Hey folks, Harry here... We've heard a bit about this one, and thus far all we've heard is pretty darn good. I have faith in David Twohy, his flicks seem to be on a forward progression of coolness, and that's a good thing. There are mild spoilers in this review which seems to like the film along the same kind of liking that folks had with Del Toro's THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE... if true, man oh man oh man.... Reel it up now!
Hi Harry. The Scientist here.
It's been a couple of weeks since I took a break from the physics books and saw a screening of Below (that new movie directed by Pitch Black's David Twohy) and it appears that no one else from AICN went since I haven't seen a review yet. I don't want to give away too much of the plot so I'm just going to give a quick overview of what it's about. This is a ghost story/psychological thriller set on a WWII submarine being chased around the Atlantic Ocean. All of the characters are introduced in a Gosford Park style beginning in which you just have to hope to catch people's names as they run their normal lives and pick up the survivors of an attack. If you don't catch their names at the beginning then you can probably get them as the movie progresses.
While there were a good many traditional jump scares, the atmosphere of the claustrophobic submarine and the overall creepiness are much more effective in terms of giving goose-bumps. In fact, the depth charge scene (along with another underwater attack on the sub which I don't want to reveal because it was so different) in Below is one of the finest examples I've seen of keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
The visual style is noticeable from the beginning as careful attention to detail was evident. In fact many of the filmgoers remarked at how lifelike the submerging vessel was carried out with the models, and I must agree. Near the three-quarters mark of the movie a noticeable change in editing occurs, but I think it's for the best. It's very eye catching and gives insight to where the storyline is going (IMHO, of course) with quick close-up, medium shot jumping of certain scenes. Very intriguing.
Overall the cast was effective in playing mostly standard caricatures, however I really think that Olivia Williams and Bruce Greenwood especially did fine jobs with their material. I wasn't as partial to Holt McCallany as Lt. Loomis, but everyone else seemed to think he was great. Scott Foley wasn't awful like he was in Scream 3, either.
Now, while the film overall was a lot of fun and was very intriguing, I'm going to have to say that the ending was somewhat unsatisfying. *Mild Spoilers Start Here* That was the general consensus, in fact. Without giving anything away I will just compare it to the end of Sphere, which I think most people would agree was horrible. Of the two main storylines, one gets resolved and the other is abandoned. *End Spoilers* Since I don't even think this has a release date yet, maybe they can fix it or maybe they are happy with the ending. Couldn't say until I saw the final product.
Now I have to get back to modeling the shape of the universe. The Actress may be stopping by in a few and I want to get some work done before she gets here.
The Scientist
P.S. Harry, I know how much you liked Devil's Backbone and this film reminded me of that one quite a bit. Strangely enough, it was as I was going to see del Toro's latest masterpiece that I got the screening invite.
