If something about “Underwater” looks familiar to you, that’s because it’s pretty much been done before—it’s pretty much an underwater version of “Alien.” Whether or not the Kristen Steward vehicle was directly inspired by the iconic horror film is unclear. But what is certain is that “Underwater” doesn’t come close to capturing the cinematic magic of “Alien.”
As the title suggests, “Underwater” takes place deep within the ocean. A team of engineers and scientists are stationed more than six feet under the surface to drill and learn. The film kicks the action off early, with a massive earthquake forcing the team to evacuate their station before it collapses. The team is given no choice but to walk two miles on the ocean floor to reach another station. Their journey becomes even more dangerous while they come across a number of dangerous and unexplained creatures all along their path.
“Underwater” is a lot of wasted potential across the board. The movie starts off big with a massive explosion, but kind of peters out from there. There’s not much of a story—the backgrounds of the characters and the corporation they work for are not really revealed. Without this additional information, audiences cannot connect to the characters. It’s a waste of indie darlings Kristen Stewart and John Gallagher, Jr. Stewart does fine with what she’s given. It’s hard to stay the same for Gallagher because, as he’s injured the majority of the film, he barely has anything to work with himself. As the film was released three years after it was shot, its use of T.J. Miller as comedic relief, which would’ve been a certified home run a few years ago, also misses the mark.
The idea of the monsters the crew comes in contact with is terrifying, but poorly executed. The crew typically just stumbles across the monsters. A good monster movie has its creature stalk its prey, not accidentally come across them. While a monster does snatch and kill a member of the crew, it leaves zero impact with viewers, since they never had a chance to truly connect to those characters anyway.
“Underwater” has the occasional worthwhile moment that shines through the muck. Glimpses of various creatures appearing in the crew’s headlights provides some fun thrills. The whole underwater motif provides for some cool shots as well. But ultimately, “Underwater” just ends up being a lackluster film.
