Under Pressure

Saw this on DVD as 'The Cruel Deep' which as a title is rather meaningless. Yes there is a lot of sea but it looked pretty and blue as it always seems to do around Greece. After a preamble in historic Lesvos and an unconnected bit at a water dam a simple and ungripping plot emerges that gives various actors a chance to show how bland they can be.

It also gave the film makers a chance to show how bland computer generated effects can be. When computer effects in films look like part of a computer game, well the game is up and inertia sets in. Why use real water pouring down ship corridors when completely false CGI water will do? Ask the producers.

It was a film where I was rooting for the bad guys and Harry Van Gorkum as the villainous Brit is watchable compared to the rest. The heroine is your typical 'I'm posited as a clever and capable woman but become more stupid and helpless as the film progresses' type role. Rob Lowe has a nice beard though.

This is one of the worst films ever. Robe Lowe as the main actor. Need I say more? There is nothing good about this film at all. You'll do well to sit through it all. You wonder where people get the inspiration to make such dirge.

This movie is best summarized by a conversation early in the movie between the Rob Lowe character and his wife. He's just told her that the ship is being taken over by terrorists, that the captain has been shot in the head, and that they have to get off the ship. She responds with a monologue about how she just wants a little excitement in her life and he should let her have it. From there it goes downhill.

Oh, and the props department really should have done some more work to make the statue that's so important in this film look like something more than paper mache.

It wuz baaaaad and then some. Weird thing was how I didn't change channels. So bad that just HAD to find out how it ended. Lowe & Miller were alright, but most of the bit parts were appalling, stuck in stilted 'pause & deliver' mode, not assisted by a script that seemed committee-driven, last-minute hackwork. Character depth struck a new lowe (sorry). All of the above must be laid at the door of the director, who can only do better.

My brother panned this movie for being horrible, so I just had to check it out. I had also seen a small glimpse of it when he watched it. Of course I was expecting a mess of a movie but it turned out to be decent. Yes, the plot, special effects and pretty much everything else was pretty poor, but at least I got some laughs off of it.