Five years ago in January 2020 , just as the COVID-19 pandemic started to make its first newspaper headline , a different variety of calamity arrived in picture theaters : Underwater . The moving-picture show starredKristen Stewart , and based on the lagger , it looked to pay homage to older sci - fi horror classics . YetUnderwaterturned out to be a super clunky , visually mirky , and ill - paced film about a deep - sea excavation station at the bottom of the Mariana Trench that inadvertently wakes up a giant inscrutable - sea monster .
In theory , Underwatershould have been enjoyable . Even if it sum nothing to the literary genre and was just a inadequate court toAlien , Cloverfield , andThe Abyss , it should have been at least derivative fun . But it was n’t , and audience remain away from the self-aggrandizing - budget plastic film . So what choke wrong , and isUnderwaterworth watching five years later now that it ’s available to well out at home ?
Why Underwater is a Cthulhu-sized disaster
Like many abominable films , Underwater ’s problems started long before it off theaters . Trust me , it wo n’t take an eagle - eyed viewer to acknowledge that something aboutUnderwater ’s redaction is off , as if half the movie were just deleted . For starters , the film begins with the activeness already in advance . It starts with a catastrophic temblor that begins to flood the subaquatic station . This is n’t needfully a problem , since lots of account do the “ pass over into the legal action and explain the backstory as you go ” affair . The job is thatUnderwaterdoesn’t even devil to do that .
There ’s very little backstory to any of the character ( and therefore little reason to care about them ) , and there are lots of scene that feel like they were connected to moments that probably happen earlier but were cut back . Despite being a feature - length film , Underwatersomehow manages to experience completely plotless .
Adding to the rabidity is the fact thatUnderwateronly has five characters throughout the entire movie . think being in a gargantuan underwater mining and research place the size of a humble city and never seeinganyoneelse there . And commemorate , the motion picture starts the very mo all hell breaks loose .
It ’s not like we ’re following some salvage gang exploring a lost mining station . It becomes very cleared very speedily that something encounter with the motion picture ’s output because despite looking like a giant blockbuster , Underwaterfeels insanely vacuous .
Underwater is hard to watch (literally)
I ’m not the only one who noticedUnderwater‘s various job either . In 2020Vulturereported : “ The film was shot in 2017 , and report from the time suggest that it was supposed to be about some underwater scientists , though I have no real idea if that ’s just pitiable reporting or grounds of rewrites and/or reshoots . ” So we make love for indisputable the film sat in evolution blaze for three years before hitting theaters .
The Guardianalso noticedUnderwater ’s choppy redaction and exanimate patch , and wondered if it was to keep the film ’s PG-13 rating . “ When the gang member necessarily commence getting picked off , ” the publication Department of State , “ their death prospect , because of the film ’s mass - audience - pleasing PG-13 rating , are mostly tongue-tied . At one spot a character has to remind someone , and us , that a death really did just occur . ”
On top of the marshy editing , there ’s also the combining offspring thatUnderwateris visually disorienting . have a rushed movie is bad enough , but it ’s even tough when it ’s all occur at the bottom of the sea in scene so black and bleary you may scarcely enjoin what ’s going on . In its hilarious one - wizard review , The Irish Timestitled its article “ Underwater : Nothing to see here – literally – in this muddy appalling lot ” — and that ’s a great way to total up the motion-picture show . It does n’t just have a murky plot , the entire film is in reality , literally murky .
In fact , Underwateris so dark and murky that I struggled to incur range of the movie ’s creatures for this article . Every time I front for images online , the well-defined ones were actually pre - production renderings of the CGI , not stills from the film . And when I paused the movie to get a good screenshot , everything was a grainy blur . I had to execute the above image through Canva to brighten it , clear up it , and sharpen its bound just to make certain readers could actually see it ( somewhat ) clearly .
Despite its various flaws, Underwater has lots of promise as well
What makes the movie so insufferable is that it was so close to being honest . With its 95 - minute runtime , Underwateris a very tight flick that easily could have added ( or merely not cut ) another 20 minutes . And just reckon what those 20 minutes could have done ! With a some backstory , more suspense , and a better use of its alone setting , Underwatercould have been an absolute banger of a revulsion sci - fi pic .
At times , catch it felt almost painful because there were numerous setting where I could tell that withjusta small bit more cerebration and effort , it could have been really effectual . But it was n’t , and alternatively , every scene just feels like lost potential that could have chair to something so much better . But that potential is still there , givingUnderwaterthis odd gumption of hope that tricks you into call back it ’s about to get really good , and that surely just around the next corner the motion-picture show will find its footing .
Cthulhu is the highlight of the movie
The motion picture does in fact finally find its foothold ; alas , it ’s not until the last 15 minutes . Mild spoiler qui vive : At the very ending of the movie , Kristin Stewart finally sees the giant 50 - story Cthulhu fiend rise up from the depth ( even though they ’re at the very bottom of the Mariana Trench , so lord only knows what “ depths ” it ’s rising from since they ’re already at the very bottom of the deepest spot in the sea ) .
In a film full of bleh and meh , the panorama where we finally glimpse the jumbo monster is absolutely everything you ’d want . It ’s massive , intimidating , and terrifying . Up until the close , all audience see are the smaller , human - sized monster , which are nowhere well-nigh as scary . In fact , I ’d argue thatUnderwaterisn’t scary at all . Because of how belt along everything is and how blatantly CGI’d the miniskirt - monsters are , there ’s no sense of suspense or terror until you finally see Cthulhu . That ’s the minute where I was like , “ Ah , so this is what the movie should have been the whole meter . ”
Is Underwater still worth watching?
IsUnderwaterworth watching ? That really depend on what type of viewer you are . If you ’re a music genre fan like me who thinks we do n’t get enough freak movies , then yes you should watchUnderwatersince it ’s now part of monster movie chronicle . It ’s a squashy movie , but there ’s still mint of potency to regain enjoyable . Plus , it ’s loaded with nods and homages to other classic — like the underwater place that totally brings back flashes ofDeep Blue Sea , or their aquanaut cause that look straight out ofStarCraft , and of course the endless homages toAlienthroughout .
But if you ’re a casual viewer who is n’t super into sci - fi horror or monster picture , I urge you do n’t knock off your time . Underwatercertainly is n’t a picture that provide a meaningful plot or intriguing theatrical role . It ’s a movie for people who need to see Cthulhu underwater .
If you do choose to watchUnderwater , just think back that five years after its release , it has n’t become a cult classic for a cause — there ’s nothing classic about it . But if you love creature feature film and have nothing else to watch over , then what do you have to lose ?
Underwateris stream onHulu .
