Underwater (2020)

 

The Kepler 822, a research and drilling facility at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, is struck by what appears to be a strong earthquake. Part of the facility is catastrophically destroyed by the incident, killing most of the crew in that section.  Only mechanical engineer Norah Price and her colleagues, Rodrigo and Paul, manage to get out alive and make their way to the escape pod bay. 

Once there though, the news doesn't get any better.  While they do find three more survivors, including the captain, there are no functional pods left in this bay, and attempts to contact the surface have been unsuccessful.  The only other hope for escape is the pods in the abandoned Roebuck 641 base.  They will need to don pressurized suits and then walk one mile across the ocean floor.

Even in the best of circumstances, this would be a dangerous journey, as visibility at this depth will be almost nil.  With the whole area strewn with debris, and several of them not trained in this equipment, the danger is far greater - even a small tear in the suit would lead to catastrophic and deadly depressurisation.

Oh well, at least the earthquake didn't herald the release of any deadly, previously unknown deep sea monsters with a taste for human flesh, right?

Right?

Underwater; it's a bland title, but a good film.  Much better than the mixed reviews and poor box office would suggest.  Ignore the complaints that it is derivative.  Innovation is less important than execution, and Underwater executes well.

This movie reminds me a lot of The Descent, but set under the ocean rather than under the earth. Both films feature a small group of people who are trapped in an environment that is inimical to human life.  In both films, the characters can survive only by moving forward through dangerous and difficult terrain.  And both films feature excellent, tensely structured opening sections in which the only threats come  from the natural dangers of the location.

Where Underwater does differ from The Descent, though, is that it handles the transition to "monster movie" much better.  In the earlier film, after the initial monster onslaught, the nature of the threat never changed much and some of the film's tension and excitement was sapped away by a growing feeling of repetition.  The creature encounters here are more varied in form and structure, helping maintain tension and interest.  It's good work, especially because the monster threats not only vary, but escalate. The first encounters pale in comparison to the later ones in several different ways, helping the movie build to a crescendo at the end.

Going back to comparisons with The Descent, I also think this film lands its ending far better: neither the underbaked US ending of the earlier film, nor the nihilistic UK one, were particularly satisfying to me.  Underwater does a much better job of finding a thematically strong, satisfying conclusion. 

I also liked that the film eschewed the common movie gambit of having one or more of the characters be a selfish jerk or crazy loose cannon.  Underwater has the good sense to let the dangers of the situation be the focus.  All the human characters work hard to survive and have each other's backs.  That doesn't mean they always see eye to eye on what they should do, or that they will all survive - but they give it their all.

I'm not quite done with my praise, because I also need to take the time to acknowledge the strong cast, who all do solid work.  I imagine this production involved a lot of green screen work, which must be challenging, but the actors consistently deliver.  Kristen Stewart, who plays Norah, proves once again that she's a real talent - something I would never have believed in the Twilight stage of her career. I'm confident her 2022 Oscar nomination for best actress will not be the last time she's up for a major Academy Award.