Sea Fever
Gunpowder & Sky | Release Date (Streaming): April 10, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
SlashfilmJason GorberApr 9, 2020
This is an intimate film with grand ideas, a small boat floating on a giant ocean, and the extraordinary discovery at the heart of the narrative is outweighed by the sense as a filmgoer that we’re seeing a talented director coming to the surface, sticking her tendrils in, and reshaping our expectations as we’re taken along for the journey. Read full review
83
The PlaylistKimber MyersApr 9, 2020
The initial draw of Sea Fever might be as a monster movie, but this is a profoundly humane and humanist film whose ideas stays with you longer than the nightmares. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeApr 9, 2020
Despite some overly literal tributes to the films that inspired it (namely Alien, Jaws, and The Thing), Sea Fever’s vision of humanity’s insignificance in the face of nature is exactly the sort of awe-inspiring message some of us need to hear right now. Read full review
72
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganApr 23, 2020
While Hardiman couldn’t have foreseen the elevated commentary her film would take on six months after its TIFF debut, it’s refreshing to have a film that takes itself so seriously by refusing to sacrifice its moral stance in order to satiate the anxieties of viewers—anxieties that have become more prescient than anyone could have imagined. Read full review
70
Screen RantHannah HoolihanApr 9, 2020
Once it overcomes its initial storytelling lulls, Sea Fever embarks on a thrilling creature-feature adventure with a message that's all-too-timely. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayApr 9, 2020
Writer-director Neasa Hardiman mostly keeps her debut feature at the level of a claustrophobic psychological thriller, saving her special effects budget for a few breathtaking undersea views of the glowing, multi-tentacled beastie. But after a fairly sedate start, the movie gets increasingly grim and violent. Read full review
70
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganApr 9, 2020
There’s a great deal of fun to be had watching Hardiman play out her cards; we know the hand she’s holding, but it’s a nice-looking deck nonetheless. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearApr 8, 2020
And suddenly, amid the claustrophobic compositions and shadowy hallways and tick-tick-tick of inevitable sickness, Sea Fever goes from being a monster movie to an eerily timed example of pandemic horror. Coming to a TV screen in a near you in the middle of a quarantine, this exercise in it-came-from-below suddenly takes on a whole other level of resonance. Read full review
67
The Film StageJared MobarakApr 9, 2020
Hardiman takes special care to ensure her narrative is steeped in real world plausibility. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Apr 9, 2020
It’s well-acted and reasonably intelligent, but also derivative enough to compare unfavorably to plenty of stone-cold classics. Read full review
65
Vanity FairRichard LawsonApr 16, 2020
We can feel a richer idea tingling just beneath Sea Fever’s skin. But Hardiman never roots it out, opting instead for a restraint that is often admirable, but also dampens the film’s potential power. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshApr 9, 2020
Sea Fever only momentarily touches the highest registers of operatic bloody horrors and outlandish fantasy sci-fi. Rather, it remains in the realm of the moral, the ethical, the human-scaled losses and decisions, which makes for just as, if not more, torturous personal quandaries. It's an absorbing (if sometimes muted) wrestle with the notions of ethics and infection, in a moment that couldn't be more appropriate. Read full review
62
PolygonJenna StoeberApr 11, 2020
Viewers who are justifiably stressed about contagion and infection might not consider Sea Fever the right kind of light evening viewing. But for people who can handle the strong quarantine vibes, Sea Fever is a solid, engaging creature mystery. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 13, 2020
Sea Fever teases out elemental anxieties that have been given fresh life by unfortunate reality, but the movie is worth seeing because, when all’s said and done, it gives us characters and circumstances we can care about. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeApr 8, 2020
It’s a low-budget effort with high ambitions, something that’s hard not to admire, and while it often feels like the teaser for a bigger and better movie, it’s perhaps a sign that Hardiman is setting sail for Hollywood next. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyApr 10, 2020
You wonder how high “Sea Fever” could have risen, if only Hardiman had truly embraced the bare bones of the genre, indulging in some well-wrought group dynamics and even a pair of sneaky jump-scares to boot. Read full review
50
VarietyDennis HarveyApr 9, 2020
It’s a conventional buildup-to-process-of-cast-elimination suspenser that’s unfortunately low on actual suspense, let alone thrills or narrative invention. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerApr 9, 2020
As Jaws and all the best predecessors have shown (John Carpenter’s The Thing also seems like a major reference), you really need to care about the crew before they’re eaten, and Hardiman doesn’t draw strong enough characters for us to latch onto. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDevika GirishApr 9, 2020
It’s all very resonant stuff, performed by an earnest and committed cast. But Sea Fever speeds through these turns of plot as if to check them off a list, with characters dropping dead before they’ve had a chance to earn our sympathy. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineChuck BowenApr 6, 2020
Writer-director Neasa Hardiman’s film is undone by earnestness. Read full review
40
CineVueChristopher MachellApr 9, 2020
Sea Fever proves better in concept than in execution, let down by a second act of fumbled editing and slackened tension. Read full review
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