Underwater

The crew of a deep sea mining and drilling company is forced to abandon their rig roughly 6 miles beneath the ocean’s surface, but, finding safety and sanity won’t come easy, and, what if they’re not alone at these depths? Directed by William Eubank and Written by Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad this claustrophobic quest to cross the ocean floor and get home is like so many adventures….just a little different. Be it outer space, shrunken down inside the human body, or now plunging to unfathomable depths, the formula is tried and true, a cascading chain reaction that necessitates action/reaction and drives the next action/reaction; and, in this case, it mostly works, clunky as it may be, sometimes purposely poking itself in the eye to force levity and re-assure the audience “hey, we’re hip, we’re cool, we don’t take this that seriously, neither should you, it’s all in fun.” So, with critical ego’s checked at the door the real herculean works are pulled off by the ensemble which includes a crew cut and significantly less catatonic Kristen Stewart, a doughy and comedic T.J. Miller, and the weathered Vincent Cassel all doing their darnedest to give us the first tastes of panic of the new year while drawing heavily on the vibe of Alien (1979) but falling far short of Ridley Scott’s terror, alas, once the evil that lurks below is finally revealed an audible groan from the checked critic ego waiting at the door can loudly be heard, as if to say, “Really? And it’s not Cthulhu? Come onnnnnn, groan!!! Eye roll.” And yet, here we are, potentially matinee material, or a rental/stream later. 2020, ready or not, here we come! Underwater is rated PG-13.