The latest in the “Disney needs to quickly dump their Fox liabilities” saga, the generically titled Underwater was shot in early 2017 as a vehicle to try and turn Kristen Stewart into a bit of an action star and take advantage of the post-Deadpool/Silicon Valley growing star of TJ Miller. Of course quite a bit has changed since that time, with Stewart more of an indie darling and Miller basically persona non-grata in Hollywood. But the biggest issue impacting William Eubank‘s first real stab at big budget filmmaking was that the studio that produced it (20th Century Fox) was purchased by Disney during the Underwater’s post-production process. And so, like last year’s Ad Astra and this April’s New Mutants, Underwater is really more of a write off for the Mouse than anything else.
This of course explains dumping it into the January timeframe, which inspires basically zero confidence. And that’s a shame, as Underwater is a pretty solid b-movie thrill ride with some expert production values, creature design and a somewhat off-kilter lead performance that elevates what would normally fall into generic “base under siege” territory.
Underwater dives right into its central struggle almost immediately, as Stewart’s Norah is immediately held first-hand witness to an explosion within the undersea base where she acts as a hardware engineer. Immediately crossing paths with another member of the complex’s crew (Mamoudou Athie‘s Rodrigo, whose role on the ship is pretty unclear, but he does love anime!), they rush to close off security doors to prevent the onrush of the aquatic deluge, having to sacrifice colleagues who simply cannot make it through those impenetrable doors on time. A harrowing sacrifice to weigh on the shoulders of an already clearly fraught individual, and that’s only within the first 5 minutes of the film. From there they reach other key crew members like their captain (Vincent Cassel), Miller’s tattooed yukster Paul, and young lovers Emily and Liam (Jessica Henwick and John Gallagher Jr.). They quickly realize there’s little life left to be had on this research station, and they’re going to have to traverse to the farthest end of the complex, through submerged underwater tunnels, in order to reach their end goal: escape pods. Of course, the monstrous entities that caused the damage in the first place won’t make it an easy trip.
Underwater is a surprisingly brisk film, to a degree it feels like it was edited from a longer film where there’s greater opportunity to get to know these characters, and instead made for maximum showtime possibilities. This isn’t necessarily a demerit, it just takes any potential heart from the film and instead turns it into an experience of moments; the crew gets suited up, the crew has their first contact with new underwater life, they face danger at this turn, at that turn, and another…and it really doesn’t take a second to breathe. There’s a valid argument to be said that without some foreknowledge of the cast and their inner lives, it’s hard to care when they become endangered (and spoilers: not all of them are gonna make it), but to have a film so cut to the bone in this way also provides a visceral immediacy and the sense that everyone is equally expendable at least somewhat carries the needed load.
Of its greater pleasures though, come in its presentation of this futuristic science. Much like the great Michael Seymour’s work on Alien, Production Designer Naaman Marshall‘s bases and tunnels and research terminals are covered in analog buttons and flashing lights. There’s a few more touchpads than the crew of the Nostromo had, but the general low-tech spirit is still alive on every console throughout the film. Not to mention the deep-dive suits that look like something right out of a manga, or the creature design, which plays like a combination of the crawling horrors from The Descent and something far more cosmic, particularly when the “mother” monster arrives on the scene.
But it’s also an effort that underlines why science fiction take takes place under the depths is typically so hard to pull off, highlighting one of the biggest key weaknesses of Eubank’s effort. In maintaining the murky look needed to create a sense of the believable pressure that the ocean floor might provide, the film itself looks murky, and it can become difficult to actually parse out what exactly is happening in certain sequences. Some immersion to simulate the experience of these doomed scientists provides key ground-level perspective, but at a certain point it stops becoming a question of “what’s gonna happen?” and instead “what just happened?” There are also some questionable sound design choices as well, where key dialogue becomes muffled to a point where important information just gets lost into the ether.
Still, for an early January release, this could have been so much worse. If you’re looking for 90 minutes of fast-paced entertainment, this is a good opportunity to see some cool looking monsters chase people in futuristic aquatic gear. The details will evaporate almost as quickly as you leave the theater, but it’s a finely tuned enough screamer while you’re in it.