Underwater

     It’s Halloween, and what does that mean for a movie-watching fella like me?  Why, it means my family is actually willing to watch a scary movie with me!  It seems like every year we find a new scary movie to check out, and for this year, we discovered a movie called Underwater.  So, let’s “dive” right in and see if it’s any good.
     Right off the bat, we are given little time to know what’s going on before things start exploding, and that, to me, is a great way to open up a scary, sci-fi monster feature.  Here’s the lowdown: a corporation has built a massive drilling base at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (the deepest known part of the ocean), and lo and behold, there’s something scary swimming around the station.  Some of the crew (which consists of the likes of Kristen Stewart and T.J. Miller) manage to find their way to each other, and they try to find a way out of the station and back to the surface as fast as they can before things explode even more.  It’s a simple premise, and that’s the way I like my monster movie--skip the fluff and get to the scary stuff.  And this movie does not waste time.  With it being an hour and a half long, the constant intensity is not as exhausting as it might seem at first.  There are a few moments sprinkled throughout the story where the characters stop and take a breather before continuing on their dangerous task.  It’s like a roller coaster.  There are intense moments, but then there are calm moments...that eventually lead to more intense moments.  For those looking for an exciting and fast-paced movie for the holiday, I think this is a good one.  It kept me entertained from start to finish, and I had a lot of fun watching the crew trying to survive the harsh, claustrophobic and watery environment.  It’s a lot like Aliens now that I think about it, but ultimately, I think I will watch Underwater again before watching Aliens, because I feel as though the latter had more fluff.  As I’ve established, I want the fluff skipped, and Underwater knows what it wants to do and doesn’t hesitate to do it.
     Although the execution is done very well for the most part with high production value and impressive visual effects, there are a couple of parts that may have benefitted with some more planning.  For instance, there were two instances where the camera moved around so quickly that it was hard to tell who was getting hurt and where everybody was.  This may have been the point, in order to convey a sense of confusion and distortion, but it seemed as though the camera was trying to focus on a subject, making it rather difficult to follow what the director wanted us to see and understand.  I got so disoriented that I completely gave up on trying to follow along and waited until the scene was over to know who lived and who died.  Additionally, some scenes could have used some clarity via lights or visual cues.  I know the story takes place in the darkest depth of the ocean where visibility is impossible, but again, it seemed as though the camera wanted us to see something but couldn’t properly show what was on screen.  Perhaps it was my TV and my settings, but I have never had a problem like this before with any other movie.  Other than these few instances, I was really impressed with the production value.  It seemed like a lot of money went into the visuals, and I can’t think of a single moment when I thought something looked fake.  Obviously, the sea monsters are fake, but they looked strikingly real, probably due to the lack of lighting which masked the details on it.  When the movie does show off its visuals with some wide shots, it’s impressive.  It’s pretty refreshing to see a scary movie with an ocean-sized budget instead of another low-cost movie that takes place inside of a haunted house or in the woods.  In this movie, the setting is unique, and the visuals are glorious, making it one of the most memorable films in the genre.
     The cast is pretty good and fit their roles well, though it is your typical horror movie group.  There’s the brave hero that survives the longest, the smart one who comes up with a plan, the always frightened one, and the comic relief.  There’s not a lot of character depth for these actors to explore, but never did I feel like they were cheesy or too over-the-top.  T.J. Miller does have some out-of-place jokes here and there, especially one that seemed more appropriate for the inappropriate Deadpool movies, but for the most part, his humor does help balance the seriousness with the outlandishness of the story.  There was one other humorous part that I felt was out-of-place as well.  I am not a fan of slapstick comedy in a scary movie.  It’s just a bit too cartoony for a movie focused on making the monsters and the scares feel real.  Aside from these oddities, I thought the cast did great, though the story didn’t allow them to express much outside of being brave, determined, and scared.
     It’s very apparent that Underwater was heavily influenced by a certain other sci-fi horror movie that starred a strong female protagonist trapped in a station secluded by darkness, and honestly, despite the lack of originality, the movie worked for me.  It was an enjoyable movie that kept me tense and startled me every now and then.  It’s a movie that knows exactly what its point is and goes for it, leaving a big splash, and I highly recommend checking it out for Halloween, especially if you’re in the mood for something different.