Don't get me wrong, Underwater looks fantabulous, so Eubank's vision is still very prevalent. The problem is inherent in the story, in that we have already all seen this overused plot device, where a disaster happens (even so, in water) and the last few survivors have to make it to supposed safety, all while being stalked by a monster. And even though he's got a tired plot, some movies can work wonders with it. Dredd was a re-worked The Raid: Redemption and did it wonderfully. John Wick was just another "you killed my beloved family member, prepare to die" revenge flick, but... BUT !! So, given how great this movie looked, the budget and effects, I should have enjoyed it much more than I did.
Norah (Kristen Stewart, Twilight) is an engineer on (in?) a deep sea drilling platform, this time one down in the Mariana Trench. We don't get much intro or breathing room before BOOM SPLASH, the rig is collapsing into itself and Norah, and Random Black Dude (Mamoudou Athie, Unicorn Store) are running and hiding in safe(r) parts. Norah thinks she knows a way out, so off they go, picking up some others on the way. It turns out the only solution may be at a not-yet-completed station. But that will require a walk along the ocean floor in their deep-sea-cum-space-suits.
Of course, soon after leaving the relative safety of one interior structure, they realize something is stalking them. Once out in the water, they see the humanoid figures swimming around in the murky water, only lit by whatever the humans have handy. One by one, they lose people until there are three, three at the final destination, where (SPOILER) well, it's Cthulhu. Nobody calls him that, but think of a leviathan sized creature where the murky swimmers were pretty much remoras or parasites swimming around or attached to the great beast. Yep, they dug too deep and release their own massive Balrog. So, in a rather rushed final act, Norah sacrifices herself so the other two can escape, and so she can blow Cthulhu to kingdom come.
I can see what Eubank was trying to do, doing the world building he did with The Signal establishing a monster movie world that is bigger than the encounter we see depicted. The problem is that we don't really get to encounter that world, as we are too focused on watching all these panicky people run clumsily from point A to point B. There is little to no chance to character build, let alone world build, so the movie relegates it to silly opening and closing credits of newspaper reports and redacted documents. I doubt he will get a sequel, so we will never really know what it was all about.
I had heard previously about the surprise Cthulhu ending and was hoping that it would somehow be a redeeming factor, alas if it's just an "out of the blue" without any world building to establish it...poo
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