20th Century Fox
We all know by now that movies with a January release date are generally not the best movies of the year (and until Hannibal came along and cracked $100 million, February was just as bleak). And if you’re the first movie to be released in the new year, then that will generally be the worst (sorry The Grudge). So it was with the lowest of expectations that I went into the screening of Underwater, especially trepidatious after Kristen Stewart’s last movie, Charlie’s Angels.
Underwater takes place nearly seven miles beneath the surface of the ocean at the Kepler mining operation where a crew does a deployment of thirty day stretches confined to the undersea rig built to withstand the enormous pressures at the bottom of the ocean. The movie wastes very little time in getting right into the action when an earthquake strikes, severely damaging not only the facility as well as an escape submarine and pods. A handful of survivors led by Captain Lucien (Vincent Cassel) and Norah Price (Stewart) try to make their way to another structure a mile across the ocean floor and then realize that they are not as alone as they thought they were.
A quick glimpse at any of the production photos and the trailer will have you thinking you’ve seen all of this before, and in fact, the press material wastes no time in invoking the titles
I didn’t hate it. Let’s just forget all of the dodgy science on display here (A spider in the facility?! Walking across the ocean floor seven miles down?!) and the familiarity. Underwater is an entertaining, edge of your seat thriller, especially if you, like me, already have a fear of being trapped inside of something underwater (truly one of my biggest fears). There’s not a whole lot of character development here. In addition to Cassel and Stewart, TJ Miller is the guy — again — who makes jokes at inappropriate times, Jessica Henwick and John Gallagher Jr. are characters named Emily and Liam (and they seem to be so inconsequential that Gallagher’s character isn’t even currently named on the movie’s IMDB page … but they still go farther in the story than anyone would imagine), Mamoudou Athie is Rodrigo (spoiler alert: the minority of the group) and Gunner Wright is allegedly a character named Lee (and if anyone can remember where he was in the movie, please feel free to leave a comment). We barely get to know any of them. Emily and Liam seem to be in a relationship. The captain may or may not be losing his mind as he talks about his 14-year-old daughter who apparently isn’t 14 anymore, at least according to Norah. The others … you can make up your own backstories for them.
That lack of character development may make you think that it may be hard to care if any of them live or die but … the strength of the performances really does make you care for them, particularly Henwick. She makes Emily the most fragile of the group as they begin their journey but she does grow tougher along the way and you do root for her, and Liam, to survive. Miller is Miller, that’s why he was cast. Cassel is fine as the captain but where there could have been more to his character, especially concerning his mental state, the script falls short. Stewart is quite good here as the serious and sullen action hero, much better than her painfully awkward attempt at comedic action in Charlie’s Angels. This kind of dire situation suits her on-screen persona to a T. She could have been the adult Newt fighting alongside Ripley … if they hadn’t carelessly killed her off after Ripley spent an entire movie trying to save her.
The survival story after the earthquake ramps up the tension and then adds in the monsters, which are genuinely terrifying especially when all you can see are the eyes reflecting in the darkness. And the director, William Eubank, wisely keeps them mostly in the dark, making them even more terrifying, and mysterious as well. There is no real explanation of what they are or where they came from. Emily assumes the drilling into the ocean floor released them (and this part of the story is almost right out of Pacific Rim), while it may have been the earthquake. The characters don’t know and we don’t know, and the images during the end credits point to the company knowing and engaging in a huge cover-up, perhaps something for a sequel. If there is one, but if not this is satisfying enough.
I know most of the major critics out there are going to trash the film, mainly for its laughable inaccuracies regarding life that far under the sea. But I found myself on the edge of my seat for most of the movie, jumping quite high out of my seat at one point, and really that’s all you can ask for from a movie like this. It’s not a documentary, it’s a thrill ride. No one wants to stop and discuss how those suits are protecting their wearers as they traverse the ocean floor … or how it’s even possible for them to traverse the ocean floor without being completely weighted down. None of that matters. Forget the science lesson, grab your popcorn (and hold on to it tight or you may toss it in the air), hold your breath and enjoy the thrills and chills of Underwater. Be warned though that even with a PG-13 rating, there are a few bloody deaths so you may want to avoid bringing young children to see this.
Underwater has a run time of 1 hour 35 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and terror, and brief strong language.
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