UNDERWATER is available on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD next Tuesday, April 14th
A crew of aquatic researchers work to get to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. But the crew has more than the ocean seabed to fear.
Check out my theater review below. I am actually interested to see this again now that it is heading to Blu-ray and Digital. I have found that some films play better on the home screen. There is less hype and you can look past blatant issues and focus more on what may have slipped by the first time. As I mention in my review, Stewart is very strong in this one and worth a watch.
Review: The new sci-fi thriller UNDERWATER from director William Eubank does several things right. Or at least it attempts to make the right decisions. Sadly if you are going to borrow brains and creativity from other successful franchises you have to implement them correctly. For some reason it never comes together for this project.
Kristen Stewart leads this cast – literally – as her character Norah tries to get herself and others to safety after their underwater lab gets compromised. Norah is the classic case of someone with inner doubts who steps up and does what needs to be done in spite of fear. If there is one bright light in this sea of darkness it is Stewarts ability to take this dialogue and direction and salvage something solid.
The film looks like a mashup from the Alien franchise and the recent monster films (King Kong, Godzilla) revolving around the Monarch company. In this story there is a big corporation somewhere calling the shots and we are supposed to blame them for everything that has happened. But we aren’t given enough to do that. There is little or no backstory and the point of survival overshadows everything else.
Stewart also is asked to spend a large portion of this film running around in her underwear. Another decision that makes no sense. If it is a throwback to the late 70s films when heroins were scantily clothed the argument is thin. My main concern was being half naked, submerged in knee deep water, with electric wires sparking everywhere. I was totally taken out of the moment.
UNDERWATER is darkly shot with few characters to root for and a script that is all attempt and no success. It sounds mean and I am sure they could say the same thing about this review… but, well, there it is.
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