Underwater (2020) - REVIEW
"We don’t know what’s out there."
Underwater is of an oddball of a film; one that constantly takes one step forward and two steps back. For all the amazing production design and great use of CGI – the weak script and lack of original or interesting characters seems to be the downfall in the end. It’s a film I found myself enjoying for specific facets alone other than the sum of all its parts.
The story is simple enough; think Alien except literally…underwater. There’s even a point in the film that feels somewhat of a cheap homage – though not nearly as nerve wracking as Ridley Scott’s original sci-fi horror classic. When there is an accident within an underwater drilling facility six miles below the Earth’s surface, it is up to the remaining surviving members of this crew to reach the main section of the facility if they ever dream of getting back home. It is a film that, in concept, feels tonally focused but the uneven sense of humor and character motivations end up leaving the sense of tension unhinged as well.
Kristen Stewart does a solid job for what her role is in this movie – but it never feels as if she gets an opportunity to be fully immersed into the character. There is an extremely "tropey" backstory attached to her arc near the end of the film and it honestly made me care about her story even less. In an attempt to make the film more “metaphorical”, it just ends up feeling like it is unsure of what it wants to accomplish in the first place. Is this a darkly fun sci-fi adventure? Or a story about one gaining the confidence to fight back? It can be both, as has been proven before, but this film goes about it in all the wrong ways. All the other characters in the film seem even less fleshed out with constant random exposition going on back and forth in order to fill the audience in on unimportant details. TJ Miller’s character, especially, just feels like someone who was written in order to add an in-genuine sense of humor to the film – when it didn’t need one to begin with. Maybe if we got actually got to spend some time with the characters before the mayhem begins in this film, their stories and arcs wouldn’t have felt so rushed and “tacked on.” When the film focuses on just being a fun sci-fi survival movie, it works so much better than when it tries actually focusing on the characters – sadly.
However, for all of its flaws, the design and look of this movie is very solid – for the most part. The action sequences at times can be a little discombobulating – in the sense that it’s very hard to follow what is going on at times; the dark ambient lighting, as cool as it looks, did not help either. Other than that, there are some very exciting CGI-driven moments where it really shined as what I wanted more of the film to be; an actual underwater horror film. However, any time the film headed this direction, it immediately pulled back with the same nonsensical dialogue or plot progression. The look of the monsters, and especially the reveal of the big bad, were all very well done and actually memorable; something I can’t say about most blockbusters nowadays. I literally remember nothing about how any of the creatures in 2018’s Aquaman looked like. But maybe that’s my bad. The costume design is one of my favorite components of the film and coupled in with the iridescent cinematography – it allows it to shine even more. Instead of opting with a sleek clean look for the costumes, the bulkiness of the attire added a real sense of grit and danger for the characters; they are almost completely immobilize in the face of danger.
Underwater is a film that just ends up feeling like wasted potential. If the filmmakers took more time to actually care about the characters onscreen, then maybe the audience would have as well. When telling tales about survival, it is dire for the viewers to empathize with the characters onscreen and when most, if not all, are either bland or unlikeable – it doesn’t make for an impactful film. Tacking on a message about human growth and “bettering oneself” in this film didn’t help at all whatsoever and felt like another cheap trick in an attempt to connect. The best parts of this film are when the stakes rise and the CGI drivel comes in – which, once again, is pretty well done. Though this film in particular may not have been a success, I wouldn’t mind visiting this universe once again.
