Submerged (2016) Reviews

• Simply awful

  khan_rado2015-11-27

  Have you ever watched a film that it seems longer than it actually is? Have you ever felt that the ending is so near but it turns out that you're nowhere near the half of it? This is the case with this one. To start off, the story is nothing exciting or original but just the opposite - it's boring and predictable. The dialogues are bad and the way they are delivered makes them even terrible. It appears the director and the writer ran out of ideas and decided to fill the script with screaming and curse words which makes the film feel dull. The characters have no depth or development as the story progresses. No character stands out, none of them is really likable or memorable. The acting is very poor. There are some scenes that are meant to be dramatic but because of bad acting they look funny. The actors make strange facial expressions which doesn't suite the situations their characters are in. The main actor has the same expression throughout the whole film as if he's constantly wondering what is going on. All actors are overacting and trying too hard. The music used is calm and ambient but it's inappropriate for this kind of story (after all, it's about people trapped in a limo underwater). The visual pleasure is also ruined by the shaking camera even at times when it should be still. A film that is not interesting enough to hold attention well. It has many flaws that make it unwatchable.

• Just let it drown

  quincytheodore2015-11-29

  Submerged is part about incessant screaming by the stereotypical rich kids and part obscure noir narrative. It's ambitiously fueled by back and forth timelines as well as a shot in the dark for thriller genre, all of which are below standard. The lack of focus, inconsistent acting and bad characterization make it a very suffocating experience to endure. Story opens up pretty interestingly with a reinforced car slowly drowning. It would've been better to stick with this core plot, instead it tries to be pretentiously clever with all sort of gangster subplots and highly unmemorable party junkie characters. The main lead has a couple of good scenes, although he still makes awkward expressions here and there. The rest of cast is even more imbalanced and as the pace shifts too many times, the plot ends up muddled and cumbersome. Acting is poor all around, mostly because the script only consists of expected blaming and yelling. Not that the characters have any shred of spark in the first place, these people are like 90210 rejects with brasher attitude. To make matter worst, one third of the movie is dedicated to build these personalities without any effective result. Never mind likable, audience probably wouldn't recognize them mid-way through the movie and wouldn't care less about their situation. Granted, it has some success with the thriller aspect of being confined in small space, albeit briefly. Then it falls like a rock in river with shady crime drama. There's a good ten minutes of standoff with people showing up literally behind each other while pointing gun. As if the random materialization isn't bad enough, the characters even engage in melee showdown while the camera insanely spins around them while they are making stupid faces. Submerged has one decent idea, which it intentionally ruins with so many awful presentation fiasco. This is an allegory of strapping a cinder-block to oneself and jumping off the bridge.

• Some people are in the wrong jobs!

  larkinbelle-180-8877132015-11-28

  I agree with the viewer Radomir, this movie is SIMPLY AWFUL no clue what the other viewers was watching saying "it is a good thriller", his brain must be wired wrong or he works for the people behind this cinematic crap; it seriously belongs to the trash can, an insult without an inch of common sense. Everything Radomir said is true, the acting is bad, the the story lacks and the action are of the dumbest i ever seen. I feel sorry for Tim Daly and Mario Van Peebles who i deem superior to such commercial garbage,and i watched this movie for, but as usual the attractive people instead of talented get in the front. The only good actor playing the main lead brother is Cody Christian who is currently working on Teen Wolf and Pretty Little Liars, and he was killed off!SHOCKER!Im not gonna resume all the movie but in brief only the parts and characters that really got on my nerves. Now i gotta say that actor from Chicago PD Samuel C Hung who plays Brandon in this movie was he worst disappointment, he just cannot play the crazy, his acting was ll over the map, overdone it, i just wanna yell" go back to Intelligence sit behind the computer and keep your mouth shut" ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL! The worst part was to watch the death of 5 people just to save the rich spoiled girl, after watching the leading actor,throughout the movie just sitting in the driving seat of a limo with a wound in his leg daydreaming and look around doing practically nothing,he suddenly gets creative to save the rich brat, he could have done that earlier saving everyone or at least try! All i wanted to do is to rip both characters apart! Then the two s****rs "driving in the sunset" at the end with her papa' blessings?? Please do no waste 99 min of you life on this sh**, i have been regretting that ever since.SERIOUSLY WRITERS?? Please You need a change of career!

• A sunken limo, filled with spoiled rich kids. Sounds like "Beverly Hills 90210" in a fish bowl.

  peterp-450-2987162016-05-03

  "Submerged". The only thing I'm excited about is the sublime movie poster. A good example of an excellent graphic design with a brilliant and powerful one-liner "You can not scream and hold your breath at the same time". Now, the unfortunate teens who are trapped in a sunken limo, haven't hold their breath, I'm sure. On the contrary, there was a lot of shouting to be heard down there. Would I be in such a claustrophobic situation, I would break out in a cold sweat. I really don't like confined spaces. But admit it, being trapped in a limousine at the bottom of a canal, knowing that the pressure on that modest roof must be enormous, while being surrounded by some young hotheads who are acting hysterical and blaming each other, looks like a far worse nightmare. So if you're expecting an exciting, nerve-racking movie, you'll be brought down to earth with a shock. The moment Matt (Jonathan Bennett) sees the nose of the sophisticated limousine dive into the water, it looks like this might be the start of a promising thriller. Unfortunately you'll subsequently undergo a series of flashbacks that explain the cause of this accident. Also we come to know that Matt has a younger brother, Dylan (Cody Christian), with some personal problems. This seemed like a irrelevant parallel plot. In the end the whole thing leads to Jessie (Talulah Riley). She's the daughter of businessman and millionaire Hank (Tim Daly), who evoked the wrath of the locals due to drastic cutbacks. Therefore, he recruited Matt as his chauffeur and bodyguard to protect him and his daughter from possible reprisals. The remaining part of the film shows the situation in the sunken limousine and the efforts being made by the youngsters to get out. Matt can't help with this since he's impaled in some way to the car. Jessie lies unconscious next to him after she was being drugged. And the only thing the other hysterical four sitting in the back could come up with, was useless banging on windows and accusing each other of being an accomplice. That's why Matt closes the soundproof partition now and then. Next to a totally implausible denouement, there are also some ridiculous and ludicrous developments. I'm still trying to figure out how the trick with the trunk of the car worked. The designer of this car was very foreseeing. And I'm also pretty sure that a smashed glass roof would cause a devastating flood of water and not only such a pitifully little bit of water. The most positive part was the running time. It's a short and compact wannabe thriller without much sensational events. Most of it, is already shown elsewhere before. Afterward, it looks more like a thriller-episode of "Melrose Place" or some similar crap teen series from the 80s. Talulah Riley is a spoiled brat that doesn't really excels when it comes to intelligence (look for "Inception" in IMDb and you'll see she plays a "Blonde" there). Actually, the whole gang has a similar level of intelligence. You can conclude that the idea behind the story is kind of original, but the elaboration failed hugely. More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

• I never give one star.

  jelliejune2016-02-19

  Or well, I hardly ever give one star to a movie. I can always find something to like about it. But this? This was a train wreck from start to finish. Honestly, why people give it good reviews is beyond me. It was the poster that intrigued me to watch this movie, I like photography and that looked like a poster from a movie I'd enjoy watching on Friday night. But, I actually spend more time playing a game on my phone than watching the actual movie - because I have a policy not to turn off movies, even when they suck. The acting was terrible, the multiple plot twist were terrible, the film angles and sound were terrible. Do I need to go on? Though the guy from Teen Wolf was kind of cute for the three minutes he was actually in the movie? Maybe he is the one star. To put it in one word, this movie was an entire NOPE.