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Horror Movie Talk

Underwater (Movie) Review

Horror Movie Talk

Horror Movie Talk: Horror Movie Review

After Shows, Tv & Film, Film Reviews

4.2652 Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2020

⏱️ 77 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Underwater is in theaters right now and I did not expect much, which left me pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have a bad time. As far as underwater spooks and adventure go, Underwater is unique enough to hold my attention, but it doesn’t pull off anything amazing. 

Underwater illustration Horror Movie Talk
Dgoebel00 on instagram provided this amazing pic. Follow him for more great horror art. Also, check out his website.

Underwater Synopsis

Underwater stars Kristen Stewart as Norah, T.J. Miller as the unnamed goofball, and Vincent Cassel as the captain who looks just like my friend
Brent.

https://youtu.be/Rszr56AH3Co

This is an
incredibly simple story that starts with Kristen Stewart describing life 
underwater – in this massive – underwater – facility that is made to support a drilling operation at the
bottom of the Mariana Trench, which of course, is – underwater

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After a few
minutes the facility begins to implode, and our leading lady is forced to begin
her – underwater – quest to escape. 

Along the
way she runs into a few friends who have miraculously survived the facility
being torn to shred at this crushing depth. Once she meets up with the captain,
they hatch a plan to escape but soon find themselves in over their heads!

Kristen Stewart Underwater brushing teeth
Feel the intense teeth-brushing action!

Underwater Review

Underwater is a by-the-books movie that reminded me of Sphere (1998) mixed with Aliens and The Abyss.

 T.J
Miller does exactly what you think he is going to do, and so does Kristen
Stewart. In fact, all of the characters do the things you think they are going
to do. Does that make it bad? No, just predictable.

Underwater movie poster
Pretty cool poster, if I do say so.

I liked the
monster design in this, which is saying something because I rarely enjoy
monster design.

Score for Underwater

6/10

Spoilers for Underwater

Expand for Spoilers

There isn’t a whole lot to spoil in this movie. If you read my synopsis, you kind of get it. The monster(s) are really the x-factor and the interesting part of this movie, along with the journey to the bottom of the sea.

Kids Piloting Multi-Trillion Dollar Drilling Rigs

Ok, this is going to make me sound like a wet, old fart, but goddamnit I’m going to say it anyway. Twenty somethings are not who I would expect to be the focus of this movie. There’s a freaking intern for Christ-sake!

For another totally implausible underwater scenario, check out our review of The Meg

https://www.horrormovietalk.com/2018/08/24/the-meg/

Haggard men in their thirties and forties are the key demo here, both in real life and in movies of old based on similar situations. Call me sexist, but it’s true!

Here is a list of movies that show remote places and bad situations for what they are – stinky and men-ridden:

“But David, three of those movies have a female lead!” That’s the exception that proves the rule. Apart from Aliens, Sigourney Weaver is almost the only female in the whole damn movie, and she looks as stinky and gross as the men she hangs with.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this because to be honest, Underwater wouldn’t be nearly as attractive without Stewart at the helm. So maybe I’ll just swallow my vaguely sexist criticism and enjoy the kids piloting the world’s most expensive/dangerous drilling project.

The Monster(s)

We are introduced to the monsters early and often, but rarely do we get a solid look at them until the very end, which I appreciate.

We get to see fleeting quick glimpses of strange blurry hands and octo-faces darting around. Mostly we get to see the remains of others that the monsters leave behind.

Eventually, at the crescendo, we see a bevvy of the monsters hanging from – you guessed it – the bottom of the Roebuck drilling station that our surviving crew needs to enter. As the crew make their way through the forest of limp floating arms of the creatures, the awake.

Underwater movie captain
My friend Brenners, AKA the captain from Underwater

They are hideous and effective, but obviously small compared to something else that we hear throughout the movie – the leviathan!

The leviathan is a truly massive monster, larger than most Kaiju I’ve seen. probably on par with Cthullu. The most interesting part about the leviathan is that the smaller humanoid creatures seem to live on it, and do it’s bidding.

I liked the monster(s), which is rare for me.

Final Recommendations

If you like monster movies, godzilla/kaiju, or Cthullu then Underwater is for you. It’s a action oriented monster movie that has a quippy T.J. Miller and a sexy Kristen Stewart – standard stuff.

It’s not great but I thoroughly expected to hate it and I didn’t. I would watch this again while drunk or high.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Horror movie talk brought to you by Astronomically Impossible Underwater Scenarios. Do you have a research grant totaling in the trillions?

0:07.6

Maybe you are looking to drill for oil, vibranium, or incredibly rare spaghetti sauce.

0:12.9

Astronomically impossible underwater scenarios is here to meet all of your wildest underwater fantasies, no matter how unachievable or unbelievable.

0:20.4

We have all the most dorky and nerdy scientists to work on your insanely unaccomplishable

0:25.3

underwater circle jerks.

0:27.0

Let us help you delve to the deepest possible point on the planet to erect a city under

0:31.3

the crushing depths.

0:32.8

We will even help you put a train down there.

0:35.4

Astronomically impossible underwater scenarios.

0:37.9

Just don't ask us to keep the soda machine stocked.

0:44.2

Hello and welcome to horror movie talk.

0:47.3

An opinionated and accidentally funny horror movie review show.

0:51.4

Your panel of expert hosts each week, each week,

0:54.4

are Dr. Bryce Hanson,

0:56.0

who holds a Ph.D. in spookology,

0:58.1

and Professor David Day,

1:00.0

the foremost expert in Scare No-N-Nos.

1:02.7

New theatrical releases

1:04.0

always get priority, but we also

1:06.2

review older horror movies, both

1:08.2

good and horrible

1:10.1

on. older horror movies, both good and horrible.

...

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