Underwater

Kristen Stewart with her deadpan expression is completely out of her depth here as an actress, though the film itself is better than you’d expect from the behind-the-scenes rumors that made the rounds before it premiered. The cinematography is solid and properly gritty – to the point where you tell yourself: hey, this is what it might actually look like after a disaster ten kilometers below the sea. Unfortunately, this level of veracity means that when the protagonists leave the base for the open sea, it’s hard to make anything out in the dark waters; the chaotic editing doesn’t help. The Lovecraftian scares at the end didn’t do it for me either. (02/04/2020)

I think this would make a cool video game. A pumped-up, slightly B-movie-ish sci-fi horror flick set in the Mariana Trench, where there isn’t much time for thinking. Because of that, however, the protagonists unfortunately have absolutely no character basis, so the viewer doesn’t really care that much when they kick the bucket. And that’s a bit of a shame. Stewart’s acting is actually really good and just a few brief flashbacks would have been enough to make the relationship between her and the captain a little deeper or something. The production design and visual effects are otherwise first-class; the station, the costumes and even Cthulhu look seriously good. (28/03/2020)

The best thing about Underwater is Kristen Stewart, and that’s not an exaggeration. The unusual image suited her speech very well. And the pop song in the closing credits is confirmation that the main intention was to draw in her fans. Atmospherically, the film works quite well and the way it dynamically draws the viewer into the plot is outstanding, but it gradually runs out of gas and shuffling around on the place is supposed to unleash the mediocre monsters. The motif of the environmental threat of drilling into the ocean floor isn’t exactly innovative and there is nothing here to make it anything special, so it just remains a worn-out cliché. (22/01/2020)

Underwater is most often compared to Alien (and rightly so, as some of the scenes are more than inspired), but I think the filmmakers would have been happy if it was also compared to Gravity. Indeed, several times they try to evoke the mood of the first film mentioned, several times the second, but somehow it doesn't come together and it's all only half as interesting. A number of scenes have a nice gloomy atmosphere but aren't very suspenseful. Some scenes are really well acted, like the one where a stressed Kristen Stewart recounts what happened to Vincent Cassel. And the final super-monster scene is fine too, although we don't really enjoy it and everything ends as expected. I was hoping it would be a little better. (11/01/2020)

A promising introduction. Although rather than a film, it resembles effective cinematics in a survival game that I would like to play, but it does fulfill its purpose. I am quite susceptible to underwater anxiety, so as long as something is going on, I'll enjoy a very flimsy expedition and a high amount of deliberately raw filming. But then… uh-oh. The alternative tagline should read: there is nothing to see under the water, which I would have preferred if it hadn't been accompanied by stupid and terribly confusing editing. It prevents a person from enjoying the underwater terror, because here and there, it is not clear where you are who you are actually watching. In addition, the characters are such dull, forgettable reflections. The perpetrator of terror has about five different forms and it is not entirely clear where the creators are trying to take us - to alternative underwater biology, or full-blown sci-fi horror? The conclusion rushes with the answer in the form of Lovecraft kohlrabi and I have to laugh. Mixing so many good things into such a dull goulash truly requires giant blenders. Unfortunately for Underwater, the film is full of them. It doesn't even work as a fun one-time watch. It’s about as much fun as snorkeling in a pond. Regarding B-movie flooding, I will continue to prescribe the beautiful Verne misstep, which has Balls. (11/01/2020)