Underwater (2020) Dir: William Eubank
Instagram post:
Directed by William Eubank, this sci-fi survival horror is one that looked like it could be a fun watch, despite fairly tepid reviews. I love science fiction and I love horror, so that was enough for me to take a chance on this one.
Straight away I did not like the action scenes. Eubank's choice of camerawork and editing felt very uninspired; shaky handheld shots, flashing lights and loud music are all very basic and quite frankly distracting techniques, especially in the case of this film.
I had the distinct feeling that Eubank had taken inspiration from the likes of BioShock, in how he formed his underwater, science fiction world. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it did make me feel further skepticism towards the film.
Credit where credit is due however, the film really grew on me in some ways. The story, while not exactly world-beating, did well to build suspense and establish the danger the characters were in.
I also really enjoyed the aesthetics of the film. That murky, dark marine colour palette really worked well. Visually, despite how dark the film is, which admittedly was a hindrance occasionally, I think there was actually a lot to like. Action scenes aside, Eubank used the lighting well to light up the scenery and make the film more stimulating than I was expecting.
Kristen Stewart actually gave one of her better performances in this. She carried the film for some parts of it, and at no point did I feel like she failed to be believable. This was a really solid outing for her.
Jessica Henwick had moments of quality, but I think, due to her character being a little lacking in depth, she ended up being a bit plain and one-note.
The pair of Vincent Cassel and T.J. Miller were easily the most likable in the film, and I truly wish they had more screentime, because they made the film so much better.
Gunner Wright, John Gallagher Jr and Mamoudou Athie were all pretty decent and did well with what they had. Athie felt a bit wasted, I wanted to see a lot more of him than he got to show.
Overall, while this film certainly has its issues and shortfalls, I think it works well enough as a survival horror to have made it worth watching. It didn't feel all that unique, but it utilised a lot of its elements relatively well and managed to create some pretty tense scenes that had me invested.
コメント