Undersea Kingdom

Underwater (2020) is a good old-fashioned undersea monster movie, like all the other ones we've watched. That's both its strength and weakness.

It starts in the usual underwater lab/drilling station/whatever deep in the Marianas trench. Kristen Stewart in a rad crewcut is brushing her teeth when something shakes the station - and we're instantly in full action movie mode. These guys don't mess around setting up the atmosphere. They go for it. 

The station is badly wrecked. She finds a few survivors, Mamoudou Athie and goofball TJ Miller and they head for the escape pods. They find them all gone, and only the captain, Vincent Cassel, waiting for them. His plan is to suit up, walk across the ocean floor to the drill, and use the escape pods there to get out. They also find a few more survivors. 

I'll skip most of the movie, just let you know that the reason for the destruction of the station is some kind of undersea monster, perhaps more than one kind. One kind are big, humanoid types. The other is a REALLY big, tentacled cthulhoid. Which is fun.

The other thing I'll mention is that the whole underwater physics thing is hopelessly muddled. Like, the atmosphere in the station seems to be at the same pressure as the surrounding water, but the water pressure will kill you instantly. But only in the water. Also, most of the underwater scenes are clearly on dry land with CGI underwater effects. Still, the futuristic pressure suits were kind of cool.

Also, the cast was pretty cool, especially K. Stew. After seeing her in Charlie's Angels, we're getting the feeling that she's up for some action. 

I should say that Ms. Spenser was less charmed - the combination of tired tropes annoyed her, while I felt like it was honoring tradition. And who doesn't love a cthulhoid? Maybe if she saw it as a consciously retro throwback, instead of a failed attempt at a modern, creative underwater monster movie, she'd appreciate it more. Oh well.