Underwater: Visually Pleasing but Lacking in Plot

Underwater is a deep sea monster movie. While the visual effects and production design look great, the plot could have been written better and less cliche. Kristen Stewart stars as the main protagonist as part of the deep sea research crew. The movie has two writers, Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad. Duffield has written Insurgent and The Babysitter. Cozad has written The Legend of Tarzan and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Both have written a decent movie and a not so decent movie. So why does it seem Underwater was written so cliche? Was it lazy writing or an homage to earlier movies?

This script seems to be predictable and reminiscent of early creature features. People start dying immediate but the audience doesn’t get to know many of them long enough to really care if they live or die. Kristen Stewart is the smart, resourceful heroine, who reminds me of Ripley from Alien. She is alone in the world and must save the rest of the crew. The only problem is the movie cuts away from her for about twenty minutes and the movie is only ninety five minutes long. She’s great as the protagonist but the plot should have been more focused on her.

There is the comic relief played by T.J. Miller and he is not overdoing it with the jokes but he’s also doing nothing memorable. Everything feels very by the numbers. I’m sure Miller got to improve somewhat but it could have been more original. The comic relief wasn’t overdone though and never felt out of place. What really felt cliche was the kill order of the characters. It was reminiscent of the eighties and nineties slasher movies.

Now the visuals and production design are where this movie shines. From the look of the sea lab, to the underwater pressure suits, to the look of the sea creatures. The effects of the sea lab getting damaged look great also. Now unfortunately good effects aren’t always enough to make a good movie. You have to have developed characters and a good script which this doesn’t really have. While I was mildly entertained during this movie, I won’t be thinking about it in a month. But if anyone is a fan of the cartoon Sealab 2021, you might notice a familiar ending and try to imagine the Sealab 2021 theme song over this movie. 🍔🍔