Underwater
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: January 10, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 35 Critics
Positive:
13
Mixed:
15
Negative:
7
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoJan 8, 2020
Yes it's "Alien but underwater," and that's a good thing given how a top-notch Kristen Stewart leads us on a terrifying dive into the deepest reaches of aquatic horror. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoJan 10, 2020
Underwater absolutely bullies you into liking it. There's no time not to. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 9, 2020
Eubanks takes someone else’s screenplay, one that’s full of incident, and infuses it with his own sensibility. Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t a writer, either. Being a good director with a real point of view — that’s plenty. Read full review
75
Consequence of SoundJoe LipsettJan 7, 2020
Underwater is a solid creature feature that isn’t afraid to acknowledge its sub-genre predecessors. Kristen Stewart shines amidst a mostly likable cast, anchoring a film that moves at a relatively brisk clip, particularly in its bombastic opening and closing sequences. Read full review
70
Film ThreatAlex SavelievJan 11, 2020
Stewart commands the screen in a fierce performance, effortlessly elevating the material with a few poignant glances and teeth-clenched determination. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 9, 2020
The primary pleasure of Underwater is the spectacle of everything going wrong, all at once. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJan 7, 2020
This is a creature feature, whose gory jump-scares and icktastic critter design are the reason you're here. An ensemble led by Kristen Stewart brings credible camaraderie to the scenario without quite matching the vivid chemistry of Alien and its best descendants; with such a tightly packed survival tale ahead of them, though, few viewers will be calling out for more character development. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJan 9, 2020
Unlike the best programmers, it never transcends its derivative origins and basic thrills. It’s another movie about thin characters and bland monsters—albeit one that’s better than the norm. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 8, 2020
She’s (Stewart) just another action hero — albeit a smart, flinty one with exceptionally good hair — learning the hard way that under the sea, as in space, no one can hear you scream. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJan 8, 2020
Spurred on by its murky spectacle — and a third-act twist that raises the stakes in a very enjoyable way — Underwater always seems like it’s about to drown in its own narrative disinterest, and yet it somehow finds a way to keep moving forward. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 11, 2020
Even the characters with the most screen time are (at best) slightly developed – there’s just enough humanity for us to be interested in whether they survive, although any emotional attachment is minimal. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah HagiJan 9, 2020
It’s an action thriller that’s effective and never boring. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJan 7, 2020
Underwater never quite breaches the surface from good to great, though this well-appointed creature feature proves to be an excellent showcase for Stewart’s screen presence. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 9, 2020
Its emergence from the dark waters of studio oblivion is far from unwelcome: It’s solid enough by the diminished standards of January, when the multiplex becomes a cinematic dumping ground, and it’s visually slicker and more sophisticated than its setup would seem to warrant. Read full review
60
Screen DailyTim GriersonJan 7, 2020
Underwater is hampered by some of the genre’s silliest conventions — questionable character motivations, delusions of grandeur — but the movie nonetheless succeeds by capitalising on an elemental terror: underwater, it’s very hard to see the dangers right in front of you. Read full review
60
IGNRosie KnightJan 7, 2020
Underwater is a slick yet flawed sci-fi thriller that never quite breaches greatness. Read full review
57
TheWrapYolanda MachadoJan 7, 2020
I felt frustrated walking out of Underwater: Here’s a movie with good production values, a great leading actress, and a fantastic score, yet it gets so lost trying to figure out what story it wanted to tell that it completely forgets to form a connection with the audience. Read full review
55
The AtlanticDavid SimsJan 9, 2020
If not for the unusual setting and Stewart’s unique star presence, Underwater might feel completely anonymous. Fortunately, all that H2O suffices to give this goofy trifle a memorable sense of atmosphere. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJan 10, 2020
An acceptable creature feature at best and a waterlogged “Alien” at worst, Underwater sneaks into town as a true January release: a shelf-sitting production that 20th Century Fox’s new owner, Disney, is putting outside the store like a loaf of stale bread. It’s there if you want it, and you could chew on worse. Read full review
50
The Associated PressMark KennedyJan 9, 2020
Director William Eubank keeps the action taut and the look of the film is realistically impressive and dark, with grimy, dirty workers donning cool dive suits that make them each look like Transformers. His camera often goes tight on the shocked faces inside the helmets. Stewart, in particular, shines with a combination of steely nerves and harrowing expressions. Read full review
50
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 9, 2020
As Stewart plays it, Norah’s charismatic, deadpan insouciance feeds her bravery. And it’s just the thing that might get you through Underwater, too. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJan 9, 2020
Underwater’s a goof — a fun bad movie and a perfectly fine way to waste 90 minutes at the cinema. Read full review
50
The PlaylistJason BaileyJan 8, 2020
You’ve gotta give Underwater this much, though: it’s not boring. It’s brief (95 minutes), knows exactly what it is, and Stewart and Cassell seem to be having a good time. Read full review
42
Original-CinJim SlotekJan 9, 2020
A dull piece of off-season horror flotsam, Underwater suffers from two kinds of genetic drift. It is the umpteenth movie about messing with the ocean bottom (DeepStar Six, Leviathan, The Meg, etc.), where, apparently, there be dragons rather than blind albino shrimp...It is also the latest, and most blatant, of God-knows-how-many Alien rip-offs that have taken up space in the multiplex in one critic’s lifetime. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleJan 10, 2020
William Eubank’s Underwater is as incomprehensible an action movie as I’ve ever seen in theaters. Read full review
40
EmpireIan FreerJan 8, 2020
Joining the ranks of Sphere, DeepStar Six and Leviathan as soggy Alien do-overs, Underwater finds a few tweaks to the monster play book, but not enough to make it live. Read full review
40
Screen RantMolly FreemanJan 7, 2020
Altogether Underwater is a middling movie that spans multiple genres, from sci-fi and thriller to action and horror, and can't seem to focus on any specific one. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJan 7, 2020
What frustrates me most about Underwater is just how very little it brings to the table. It’s a solid, competently directed regurgitation of an oft-told tale that never manages to justify its own existence Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJan 9, 2020
Underwater breaks no new ground as a sci-fi horror flick — other than as a possible contender for the murkiest movie ever made. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineMichael Joshua RowinJan 7, 2020
William Eubank’s Underwater is neither a too-big-to-fail event film nor a relatively low-budget genre sleeper. In other words, it doesn’t put in the effort to reach for the heights of Alien or plant its tongue firmly in cheek a la Deep Blue Sea. Read full review
30
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJan 9, 2020
It’s a challenge to keep action coherent and build suspense in the submerged environment simulated in “Underwater,” but Eubank doesn’t meet it, instead falling back on stale shocks that are not credibly buttressed by swelling bass effects on the soundtrack. Read full review
30
Rolling StonePeter TraversJan 8, 2020
Shot three years ago, this soggy horrorshow gives credence to the belief that January is the month Hollywood uses to bury its mistakes. Read full review
30
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 7, 2020
Underwater is a stupefying entertainment in which every claustrophobic space and apocalyptic crash of water registers as a slick visual trigger, yet it’s all built on top of a dramatic void. It’s boredom in Sensurround. Read full review
25
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenJan 9, 2020
The first creature feature of the new decade is here, and boy is it dumb. Read full review
0
ObserverRex ReedJan 11, 2020
The only reason I wanted to see it at all is Kristen Stewart, but she is so wasted that she should have stayed in bed. Read full review
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