The writing is more horrific than the monster
Like most people, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea might have been the start of my interest in the depths below. I can’t tell you much about the story now—it’s a film I watched as a young child and I likely didn’t understand much of what happened.
I remember Captain Nemo and the Nautilis, and some parts about sea monsters, and of course, the giant squid. But the whole of the story is murky, not unlike the ocean itself.
But as Roger Ebert noted, when it comes to movies, “Your intellect might be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” I remember how it made me feel—astonished, curious, frightened.
I’ve seen as many films about underwater adventures as I could since then—from The Abyss to Sphere to Deep Blue Sea—and there are aspects I enjoy about all of them.
Underwater is yet another in this genre. Like most of the others, it’s filled with some good moments and many more goofy ones. For a January release, particularly one that’s been so delayed, it’s not the worst thing out right now. It’s not the best, either.
Underwater is one of those films that will be forgotten entirely within a year. It’s something you might see on Amazon Prime, pause for a moment, and scroll right past.
Underwater is a film that takes no breaks. It begins immediately with the inciting incident and does nothing to slow down until the credits roll. If you’re looking for backstory or character development, you’ll need to pay close attention because these details are only included in margins of the story.
Norah (Kristen Stewart) works as a mechanical engineer for an underwater drilling company searching for oil. The film takes place in what we can assume is the future, but near enough that fossil fuels are still a thing.
The company is drilling more than six miles down, when the underwater facility is hit by what is thought to be an earthquake. The base sustains critical damage, killing many of the workers.
Norah manages to survive and find a collection of survivors, including the captain of the station. The only way out is to drop further down, don pressure suits, and walk across the ocean floor to another facility a mile or so away.
The group must move quickly to escape the facility before the energy core breaches and drops the entire station on top of them.
Over the course of the film, the group discovers they have disturbed something older and deadly as they drilled further into the earth.
There are several things that work in the film. The atmosphere and set design are top notch—the station feels lived and realistic. In particular, the pressure suits look fantastic.
Creature design is also entertaining, although the behavior of the antagonists doesn’t make much sense given their environment. This, of course, is a writing problem.
In fact, most of the problems with the film come from convenient (lazy) writing solutions, as well as pacing. The characters mention the pressure suits are dangerous, without giving us an explanation why.
When a helmet shatters causing its occupant to implode, it certainly seems dangerous but we’re told later that it was faulty. Then, when another suit explodes for seemingly no reason, it seems to again confirm that the suits are dangerous. What are these suits for exactly?
As I mentioned, the deadly sea creatures themselves pose confusing questions—what do they eat? Why are they predatory? How can they function in low pressure environments like flooded corridors? Has anyone on the writing team seen a blobfish at sea level?
Like all questions of this nature, the answer is “because it’s in the screenplay”. The screenplay also explains that the characters can only wear underwear in the pressure suits. This is fine, but why do the female cast members have to wear high cut bikini briefs? Kristen Stewart doesn’t wear pants the entire movie.
Again I know the answer to this but I can’t help but feel bad for her. This experience of shooting this film had to be miserable. I got the impression that much of this film was physically demanding for the actors and stuntmen.
However, I never got the impression that it was worth it.