51% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 127 reviews)
Runtime: 95 minutes
Directed by: William Eubank
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallager, Jr., T.J. Miller (unfortunately)
From: 20th Century Fox
I am glad that Moon Pies are still around in 2050.
From online discourse I know that others saw the trailer for this movie often and spotted commercials for it on TV; me, no ads have been watched and the trailer was only seen by me once on the big screen... The Turning was the January horror movie trailer I've been unable to escape. It wasn't something I was expecting to see but the positive buzz meant it was something I should give a shot too. Plus, it reminded me of those 1989 underwater horror movies that came out to ride the wave of The Abyss, such as Deepstar Six (which was OK) and Leviathan, a derivative but fun creature feature w/ a sweet cast.
I'll be honest here: the Twilight movies I've avoided like the plague and I haven't gotten around to her indie work, so this is the first Kristen Stewart picture I've seen since Panic Room, and that was 17 years ago. I have no beef with her personally or her alleged “bad” acting, which seems to be hogwash to me. From what I know, I am amused by her rebellious spirit and devil may care attitude. T.J. Miller, on the other hand... perhaps this sat on the shelf for a few years because his toxic ass was in this and he got canceled by everyone in the interim. The only other thing I've seen him in is Cloverfield and if the lines he had here were all improv... I am not saddened his career has gone down the commode! Besides, that “humor” was yet another example of a modern Hollywood movie lessened by needless “comedy” and “jokes” that ruin any tension or suspense or seriousness with characters in life or death situation. This is a trend I pray goes away soon.
Anyway, those demerits were not enough to sink the picture. It's not as fun as Leviathan but it is still an entertaining B-movie which doesn't try to be more than a silly creature feature. From a newspaper headline you see it is 2050 and a crew of mostly young people (but of course) work in a complex underwater that is drilling the ocean's floor. Two minutes in, catastrophe starts and they fear it's an earthquake, but of course we surmise that it is something more sinister. Their base is wrecked so they have to walk quite a ways in their futuristic suits and there's more than one weird creature at the bottom of the sea. They don't quite look like those abominations that the Russian Fisherman has pulled up for the past few years during his deep sea fishing expeditions and posted about on Twitter-one of them isn't all that realistic, to be frank-but they do at least look creepy.
The movie wastes little time in getting going and aside from Miller acting like someone who is mentally handicapped (I kid you not, this choade has a stuffed rabbit that he loves and constantly carries around!) the rest of the cast is fine and manages to be likable. I don't know why two times early on Stewart's character clutches her chest then it's a plot point that is summarily forgotten about... her Norah manages to be easy to root for. As an aside which I know will please some people, parts of the movie she runs around in her underwear. With that out of the way, even if the movie is also derivative of other works, it has some fun action sequences-even if they could have been shot more coherently-an entertaining score, popcorn thrills, a few nasty deaths, nice cinematography and a few decisions I am glad the movie made.
As the movie is far better than the January dumping ground dreck we have gotten from genre movies in recent years (I know The Devil Inside is the key example to note here, and apparently The Grudge remake fails spectacularly in presenting a new take in the franchise), I am glad this was not a disappointment or something I regretted seeing, although many will probably be happy seeing this at home... if they don't care about Underwater's box office totals.
From online discourse I know that others saw the trailer for this movie often and spotted commercials for it on TV; me, no ads have been watched and the trailer was only seen by me once on the big screen... The Turning was the January horror movie trailer I've been unable to escape. It wasn't something I was expecting to see but the positive buzz meant it was something I should give a shot too. Plus, it reminded me of those 1989 underwater horror movies that came out to ride the wave of The Abyss, such as Deepstar Six (which was OK) and Leviathan, a derivative but fun creature feature w/ a sweet cast.
I'll be honest here: the Twilight movies I've avoided like the plague and I haven't gotten around to her indie work, so this is the first Kristen Stewart picture I've seen since Panic Room, and that was 17 years ago. I have no beef with her personally or her alleged “bad” acting, which seems to be hogwash to me. From what I know, I am amused by her rebellious spirit and devil may care attitude. T.J. Miller, on the other hand... perhaps this sat on the shelf for a few years because his toxic ass was in this and he got canceled by everyone in the interim. The only other thing I've seen him in is Cloverfield and if the lines he had here were all improv... I am not saddened his career has gone down the commode! Besides, that “humor” was yet another example of a modern Hollywood movie lessened by needless “comedy” and “jokes” that ruin any tension or suspense or seriousness with characters in life or death situation. This is a trend I pray goes away soon.
Anyway, those demerits were not enough to sink the picture. It's not as fun as Leviathan but it is still an entertaining B-movie which doesn't try to be more than a silly creature feature. From a newspaper headline you see it is 2050 and a crew of mostly young people (but of course) work in a complex underwater that is drilling the ocean's floor. Two minutes in, catastrophe starts and they fear it's an earthquake, but of course we surmise that it is something more sinister. Their base is wrecked so they have to walk quite a ways in their futuristic suits and there's more than one weird creature at the bottom of the sea. They don't quite look like those abominations that the Russian Fisherman has pulled up for the past few years during his deep sea fishing expeditions and posted about on Twitter-one of them isn't all that realistic, to be frank-but they do at least look creepy.
The movie wastes little time in getting going and aside from Miller acting like someone who is mentally handicapped (I kid you not, this choade has a stuffed rabbit that he loves and constantly carries around!) the rest of the cast is fine and manages to be likable. I don't know why two times early on Stewart's character clutches her chest then it's a plot point that is summarily forgotten about... her Norah manages to be easy to root for. As an aside which I know will please some people, parts of the movie she runs around in her underwear. With that out of the way, even if the movie is also derivative of other works, it has some fun action sequences-even if they could have been shot more coherently-an entertaining score, popcorn thrills, a few nasty deaths, nice cinematography and a few decisions I am glad the movie made.
As the movie is far better than the January dumping ground dreck we have gotten from genre movies in recent years (I know The Devil Inside is the key example to note here, and apparently The Grudge remake fails spectacularly in presenting a new take in the franchise), I am glad this was not a disappointment or something I regretted seeing, although many will probably be happy seeing this at home... if they don't care about Underwater's box office totals.
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