Underwater has you hooked right from the beginning! We haven’t had a decent underwater, scary monster movie in a while and this one proved to be worth it! It was a little jumpy at the beginning with the Blair Witch camera action but it smoothed out right away and gave you steady, tense, stressful, horror-filled situations that hardly let you catch your breath. It concentrated more on the character struggles then the situations, we didn’t have to suffer through all 6 miles across the ocean floor in the dark or each door that had to be opened or how many times they called someone’s name before we know they didn’t make it.
Right from the start, you are underwater with them and feel that you will never reach the surface! The actors are fully in their characters and you cheer for them even though you know their situation is dire. We find a group of underwater miners suffering from the hazards of being under so much pressure, they are more than 6 miles down in the Mariana Trench. There is an epic event, an earthquake that throws them into an intense struggle for survival that has your adrenaline pumping. The monster doesn’t make an appearance until well into the movie but you know it’s there and you can’t wait to see it!
Kristen Stewart is very good as Norah, a troubled young woman almost beyond her depth when she is launched into survival and rescue mode again and again for her fellow miners. TJ Miller is great as the comic relief, using a stuffed bunny as a mental anchor. The Captain, played by Vincent Cassel, is courageous, having stayed on the rig after he helped other escape. He does a good job in keeping everyone together while he can. They are thrust into problem after problem where they continue to lose people until they are forced to the bottom of the ocean to get to the escape pods of the drilling station. They must walk across in the dark and you just know they are walking through the monster’s den! The other station has air and resources and each one of them must defeat their personal demons and fears along with the effects of depth sickness and a deadly underwater entity to make it.
This monster is fantastic! A watery cross between the Alien and an octopus that has never seen the light of day! It has a skeleton head with wispy teeth and big, bugged out, glowing eyes and murderous intent. We can only guess it is upset that we are there drilling because they have seemingly attacked the facility and are not letting anyone leave. They are smart and crafty, moving around the station on two hands, and have set up camp near the entrance or destroyed all available escape routes. There is a Queen and many baby-monster soldiers between our team and the surface.
Underwater is action packed, with gruesome death scenes — no one should have to walk through the remains of their friend and coworker after he has imploded in his suit, ewwwww, — and a satisfying ending. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat and at the end, when the horrible choice must be made, you know it is the right thing and you are hopeful that this sacrifice will yield the expected reward. This was a great nail-biter! I had to take a breath a couple of times to relax because I was that involved. You felt for each character and you smiled at the end. I didn’t each my popcorn because I was too busy watching! Great movie — be sure to catch it!