Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Director William Eubank
Screenplay Brian Duffield, Adam Cozad
Starring Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr., Mamoudou Athie, T.J. Miller

Years ago, sometime after the second Twilight film, it seemed like it’s star Kristen Stewart wasn’t going anywhere following the series. Then she had that fiasco with the Snow White and the Huntsman. She just kept acting, despite what everyone thought. For this viewer, even if she’s not the best in the Twilight series, she’s been solid in everything I have seen her in since.

First thing that must be said: this is a knock off, sure. Almost everything is these days. It’s not a perfect film. They could have used a better editor. The special effects use a heavy dose of murky water. T.J. Miller is in it.

The good things about Underwater is a decent cast that isn’t thrown to the wolves. The way we think it is going to go is not necessarily what happens. If there are no real moments of brilliance for any of the cast, there are some nice human touches overall.

Stewart is solid, giving us a heroine who is inventive, but not a proto-feminist scorcher. She is vulnerable, logical and struggles to control her emotions. She does control them, however. It’s got to be a good sign when each loss shows on the face of the protagonist, even after she made a decision that sealed the fate of a large percentage of the crew before we see a third character.

If you expect this to be a version of 10 Little Indians, you’d be right. It is handled about as well as one can imagine. It didn’t feel like a waste of time, and it made us curious enough to look up Cthulhu.

There are worse ways to spend one’s time.

(*** out of *****)