The Chamber

This has an intriguing beginning, but it's pretty much downhill from there. It's not terrible, though it is sometimes stupid with an annoying female lead character on an old, clunky submersible, meant for two, along with three men. Why they are there is a secret mission that proved to be sort of anti-climatic to me. Ultimately, they are trapped due to an explosion and the rest is an argumentative survival movie of passing interest. It helps that the lead male, Johannes Kuhnke, only known to me via Force Majeure, is talented as well as charismatic. The other two males, are not bad, but Charlotte Salt has the misfortune of an annoying role. It has some tension now and then and the ending is, um, interesting, but there is no way that I could recommend this.

There was no intent on hating on 'The Chamber' before seeing it, and actually do wish that it was a halfway decent film. Would never watch any film, television series etc. with that attitude, do find that an immature way of judging a film, and actually did like the concept. And despite how some of my reviews may sound, this is somebody who tries to be encouraging when rating and reviewing a film, while offering any necessary criticism, and hates hating on them.

Even when trying to see it with an open mind, 'The Chamber' just didn't work for me. It is not a completely awful film, irredeemable films are not an awful lot, though not exactly rare, compared to the billions of films that exist as of now. From personal view (again), 'The Chamber' is also not a particularly good film at all, mind you this is agsin a very subjective opinion that is, and there is a lot that works against it that outweighs the little that works in its favour.

Starting with the least bad things, the acting was serviceable, with an engaging lead performance from Johannes Kuhnke in particular. The visuals also to me weren't too bad, have seen far cheaper-looking films, the sets are limited but the photography shows some skill and atmosphere and the editing has coherence.

Audio wasn't too unappealing either, it didn't sound too loud or like it was placed too predictably.

On the other hand, 'The Chamber' badly suffers from a complete lack of tension and suspense, and some of it does get rather on the ridiculous side. The pace never really comes to life, so too much of the film is bland and dull. Despite the best efforts of the actors, the characters' illogical character behaviours and sketchy character developments did work against them, a shame because the actual performances were as said not bad at all.

Furthermore, the story is completely flat and has no tension or suspense whatsoever, it's little more than a dreary muddle with absolutely nothing felt throughout. Pancakes have more life than the script and more natural dialogue has been found in an episode of the worst of Cartoon Network or something, not that that is much of an endorsement.

In summary, weak but have seen far worse. 3/10

I don't think I have to tell you, that if you have claustrophobia, you probably shouldn't watch this. On the other hand, maybe you like to face your fears. This is a thriller of course, that really drives off of certain things. Especially the fact, that we as viewers know as little as the driver of the vehicle.

You may have seen him in other productions, especially a drama surrounding an avalanche (great movie), but here he has to endure a different kind of struggle. And while there are certain clichés that will get picked up and carried (no puns intended by the way), the overall movie is more than decent enough. If you like thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, you definitely can watch this one too

As far as debut features go, this is one of the best. You can tell it has a low budget, but what Ben Parker manages to achieve with that low budget is great. In my opinion, it's up there with the likes of El Mariachi for making the most of it's little funding. It is by no means a perfect movie, but where it throws around the words "tense" and "claustrophobic", it delivers 100%. Ben Parker is a director to look out for.

The soundtrack, provided by James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers, is good too. Adds quite a bit to the atmosphere of the movie, even if the volume of it could have been lowered a little in places. Again, it's a great first soundtrack for James, even if he has been in the music industry since the late 80's/early 90's. Hopefully this won't be his only one.

Seriously, ignore the naysayers and check this one out for yourself.

Retread of other similar films. 4 people one a sub under the sea. Political or government choices make bad decisions the norm. Then more problems ensue. Decently acted but doesn't do much or bring anything new to the genre.