UnderAlien, err, Underwater Is Derivative And Boring
Welcome to 2020, folks. It’s a new decade! And with the beginning of the year we get January movies and boy oh boy is Underwater a mid-January movie.
This movie was filmed back in early 2017. It stars Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, TJ Miller, Jessica Henwick, and John Gallagher Jr. According to IMDb.com the release date was pushed to 2020 due to the Fox/Disney merger and I’m sure it had nothing to do with any of the problematic information that was made public about TJ Miller in late 2017. No sir.
The movie is only an hour and a half long. It starts with voice over from Kristen Stewart and a somewhat Alien inspired aesthetic. The parallels to Alien run rampant throughout the film and many of the plot elements were stolen wholesale. The design of the drill-station they work on is very Alien — it’s very ’70s in its design and it feels lived in. There are posters and figures scattered throughout the station that do a decent job of making it feel inhabited.
There’s no character development to speak of in Underwater. Each character has a relationship with either a different character on the base or someone they’re trying to survive for on the surface and that’s it. There’s a moment that’s framed as a big reveal but the character has had no other development and is already dead so it does not matter. The most convincing relationship was TJ Miller’s character and his plush rabbit. John Gallagher Jr’s character spends most of the film passed out and I envy him. I think he has a name? But frankly I can’t remember any of them.
The … plot?
The drill station blows up after the first few minutes and the rest of the movie is the pain and planning of getting to the next drill, over a mile walk. Underwater. In the dark. With insufficient oxygen and oh, right, maybe sea monsters. If you care about the physics of things don’t bother with this one. It’s inconsistent and at times impossible. I don’t care much for verisimilitude but if I did I would’ve been a lot angrier. The movie ends as soon as it shambles over 90 minutes. It’s competently made although I noticed some inconsistency with details and some grating handheld camera stuff.
So should you see this movie? It doesn’t do anything new but it’s a good genre piece — a little boring at times but manageable. There are some jumpscares here that I don’t love. It’s claustrophobic, intense and I found it fun but ultimately unsatisfying. If you’re comfortable supporting TJ Miller (see the link above) then I’d say check it out if there’s nothing else playing. Otherwise miss it. It’s not so bad it’s good. It doesn’t do anything new. Kristen Stewart spends a lot of the film in her underwear, so if that sounds appealing to you, you’ll probably have a good time with this one.
I give Underwater (20th Century Fox, PG-13, 95 mins) a 2 out of 5.
