Review: Underwater

Synopsis:

Mysterious creatures terrorize crew members aboard a research station located seven miles below the surface of the ocean.

What We Thought:

Ever watch Alien/Aliens and wonder what those movies would be like if they took place underwater and not in space? Well yes that’s why I watched The Abyss. Ok, well did you see Pacific Rim and wonder what a prequel about the people who accidentally released the Kaijus from the ocean’s bottom would be like? Not particularly, no. Fine, want to see Kristen Stewart fight a giant Cthulhu type creature then?

All of that is the film Underwater and I’m going to be honest, I had low expectations for the flick. It’s been on the shelf for a while because of Disney buying 20th Century Fox and the film itself was actually shot back in 2017. A science-fiction movie being released in January that sat around for a few years isn’t a sign of a good movie. Add in the fact that I’m not a huge fan of its lead and you can understand my hesitations about seeing it.

After seeing it, it’s not great or anything, but it is surprisingly watchable. I don’t know if I’d watch it ever again, but it’s relatively short and jumped into the plot quickly. There’s no real character development which helps the movie. Right away you are placed miles deep in the water and the station starts collapsing. You get very little about who these people are and I like that. So much time gets wasted in developing characters in a disaster movie that they forget people only want to see the disaster. This movie jumps right in feet first and puts you in the action within 10 minutes.

And even though it feels like a thousand other movies we’ve seen before like Alien, The Abyss, Life (that Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds alien flick from 2017), it’s because it feels similar that it’s not that bad. Usually being like other movies is a negative, but because it’s not trying to be more than what it is, it kinda works. Add in that the musical score is solid and the cinematography is pretty good too and it’s better than I thought it would be.

I will say the ending feels super rushed. As previously stated I like that they jumped right into the chaos, but once the characters get to where they are going and the creatures are shown, the big ending seems to come and go quickly. It’s a giant CGI-fest underwater which makes seeing some of it clearly somewhat difficult, but you get a couple of cool shots of the giant monster. Then it’s over. I’m not sure what else they could have done, but it definitely feels rushed.

Underwater isn’t great. Heck I don’t even know if I can say it’s good, but it’s not the unwatchable trainwreck I expected. I’ll never love the lead, but she’s serviceable here. TJ Miller is always great for comedic relief and the rest of the cast is fine. Some of the effects are good, I just wish it was a bit clearer during the ending. The score and style are good too. Honestly, if it didn’t have a big named lead actress in it and it went straight to Netflix it would be a fun surprise watch. Unfortunately the budget was pretty big and I can’t see it doing big time numbers unless her fans run out to see it multiple times.

Release: January 10, 2020

Directed by: William Eubank

Written by: Brian Duffield, Adam Cozad

Produced by: Peter Chernin, Tonia Davis, Kevin Halloran, Jenno Topping

Cast: Kristen Stewart, T.J. Miller, Vincent Cassel, John Gallagher Jr., Jessica Henwick, Mamoudou Athie, Gunner Wright

UNDERWATER Official Channels

OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.UnderwaterMovie.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Underwater2020

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/UnderwaterMovie

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HASHTAG: #Underwater