Movie Reviews: "Underwater"

Underwater is a 2020 American science fiction action film directed by William Eubank and written by Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad. The film is produced by Chernin Entertainment and stars Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr., Mamoudou Athie, and T.J. Miller. It follows a group of scientists at the bottom of the ocean who encounter a group of creatures after an earthquake destroys their laboratory.

Kepler 822, a research and drilling facility operated by Tian Industries at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, is struck by a strong earthquake. As part of the facility is destroyed by the quake, mechanical engineer Norah Price and her colleagues, Rodrigo and Paul, make their way to the escape pod bay. However, the three discover that all of the escape pods have already been deployed, with Captain Lucien being the only person in the area when the three arrive. Together they reach a control base and find biologist Emily Haversham and engineer Liam Smith, who are unsuccessful in their attempts to make contact with the surface. Smith then plays an audio tape, in which a crew member is attacked, then a low hypersonic groan is heard seconds after the tape ends, which unsettles everyone. Lucien suggests using pressurized suits to walk one mile across the ocean floor to Roebuck 641 in the hope of resurfacing from there. As they descend in a freight elevator, Rodrigo’s defective helmet implodes under the water pressure. The surviving crew see a distress beacon from one of the escape pods below, and Smith and Paul go to investigate. As they arrive at the location, they find a body in the rubble. A creature emerges from the corpse’s back and attacks. Smith kills the creature and takes it inside. Haversham examines the creature and realizes that it belongs to a previously undiscovered species.

The five make their way to Roebuck, but as they are walking, Kepler explodes and nearly buries them in debris. Smith is hit, but Price and Lucien save him. They manage to get through an access tunnel to an intermediate station, where they can charge and clean their suits. However, they find that Smith’s oxygen scrubber is badly damaged from the debris. On their way through the access tunnel, Paul is attacked by an unknown creature, dragged underwater and killed. Before the team leaves the access tunnel, they find that Smith’s damaged oxygen pod will cause him to suffocate from the explosion’s toxic fumes. Unwilling to leave another crew member behind, Price, Lucien and Haversham agree to help Smith walk. The four set off across the ocean floor, but a humanoid creature appears and drags Smith into a cave. Lucien manages to get Smith out, but is himself pulled from the other three. Price is dragged along with Lucien, but Lucien sacrifices himself to spare Price from the increasing pressure change.

Price ends up at the abandoned Shepard station and is able to change her damaged diving suit before continuing toward Roebuck. Walking along the ocean floor, she reunites with Haversham and Smith, and proceeds to help drag Smith. As they enter Roebuck, they encounter a nest of the humanoid creatures hanging from the ceiling and try to sneak by, but the sound of Haversham’s oxygen alarm wakes the creatures. Price is partially swallowed by one of the creatures but is able to kill it and free herself. Price then sees multiple of the creatures, but the roof is lifted off of the ground. As Price shoots a flare gun she got from the Shepard, it reveals a huge creature, to which the smaller ones attach themselves. She again reunites with Smith and Haversham, with Haversham and Price carrying a wounded Smith to the main bay. The creature attacks, in which they get trapped in the middle of the station. Price, Haversham, and Smith make it to the pod bay, but Price figures out that only 2 of the 3 pods work meaning that one has to stay behind. She and Haversham get Smith inside one pod then Price punches a protesting Haversham into the second. Realizing that she can’t make it to the surface without dying Norah accepts her fate. As she watches the smaller creatures go after the pods she overloads the core of the Roebuck thus resulting in a massive explosion that kills the creatures and Norah. During the credits, news reports show that Smith and Haversham escaped to the surface. Tian denied any involvement, continuing to drill in the trench.