Underwater - Film Review

There are certain things out there that may not seem all that significant to everyone but yet hold a special meaning to us due to a connection to some other event or circumstance. Many of us may recall the meal they had when they went on a first date or perhaps what was playing on the radio when they heard wonderful or horrible news. To me, I will always remember this film as it was one of the last movies I saw in theaters before the COVID-19 Pandemic ran roughshod through all of America. It's hard to believe, but it's now been nearly three years since then, so I decided I'd retake the plunge and see how it holds up.

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Where You Can Find It: I re-watched this via Amazon Video where it is available for rent/purchase, but it is also available for Hulu subscribers.

General Information 
Underwater is a science fiction horror film that was released on 10 January 2020. It was directed by William Eubank and written by Brian Duffield with cinematography by Bojan Bazelli. Additional mentions worth bringing up is that scoring was provided by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts, while costume design was overseen by Dorotka Sapinska. The film was primarily produced and distributed via Twentieth Century Fox. Interestingly enough, it is also the last film to be produced and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox before the company was re-named Twentieth Century Studios as part of the Disney acquisition of Fox. Financially, the film was a bit of a box office dud as it only managed to bring in a little less than $41 million against an approximate $80 million budget (there's a possibility that COVID-19 contributed to this). Critically, it fared only slightly better with a mediocre 48 Metascore on Metacritic alongside an identical 48% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Story
In the not too distant future, the Tian Corporation has constructed a massive mineral mining operation in the Mariana Trench. Norah Price (played by Kristen Stewart) is a mechanical engineer to Kepler Station, which serves as the center for operations at the drilling site but soon comes under threat as the station rapidly begins to collapse in on itself. Norah and the other survivors must not only escape the crumbling station in time, but also contend with the lurking evil responsible for the disaster.

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Norah and the other survivors need to move fast before everything comes crashing down

An immediate takeaway about this film's plot is that it wastes no time getting to the overarching conflict of its plot. Before the audience is introduced to nearly any of its characters, the action immediately kicks into high gear and there is rarely a chance for things to calm down after that. Although this level of momentum held my attention, it came at the expense of character development and world-building. There's never a solid understanding of how Kepler Station functions and it's difficult for viewers to connect with the survivors and their plight since little time is given to fully flesh out each of them. There are numerous nods to Alien throughout this film, but whereas Alien took enormous amounts of time for viewers to learn about the Nostromo and its crew, this film's plot essentially begins in its second act.

From a horror standpoint, the looming threat of a collapsing station mixed with an increasingly dangerous antagonist kept the story highly engaging. Even without monsters, this film could be considered horror merely due to the environmental hazards of deep-sea navigation. Drowning is hardly the biggest threat as crushing pressure can cause any of the survivor's suits to explode like a small bomb, while each crew member's oxygen meter serves as a cruel reminder that there can be no respite during their flight to safety.

Special Effects/Atmosphere

I took the time to acknowledge Dorotka Sapinska in the General Information section as I was really impressed with the costume design in this film. The deep sea diving suits the crew dons throughout their escape from Kepler Station look fantastic and highly practical. Considering their role in the film, it was crucial that Eubank got their look and design right, and it was really cool seeing how they function while underwater.

Another area that this does a great job in is in its lighting. Underwater scenes are dark and oppressive and really add to the film's claustrophobic themes. I equally appreciated the lighting done in the scenes that were out of water. The way characters are backlit in some segments looks great, as the color of the surroundings lights consistently reinforces a bleak reminder that not all of the lights work and those that do can go out at any moment.

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The lighting only heightens the sense of danger

 

The Acting 

Despite her fame, I had yet to see Kristen Stewart in anything since Camp X-Ray in 2014 and I was generally underwhelmed with her performance in that. I was fairly apprehensive over the fact that she was starring in this due to only really knowing her as Twilight's Bella Swan. I'm happy to say that Stewart really seems to find her place in this film as she's the total opposite of what I had known her for. Stewart's Norah is a hard charger that can handle herself but still comes off as vulnerable and introspective as Norah processes what's happening around her. Her performance in this drastically changed my opinion of her as an actress and I'm genuinely interested to see her in future work (I'm told Personal Shopper is quite good, so I might get around to seeing her in that).

 

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Stewart is capable yet vulnerable as the mechanical engineer, Norah Price

Those that read my review for Cloverfield will know that I had some choice words for T.J. Miller's performance in that film. Although he does a better job in this, there are still some problems worth addressing. Miller's character, Paul, is clearly the comedy relief to help brighten the film, however, it seems like both Miller's performance and Eubank's direction makes Paul come off as occasionally annoying and also counter-immersive to the story. There are some scenes where it looks like Miller is trying too hard to present a jokey, lighthearted character, which just doesn't mesh well with the themes of this film.

The Best of the Best: Those deep sea diving suits are pretty rad.

The Worst of the Worst: The lack of character development in the first act.

Calhooey Score: 6/10 - Above Average

Would I Recommend?

 

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Might be worth a quick dip

Underwater is a rush from beginning to end, but suffers at the finish line for failing to properly set up its world and characters. Underwater would arguably be a much more memorable and successful science fiction horror film had Eubank spent more time in the beginning allowing his viewers to see the world he'd crafted. As such, this is a fun film to see if you're a fan of the genre, but it's a rental at best, and arguably not worth a second viewing.

Spoiler Comments

• One of the truly terrifying unsaid aspects of this film is that Norah is essentially barefoot throughout most of it.
• Were there no other helmets for Rodrigo to use? I agree with Norah that it looks like Rodrigo knowingly took a defective helmet so that she would survive, but it makes me question why there were no spares.
• I never fully understood if Paul simply really loved Alice in Wonderland or if there was some type of Lewis Carroll theme that went over my head in this film.
• Per IMDB Trivia, it looks like Little Paul was supposed to be a live rabbit, but there were conflicts with how Paul would manage to carry it around with him throughout the film. This would've made a lot more sense to see (if Eubank could've made it work) since Paul's final action before he dies is handing over his stuffed bunny.
  
• I think we can all agree that Smith should be dead.
• Norah fended off a monster; retreated to Shepherd Station; showered, grieved, and planned her next move all while Haversham and Smith were wandering about outside the whole time. Not only am I amazed that Smith hadn't died but I feel like Haversham should have too.
• It would've been so terrifying to visually see that you're being swallowed entirely by another monster from inside of your suit. That was an awesome scene.
  
• I generally am not overly fond of kaiju-horror, but when that overhang of monsters completely lifted up to reveal that it was all just part of the arm of a giant monster, I was in shock.
• Supposedly the giant monster is actually Cthulhu.
• I genuinely loved those little moments where company policies and buzz-phrases would get brought up throughout the movie.
• The Tian Corporation wasn't lying when it told Norah that they had "big things in store for you."
• Considering we see in the end credits that the Tian Corporation decides to start drilling again, I would honestly be interested in seeing a sequel to this film. I think using this film as an introductory point would enable a sequel to better improve upon it.
  

References

(1) Underwater. (2020). Underwater film image. IMDB. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/.

(2) 20th Century Studios. (2020). Norah and the other survivors image. Retrieved from: https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/underwater.

(3) Cram, B. (2021, April 21). Norah in darkness image. Screenage Wasteland. Retrieved from: https://screenagewasteland.com/underwater-2020-review/.

(4) Berlatsky, N. (2020, January 10). Kristen Stewart in Underwater film image. NBC News. Retrieved from: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/underwater-starring-kristen-stewart-homage-alien-planetary-warning-ncna1113816.

(5)Underwater. (2020). Norah with water drop image. IMDB. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/mediaviewer/rm215912705/.