Movie Review: Underwater (2020)

Synopsis: A research and drilling operation located deep in the ocean suffers a water breach following an earthquake. There are a handful of survivors but, when they run out of escape pods, a group of them must make a treacherous walk across the ocean floor to a different station. While doing this, they discover a swarm of man-eating sea creatures blocking their way.

Who's in it? The movie stars Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr. and T. J. Miller.

Review: I had time to watch a movie with my wife yesterday evening and, even though I had selected one while at the library, decided to pick one out of our streaming library instead (I didn't feel like getting off the couch to get the DVD). I had found this movie a couple days earlier and, since my wife thought it sounded interesting, picked it. Overall, it ended up being a good choice.

The thing that I liked most about this film was the underwater setting. It set an ominous tone for the entire movie because there were multiple ways the survivors could be killed, ranging from running out of oxygen to implosion from the extreme water pressure. And that was before the movie threw in the man-eating creatures too.

Another thing that surprised me about the film was the characters in the movie were somewhat interesting. The movie doesn't go into a great deal of backstory for any of them, including the main character, Norah (Stewart), but does allow enough of their individual personalities to show for it to be easier to care if they were killed. In fact, I think this might have been the perfect movie for Stewart because it allowed her to play to her strengths.

The movie also does a great job maintaining some level of secrecy regarding the creatures and what they are, giving only a few subtle hints about their origins. This made their interaction with the humans even more interesting because it was difficult to tell what would cause them to respond. Were they attracted to light? Would a noise cause them to attack? This created a bit more suspense in some scenes, especially toward the end.

Final Opinion: Truthfully, there might be better movies with a similar plot. However, I still thought this film was enjoyable to watch and would recommend it.

My Grade: B