Gods of the Deep

Not sure why they require 600 words now. Maybe just to reduce the quantity of people reviewing - or the quality of people reviewing. Anyway! This movie is like a college project. I read somewhere that they had a budget of three million dollars, mostly spent on catering I would guess. Not one recognizable face. The props were found at the local hardware store. The scientific principles - aren't. But like many "Sci-Fi" efforts, you have to wonder how, in the movie, they selected the participants for such a seemingly demanding mission. How emotionally unstable are you? 'Look, a squirrel! Let's kill it!' "Yes, you'll do." Rubber monsters, no CGI, sub in a bathtub. Thank goodness for Fast Forward. I made it through the movie in about a half hour. I heartily recommend you spend far less.

I had never heard about this 2023 movie prior to stumbling upon it. But seeing the movie's title and figuring that it was apparently something Lovecraftian, of course I had to sit down and watch it.

Writer Charlie Steeds put together a fair enough script. It wasn't exactly a particular complex script or storyline, but it actually made for an adequate enough viewing experience, provided you have an interest in H. P. Lovecraft's Mythos.

I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. But I will say that they had a fair enough ensemble of actors and actresses, some more talented than others, of course. In general, however, the performances were adequate enough to help make the movie all the more bearable to sit through.

It was kind of odd that there was ambient light in the scenes where the submersible was roaming about at 38000 feet. At that depth it should have been pitch black. But sure, I get it that in order to show things in the underwater environment for the viewers, then they might have opted to add that ambient light. But it just made absolutely zero sense.

And speaking of the submersible, well at least they tried. The CGI animated submersible was fine, but all of the shots filmed inside what was supposed to be a submersible, just looked like it was filmed inside some kind of cellar or crawlspace. It didn't even remotely pass for being a submersible, and even a blind man would go 'are you kidding me with this?'

Visually then "Gods of the Deep" was a mixed bag of nuts. The practical effects, such as with the writhing tentacles and animated flesh actually looked good and worked nicely. But the rendering of great Cthulhu himself was a bit lackluster and did the Great Old One who sleeps in R'lyeh very little justice. But at least they tried, and that does count for something.

It certainly was an ambitious low budget production, and they managed to succeed some of the way. And you have got to give them credit for trying, and also for somewhat accomplishing what they did with whatever limited resources they had.

"Gods of the Deep" from writer and director Charlie Steeds is worth checking out if you are a fan of Lovecraft's works, for sure. However, this is hardly an outstanding viewing experience. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Gods of the Deep" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

OK, the good. It looked like the actors tried to make this watchable. They didn't try too hard, but they tried. The camera work was also acceptable. Sorry, not much more to say good.

I wanted to like this movie, I really did. But as soon as they needed to show anything beyond scenes sitting in a conference room, the props, staging, and general direction were HORRIBLE.

The most obvious thing is the director was completely clueless. Anytime he was oblivious to what would actually happen in a situation he would shake the camera. And wow, the 'really cool, cutting edge' technology was SOO bad. To the point that the hatch to the submarine was a trash can lid! ... and it closed the wrong way!!! You make a movie about a submarine and you never saw a single submarine movie??? Do just a LITTLE homework.

I can write pages about how bad this movie was, but that might give the director hints on how to make his next movie better. Instead, I would strongly consider another line of work.

So I had to put in my two cents. I should have known better. Once they're magically the submersible (@ 16 mins in), using a collapsible light weight aluminum ladder from Home Depot it gets worse. This is a joke, the set design of the sub couldn't go underwater, much less 37,000 ft.. The acting gets really bad once action scenes start. Skipped thru another 10 mins or so .... then deleted.

I'm a sucker for any flicks which are above or under the seas or oceans. This ain't no "The Abyss (1989)", "All Is Lost (2013)", "In the Heart of the Sea (2015)", Into the Blue (2005), The Guardian (I) (2006) or The Perfect Storm (2000) to name a few of my favorites.

Cheers.

My family has a thing for watching B movies and this one was a barrel of laughs for the most part. Do not take this movie seriously but please enjoy it. Acting aside this movie has a plethora of entertaining set pieces and design. From your submarine standard collapsible hatch ladder, garbage can lid hatch cover, and extendo grab hands attached to their little submersible is just the bare minimum of fun set design. There's so many more that entertained us enough to see this move through to the end. While the monster does next to nothing while they're busy squabbling amongst themselves it mostly roars going unnoticed or worried about by the majority of the crew. Fun to watch if you're in it for laughs.