The Pool

I stumbled upon "The Pool" by random chance. I hadn't heard about it. I didn't know who starred in it. I didn't even know what it was about. It was a Thai movie, and given my fascination and interest in Asian cinema, then of course I took the chance to sit down and watch the 2018 movie "The Pool" from director and writer Ping Lumpraploeng.

So how was this movie? Well, actually it was quite good, taking into consideration the relative simplicity of the storyline. But the movie was also somewhat predictable, but still turned out to be thrilling and exciting.

The concept idea of the storyline is having a guy stranded in a pool with no means of escape, since the pool has been drained of enough water to make it impossible for him to reach the top of the basin. Then comes help, in the form of his pregnant girl friend, but things go horribly awry. And to make matters worse, a crocodile ends up in the pool as well, also with no means of escape.

The movie was entertaining from beginning to end, though some of the scenes were definitely quite generic and you know what would happen even from a mile away.

The crocodile was adequate, though some of the close-up scenes where it attacked Day was painstakingly CGI animated and you could see that even with your eyes closed.

The acting was good, and heeradej Wongpuapan (playing Day) and Ratnamon Ratchiratham (playing Koy) were actually performing well and carried the movie with enough confidence that the storyline worked out in their hands.

However, "The Pool" is hardly a masterpiece in Thai cinema, nor is it a movie that you are likely to watch more than just once.

I had one hearty laugh towards the end after I tilted my head and thought "Sure, Jan" when our "hero's" insulin shot fell perfectly onto a cloth.

Unfortunately, this movie contained a bunch of unintentional laughs and "yeah, right" moments. But, worst of all: it had thee most fakest looking crocodile I've ever seen in a movie. And that's sad because it was supposed to be one of the biggest threats of this Open Water in Reverse knock-off.

Basically, under extremely unlikely circumstances, a man gets trapped and abandoned in a huge, albeit empty pool with no ladder or way out. To make matters worse, his girlfriend shows up, gets trapped with him and the aforementioned, hungry and angry crocodile in there stalking them. (Mostly sleeping, but when awake, stalking.) How will they possibly escape THE POOOOOL of DEATH?!

I didn't give up on the movie because, well, the lead was sexy (ha,) a lot of the time I could absolutely feel his pain of the gruesome things that happen to him and I do love me some When Animals Attack films as well as being trapped with nearly no possible ways to escape. I mentioned this is a rip-off (well, sorta) of the Open Water movies, but specifically part two. In that movie, the cast is in the ocean around their boat, but no ladder or way to get back onboard. In that movie, to add tension, there's a baby on board. In The Pool, there's a chained up dog up on deck, who they, of course, named "Lucky." Ha. Ha. I get it.

Mistakes are made by the lead, constantly - causing me so much frustration and while some graphics look good, others look fake as all Hades. One death in the movie was kinda shocking, but another's survival, though it was supposed to be happy, would've elevated this movie tenfold had they perished.

It's not the worst, by far it isn't. It's just a breezy 90-minute Saturday afternoon viewing. If you can get past that terrible CGI'd croc.

***

Final thoughts: Okay, I'm not from that country, nor ever been. But, seriously? The Olympic-sized pool has no ladder or shallow end? I know it's possible, but is it plausible?

I'm not sure what another reviewer meant writing "man becomes spider ..." - not that the rest of the review made more sense to me. But anyway, you have to suspend your disbelief! And when I say you have to - I mean multiple times! Over and over again - and just accept some real tough coincidences happening that allow the movie to happen.

There is no real plot here - but it doesn't need one. As the main characters don't seem to need certain things to make it at times ... though will they survive overall? The odds are not in their favor ... and even when they catch a break, something happens to ... break their break. Ridiculous and occasionally over the top, this can be "fun" to watch for some

Firstly the plot on how ridiculously the man gets trapped into a deep pool. Why to have a ladder inside the pool, no need for that. Secondly, how much time would it take to empty a huge pool like that with only 1 small drain? My guess is he would have starved before getting trapped there. Thirdly the crocodile, you see more lifely crocs in some video games, this one was so bad, even the acting of the croc. Did they take some zoologist with them when they created that croc? Don't think so, cuz the croc behaved more like an angry dog than a crocodile. But still the movie was catchy, very catchy to say the least.

I can't count how often the two main characters acted dumb in this movie, but I still suffered for these weirdos. The stage is as simple as can: A deep pool, pumped out, at first 1 and then 2 dumb people plus 1 crocodile. Fading out that the crocodile might kill a person in some minutes, there were tough moments. I did like the production by building up suspense with minimal things like a ringing cellphone or a dog taking notice of them both. There are so many little things to notice that it makes the (tolerant) audience shiver with impatience of what happens next. A more sober audience will only count the dumb fails of the two protagonists. So I would recommend that movie to an uncritical audience, which just wants to have some entertainment. It has a wicked idea I like.