Below (2002)

Directed by David Twohy. Starring Bruce Greenwood, Matthew Davis, Holt McCallany, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Scott Foley, Zach Galifianakis, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Chinlund, Christopher Fairbank, Andrew Howard. [R]

Strange, possibly supernatural occurrences plague the crew of a US submarine on patrol in the Atlantic during WWII shortly after picking up three survivors, one of them a woman (Wiliams); but is the source of their troubles connected to the new passengers or the recent events that led to the mysterious death of their commanding officer, resulting in Greenwood’s lieutenant taking over? Grafting a ghost story onto a nerve-wracked submarine adventure certainly seems promising, and the interior design and heightened claustrophobia practically guarantee vivid thrills, but the storytelling is as murky as the pitiless sea, and it’s not built for character interest despite a solid cast. Comes up short as a technical exercise, too, since the lighting and editing work together to combat clarity—good luck figuring out who’s doing what to whom in the dismal final third. Anachronistic dialogue extends to the crew rattling off a series of slang terms for “woman” that wouldn’t even play in a parody of 1930s pulp magazines. Co-written and co-produced by Darren Aronofsky.

44/100