It’s always a pleasant surprise to see, at the very least, a rather enjoyable January release, given the month’s rather dull and lackluster reputation. That’s why it’s good to see that Underwater, an oceanic survival-horror with noticeable creative and narrative relations to Ridley Scott’s Alien, is as plentiful in its fun as it is in its thrills. The film doesn’t waste a second getting into what we all wanted to see, and as such offers up a non-stop, hyper-fast rollercoaster of thrills and action. No one can deny that it borrows more than a few story beats and ideas from similar premises and horror films. But none of it restrains the story from playing out as it was meant to, with plenty of spectacle to satisfy horror audiences, an immersive visual and auditory style that ups the suspense, and a courageous performance by Kristen Stewart at the center.
Norah Price (Kristen Stewart) is a mechanical engineer stationed along with a handful of others within an underwater drilling station at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point on Earth. Everything goes awry, however, when an earthquake causes the station to suffer massive structural and electrical failure, rendering Norah and her team isolated and alone. Now, trapped 7 miles below the ocean surface, Norah and her crew must work to reach a separate outpost nearby in order to reach the escape pods if they are to escape their horrific ordeal. But to do so, they must not only traverse across the endless darkness of the ocean floor, but also learn the hard way that they are not alone down there.
It’s obvious that we require personal context with each of our characters if we are to connect with, and therefore care for, them throughout the story. Here, their backstories are but abandoned at the beginning in service of the action and adrenaline. Whatever piece of information we learn about the characters are seasoned here and there through an occasional piece of dialogue or visual imagery. If this were to be the case with most stories, we would be turned off and wouldn’t care for the story at hand.
But Underwater is an exception, in that its underutilization of expositional backstory helps serve the catastrophic and dire immediacy of the situation our characters are in. Rather than thinking constantly about how they grow as characters from the start to the finish, we are meant to ponder how they’ll be able to survive the eerie depths, our concerns shifting to their survival rather than their growth.
The story is built to focus on the here and now, to tell a riveting story of survival within a b-movie narrative landscape, i.e. deadly sea creatures that reside within the Mariana Trench. It has a mission, successfully completes that mission in 90 minutes, and then it’s over. It doesn’t dwell on backstory and exposition, nor does it skip over an worthwhile opportunity to deliver on the thrills and chills. Its focus is swift yet precise, and it doesn’t allow anything else to hold it back from delivering an entertaining chunk of thrills and fun.
But that focus comes with consequences as well as benefits. While everything else works exactly like it’s supposed to, the film lacks anything meaningful in terms of character and plot. As I said before, the backstories are pushed aside in favor of current events, and while that works for the most part, it nonetheless leaves a noticeably gaping hole in the film. Much of the supporting cast is left behind to serve their respective caricatures in service of the story, i.e. the goofy comic relief, the hardened captain, etc. The only one to get proper characterization is Norah Price. Without a proper backstory, we need to have reasons to root for her as well as trust her in the here and now. With that in mind, Stewart does an impeccable job giving enough depth, desperation, and anxiety to her character to make her someone to root for. She relies a lot on her instincts and knowledge in engineering to get her and her friends out of these situations, and that makes her enough of a likable and noteworthy lead heroine for us to follow. The way I see it, this movie is further evidence to support Kristen Stewart in becoming a strong potential lead action heroine.
But while the characters don’t get much from the script, director William Eubank more than compensates with an immersive and stunning directional and visual aesthetic. He takes advantage of the isolation that surrounds our heroes and presents an anxiety-driven venture into the unexplored depths of the ocean. We walk with our characters along the ocean floor, but their movement is limited and slow, and they can barely see a few feet in front of them. All the while, they can barely hear anything other than the currents of the ocean. That builds enough anxiety keep you shaking in your seat, as you await the inevitability of something coming out of the darkness.
Underwater wears its B-movie schticks like a badge of honor, taking hold of what works for it and pushing aside what doesn’t. Its lack of proper characterization boasts enough perks to overcome its admittedly noticeable flaws, and it makes for an enjoyable, suspense-driven treat for horror fans out there. Many will find the lack of backstory and characterization to be frustrating, or at least problematic, and I certainly agree with that notion, with Kristen Stewart being the sole exception. But for the most part, there’s enough immediacy and panic to give audiences plenty of effective and worthwhile thrills, which is the movie’s overall intent, and in the end, that has to mean something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCFWEzIVILc&t=1s&w=585