Underwater (2020)
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A group of workers at a deep-sea drilling facility must survive hostile creatures after an earthquake destroys their station.
The story
In 2050, the Kepler 822, a research and drilling facility at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, is struck by a powerful earthquake. As the facility is destroyed, mechanical engineer Norah Price and her colleagues must navigate the wreckage to reach the escape pod bay. They soon discover that the pods have already been deployed and they are left stranded in the deep ocean. To survive, the remaining crew must navigate the treacherous underwater environment and contend with hostile creatures that emerge from the ruins, all while attempting to find a way to reach the surface.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2050, the Kepler 822 drilling facility in the Mariana Trench is hit by an earthquake. Norah Price, Captain Lucien, and others find the escape pods gone and must trek across the ocean floor in pressurized suits. During the journey, several crew members are killed by a mysterious creature. The survivors reach an intermediate station but find their equipment damaged. They eventually reach the Roebuck station, where they are hunted by a nest of humanoid creatures. In the final confrontation, Norah and Emily manage to get the injured Liam into a pod while Norah triggers a nuclear core overload to destroy the creatures and allow the pods to reach the surface. The film ends with news reports confirming only two survivors.
- First release year
- 2020
- Runtime (minutes)
- 95
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- William Eubank
- Writers
- Brian Duffield · screenplay; Adam Cozad · screenplay; Brian Duffield · story
- Cast and characters
- Kristen Stewart · Norah Price; Vincent Cassel · Captain Lucien; Jessica Henwick · Emily Haversham; John Gallagher Jr. · Liam Smith; Mamoudou Athie · Rodrigo Nagenda; T.J. Miller · Paul Abel
- Genres
- science fiction; action; horror
- Themes
- survival; isolation
- Tone and mood
- claustrophobic; tense
- Setting
- The Mariana Trench in the year 2050.
- Premise and plot tags
- underwater; creature feature; survival
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 49% · scale: percentage · review count: 222; Metacritic · score: 48 · scale: 100 · review count: 37; CinemaScore · score: C · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 2 · scale: 5
- Production trivia
- The film was the last one released under the Fox name before rebranding to 20th Century Studios.; The director designed the alpha creature based on H. P. Lovecraft's mythos, featuring Cthulhu.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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