Underwater

Directed by William Eubank, Underwater follows several characters, including Kristen Stewart’s Norah and Vincent Cassel’s Captain, as they attempt to escape from a massive underwater facility and eventually find themselves forced to battle mysterious creatures. Filmmaker Eubank doesn’t waste any time launching straight into the action, which ultimately does play a rather instrumental role in triggering Underwater’s downfall – as the movie’s blistering pace comes at the expense of character development or context. It is, as a result, impossible to work up the slightest bit of interest in or sympathy for the characters’ perilous exploits, and although Eubank does pepper the proceedings with a small handful of genuinely exciting moments (eg the initial discovery of the aforementioned creatures), Underwater is mostly dominated by interminable sequences that are far too dark and murky to possess any real effectiveness (and it’s clear, too, that several key scenes are rendered hopelessly incoherent by the inept visuals). The downbeat conclusion is consequently unable to make the impact that Eubank is obviously striving for, and it’s impossible, in the end, to label Underwater as anything less than a hugely disappointing missed opportunity.

*1/2 out of ****