Submergence

James More (James McAvoy) is a secret agent who goes on a mission to Somalia in order to stop terrorist action but becomes hostage of al-Qaeda instead.

Danielle Flinders (Alicia Vikander) is a bio-mathematician who must carry out an equally dangerous task by diving in the utmost depths of the ocean to collect samples that could lead to groundbreaking discoveries regarding life.

Long flashbacks show how they met each other just before they embarked on their separate journeys and got involved in a romance that is over before it begins, as it turns into a long distance relationship, where the two partners have no way of reaching out to each other. The memory of their time together makes the feeling of isolation they experience during the hard times they are facing even stronger.

The most engaging part of the movie is undoubtedly the flashbacks. Two charismatic leads that form a real bond, not necessarily because of their chemistry, but mostly because they have the chance to express their philosophies by talking about some big social issues (such as the environment, terrorism, or what is the role of the individual against those problems) or personal matters (such as the meaning of life and the fear of death). The gorgeous scenery is a nice touch as well.

On the other hand, both the terrorist and the underwater storyline leave a lot to be desired. There's not much going on in either of them, James is dragged around to various places and almost gets killed each time, while Danielle waits for his call and wonders if he left her.

This movie could have worked, and in some ways it really does. Though some people don't agree, I found the chemistry between Vikander and McAvoy to be good and very believable.

What wasn't at all believable was the script. Oh looordy, lord, there's some bad lines in there. Everything drowned in pointless talks about the ocean and suuuure it's an analogy and all, but yeezus give it a rest, will ya? The story isn't really there. It could have been an epic love story, but it's not - though that's not the actor's fault. Vikander and McAvoy give it everything they have to deliver those at times painful lines.

If you love everything else Vikander has done, you'll probably like this one as well. The male gaze is all over her, and it truly works.

The cinematography for this film is absolutely spectacular and almost worth the time just because of that (almost).

In spite of its very low 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I watched it because of the lead cast, namely James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander. It's indeed not a great movie, but I didn't feel it deserved such animosity. It's just a plain, "meh", movie. A man and a woman meet during holidays in some sort of vacation village at the French Atlantic coast. He's an agent from the MI6 and she's a oceanographer (he presents himself under the cover of another job). They each take a few days off before an important mission; for him to go obtain intelligence about an IS leader in Africa and her to dive in a deep-sea submarine to find about life at the bottom of the ocean. They fall in love and promise that they'll see each other again. As she engages into the sea, he is taken prisoner, and somehow... (insert some sort of mystical, spiritual stuff). Well, the movie doesn't quite deliver on the spiritual part; the two story-lines just have really nothing in common.

I didn't really mind this lack of overall consistency. There is the first part which is the long, full-fledged love arc in the vacation village. There are some cheesy dialogues and mood music that are reminiscent of weekdays afternoon TV movies but the important cast and the thematic around their characters' jobs (MI6 agent an oceanographer) gave me enough goodwill to care and find some sort of chemistry in their relationship. The second part alternates between him being a prisoner of IS and her going to her day-to-day oceanographic research (before the final dive). Again, it's quite superficial and nothing really stands out, but it's followable. There are nice shots of the sea and of the submarine.

On the technical side the sound mixing was bad and it was hard to understand the dialogues over the background sounds. Some of the framing was awkward, again evocative of TV movies. I watched it without minding, and went on with my life. I've seen way worse and endured way more boredom in films that are considered way better.

I went into this movie with high hopes. There aren't enough romantic dramas out there and I loved that it was described as a "haunting love story." Well... it was more like a disappointing love story to me. Without giving away any spoilers, the format of this movie intercuts between the past romance and the current separation of the two main characters portrayed by James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander. While I like both of these actors individually, I didn't really feel the chemistry between them. That said, I was still interested in their separate storylines (he is taken prisoner by jihadists and she is doing deep water sea exploration). But... after all that waiting, I didn't think the ending was very well done.

Seriously, this movie ended without any destination being reached. It set it up quite well, but there was no point, no conclusion, no deep reveal, no destination traveled to, I really enjoyed the scenery and some of the dialog, it was like a class on marine biology, and some average concepts on life, but then it just left it there, nothing...... Bit of a waste of the journey if you either don't have anything to say or you don't know how to convey it.