from 2010 Black Swan. Not that it means anything, but I didn’t immediately recognize the remaining cast, which was a short list past those previously mentioned.
So… why do we meddle where we shouldn’t? I guess that is in our nature, but that seems to be the underlying theme with the plot of this movie, but let’s talk, about what we all like to talk about, the jumps and spooks and the thrill!
This movie is reminiscent of a few others here that are household faves: The Abyss, Alien, it’s got the same gritty ‘real’ feel to the film, and the storyline - humans reaching further, deeper and then.. taking, or mining, something for use. Which I guess that is in our nature, and is the underlying theme with the plot of this movie, but I say, why meddle where we really shouldn’t be meddling!!!
…but let’s talk about what we here at Bloody Reel like to talk about, the jumps, the spooks and the thrills!
I liked immediately (before the movie even technically started) how viewers are set up to understand the backstory without chewing through film time. In the beginning credits, you get flashes of newspaper articles that are written about a subterranean laboratory miles down into the depths of the sea. Those clips are intertwined with images of blueprints of the laboratory itself, so you immediately understand the where, what and the magnitude of this lab. In a matter of minutes, you got your back story and the ‘intro’ sets the pace of the movie; fast and tense!
What gets your blood pumpin? Other than being in the middle of the sea (which does scare me, I like to see land), you’re in deep sea, deeper than anyone else has been. No, you’re not a few feet deep that when you lose your breath (or need an ‘escape’), you just pop up and grab another! No, with this story, the characters are SIX MILES deep! Very few scenarios to choose from when something goes wrong, and of course it does…
And, into the action we go, no stops no pauses, right into the thick of it (an “earthquake” devastates the laboratory creating catastrophic damage), and I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 95 minutes… and loving every minute of it.
The acting was believable, it’s so easy to be yanked out of a movies story by poor acting and I feel like that happens too frequently in horror movies. Stewart does well in this role (as Norah), she's not dealing with sparkling vampires anymore... a little bit of comedy (with T.J. Millers character Paul, that is short lived but tells you s**t is about to really get real), with Vincent Cassel at the helm as Captain, leading you to think he might just get them out of this horrific situation.
The movie was filmed in such a way that you really felt like you were there alongside these aquatic researchers trying to survive that you can even feel the pressure of the situation, the ocean and even the pressure of being in a deep-sea diving suite and seeing what the character is seeing through their helmet, a murky and dark ocean floor. I enjoyed the visual effects that are intertwined throughout, and not overdone, they add diversity to the visual interest of the film.
On top of all the challenges these characters are trying to overcome, insert unknown sea creature here… add yet one more factor to their situation that isn’t as ‘simple’ as ‘get to the other structure to get to an escape pod’. The thing about creatures in the sea, it’s not like trying to run from say Jason… you’re in the water with a creature that ‘swims’ and it is going to swim faster than you NO MATTER WHAT!! You can rest assure that you do not have the upper hand in that situation.
The creatures, trying not to spoil anything here, overall were done well. I thought that they were unnerving in the way that they moved and had an octopus-type feel to them. When the characters first encounter these creatures, I felt that they were injected just enough, but toward the end of the movie it seemed that they exposed too much, and, again, could have pulled that back and let imaginations fill in any gaps.
I realize that this movie didn’t get fantastic ratings, it’s getting berated for being a ‘copy’ of Alien and that it’s not original. But I didn’t have any issues of that sort with it. I left the theatre super excited and jazzed to have another “Alien-esk” movie to enjoy. I, on the other hand, do recommend watching this movie (if the latter doesn’t get to you like some), it’s not going to stimulate your intelligence, it’s not going to break the mold of movie storylines, but it will keep your heart racing, keep you on the edge of your seat, and give you some good jumps along the way!
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