Underwater (2020)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

This low key futuristic undersea thriller actually delivers more chops than a lot of the far more expensive Hollywood rubbish that is churned out today. The premise is familiar .. a mega deep sea underwater drilling facility is compromised when what looks like an undersea earthquake hits. With a tight running time of just slightly over an hour and a half, the film wastes no time in getting us thick into the action and plot as the opening sequence literally explodes with the underwater disaster. We are soon left with the surviving crew of five people who must then find a way to get themselves into escape pads that will bring them up to the surface alive.

Swap the vast menacing unknown of outer space with the vast menacing unknown of the bottom of the ocean and we have a plot that threatens to be cliched and familiar. Happily, Underwater still succeed in making it  feel fresh and exciting. Perhaps it is because it has uncharacteristically mixed two genres here .. an underwater disaster survival theme coupled with a (sea) monster horror movie. It is also interesting to see Kristen Stewart who has so snobbishly restricted her movies to arthouse heavy dramas (after her Twilight stint) to be cast as a kick ass tough female lead, plus agreeing to appear in scanty outfits too! In fact this is the second film that Kristen has recently appeared in that is outside her usual comfort zone, the other one being the Charlie's Angels reboot. To Kristen's credit she did a decent job here and manages to avoid portraying her character looking like a dumb ass bimbo. The other familiar face leading the small cast is the role of the captain played by Vincent Cassel whose previous films include Black Swan and HBO's Westworld.

Underwater may not have the big budget and elaborate sets and special effects of the typical summer block busters, but its sense of adventure and unknown keeps the movie going in a relentless pace. The dark ocean settings provide a perfect excuse to veil much of the action and reduce CGI budget, but that doesn't lessen the sense of dread each time the sea creature appears as sometimes less you see, the more scary it can be. Some of the scenes were also effectively filmed with the point of view from inside the helmet of the underwater suits reminding me of Sandra Bullock's scenes in Gravity. All things considered, I would highly recommend Underwater if you like to watch tales of survival spiced with a bit of underwater "aliens" menace.