Underwater (2020)
After the highs of awards season at the end of every year comes January where some of the worst films of the year are always released. Due to the release date and the early trailers, there was little anticipation built around Underwater. Miles underneath the ocean's surface, Norah Price (Kristen Stewart) is one of the few who makes it out alive when a major earthquake destroys the Kepler 822 Station which she and hundreds of others were working on. What starts as a fight for their lives against the underwater conditions quickly becomes something more as Norah and a handful of other crew members discover mysterious life forms that have a taste for human flesh. Where it would be dumb to expect some deep cinematic masterpiece from this project, even judging this film from the perspective of a dumb yet fun action movie that audiences can turn their brains off and just enjoy it overall falls flat and stale.
The biggest disappointment of the film and the thing that overall holds it back the most would have to be the cast. Where it was fully expected that T.J. Miller was going to be a point of contention considering the numerous allegations and negative choices the rest of the cast being as bland as they were was extremely disappointing. Despite a screenplay which is clearly meant to be fun and playful at times with their interactions, competent actors like Vincent Cassel and Jessica Henwick give completely forgettable and bland performances that neither engages the audience with their characters or even had the audience enjoying themselves.
The other side of this film is that of suspense and terror as these characters quite literally fight for their lives which has its ups and downs. When the characters are out in the dark and murky water there are some sequences that really put you on the edge of your seat. This is an effective setting for this type of film and was working fine enough until you get to the creatures. Where the actual visual effects are fine with the creatures their designs are so uninteresting and uninspired. They feel like nearly every other monster that has come before in films like this. There also is very little left to the imagination, instead of having these creatures lurk in the shadows you pretty quickly see their entire designs and there is very little done to use them sparingly keeping at least some sort of a cloak of mystery around them.
The other side of this film is that of suspense and terror as these characters quite literally fight for their lives which has its ups and downs. When the characters are out in the dark and murky water there are some sequences that really put you on the edge of your seat. This is an effective setting for this type of film and was working fine enough until you get to the creatures. Where the actual visual effects are fine with the creatures their designs are so uninteresting and uninspired. They feel like nearly every other monster that has come before in films like this. There also is very little left to the imagination, instead of having these creatures lurk in the shadows you pretty quickly see their entire designs and there is very little done to use them sparingly keeping at least some sort of a cloak of mystery around them.
Speaking of the visual effects, they alongside the rest of the production design easily are the most impressive parts of the film. From the underwater sequences to the suits worn outside to withstand the underwater pressure, despite being nothing revolutionary or new the costume design from Dorotka Sapinska and the production design from Naaman Marshall are decently impressive especially with the complexity of some of the work. Unfortunately, it is hard to really enjoy these elements as they are thrown around with weak editing and cinematography. From random moments of slow-motion to uninspired boring camera work visually this movie does itself no favors and sadly did nothing with its unique setting.
The plot of the film is also just not good. With its quick start and lack of engaging screenplay, there is no point where the audience connected or started to care about these characters which really hurt the effect this movie was going for. With no connection with these characters, the suspense weakens and the film feels boring. From a plot perspective, the film was also just hard to follow. There are so many locations and concepts briefly mentioned that in the chaos of the fight for survival it is very easy to lose track of where each character is trying to go and the state of each of their relationships. Not being able to follow these character arcs or even the simple actual plot makes the lack of engagement even worst. This is a movie that is nearly impossible to care about due to how it simply fails to build anything of substance with really any aspect of itself.
Underwater is not going to be the worst film of the year, it has good production elements and overall is competent to a point but also fails to be anything noteworthy. With bland performances and a messy script, nothing in this film felt engaging or memorable. It wasn't a great thriller and it wasn't a fun monster movie. Instead, it was a lackluster January release that won't stick in my mind even until the end of the month.
The plot of the film is also just not good. With its quick start and lack of engaging screenplay, there is no point where the audience connected or started to care about these characters which really hurt the effect this movie was going for. With no connection with these characters, the suspense weakens and the film feels boring. From a plot perspective, the film was also just hard to follow. There are so many locations and concepts briefly mentioned that in the chaos of the fight for survival it is very easy to lose track of where each character is trying to go and the state of each of their relationships. Not being able to follow these character arcs or even the simple actual plot makes the lack of engagement even worst. This is a movie that is nearly impossible to care about due to how it simply fails to build anything of substance with really any aspect of itself.
Underwater is not going to be the worst film of the year, it has good production elements and overall is competent to a point but also fails to be anything noteworthy. With bland performances and a messy script, nothing in this film felt engaging or memorable. It wasn't a great thriller and it wasn't a fun monster movie. Instead, it was a lackluster January release that won't stick in my mind even until the end of the month.