Hi. Yes. My name is Kristen and I have been dying to watch any new movies. It’s one of the things I’m missing most during this stay-at-home order. So, I’ve resorted to renting the most recent releases on demand. And the one I decided to start with was Underwater for whatever reason. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

The film, written by Brian Duffield and Adam Cozad and directed by William Eubank, didn’t seem to know what kind of film it wanted to be. Underwater starts out as a natural disaster film and ends up being a poorly constructed monster movie. The film stars Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Mamoudou Athie, T.J. Miller, John Gallagher Jr., and Jessica Henwick. Very little backstory is given about the main character Norah, played by Kristen Stewart, before disaster strikes, which causes the problem of little to no emotional attachment. This carries through with every other character in the film. So, when tragic things happened to characters, I had no attachment to them. I was pretty indifferent. It was almost like the writers were relying on the audience to just be emotionally connected with, say, T.J. Miller or Kristen Stewart, and let that be enough. It’s not. 

I wish that this film would have chosen to be either a natural disaster film or a monster movie. Then, there could have been more focus on flushing out the plot. Underwater feels like it could have easily been two different films. 

Director William Eubank chose to do some very artsy shots in this film, which felt incredibly out of place. Ultimately, this film is Alien or Life, but set underwater and with bad writing. 

If, like me, you are looking for newer films to watch while we are all home, do yourself a favor and pass on this one.