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.
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.
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.
2 |
Norah and the other survivors need to move fast before everything comes crashing down |
3 |
The lighting only heightens the sense of danger |
4 |
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.
Would I Recommend?
5 |
Might be worth a quick dip |
- 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.
(1) Underwater. (2020). Underwater film image. IMDB. Retrieved from: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5774060/.
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