Submerged (2015)

Summary
A young woman and her friends, who've been targeted by kidnappers, must do everything they can to survive after their limo is forced off the road and plunged into a canal.

Genre : Thriller
Country : USA

Cast :
Jonathan Bennett : Matt
Talulah Riley : Jessie
Tim Daly : Hank

Director : Steven C. Miller

My Opinion

"Submerged". The only thing I'm excited about is the sublime movie poster. A good example of an excellent graphic design with a brilliant and powerful one-liner "You can not scream and hold your breath at the same time". Now, the unfortunate teens who are trapped in a sunken limo, haven't hold their breath, I'm sure. On the contrary, there was a lot of shouting to be heard down there. Would I be in such a claustrophobic situation, I would break out in a cold sweat. I really don't like confined spaces. But admit it, being trapped in a limousine at the bottom of a canal, knowing that the pressure on that modest roof must be enormous, while being surrounded by some young hotheads who are acting hysterical and blaming each other, looks like a far worse nightmare.

So if you're expecting an exciting, nerve-racking movie, you'll be brought down to earth with a shock. The moment Matt (Jonathan Bennett) sees the nose of the sophisticated limousine dive into the water, it looks like this might be the start of a promising thriller. Unfortunately you'll subsequently undergo a series of flashbacks that explain the cause of this accident. Also we come to know that Matt has a younger brother, Dylan (Cody Christian), with some personal problems. This seemed like a irrelevant parallel plot. In the end the whole thing leads to Jessie (Talulah Riley). She's the daughter of businessman and millionaire Hank (Tim Daly), who evoked the wrath of the locals due to drastic cutbacks. Therefore, he recruited Matt as his chauffeur and bodyguard to protect him and his daughter from possible reprisals.

The remaining part of the film shows the situation in the sunken limousine and the efforts being made by the youngsters to get out. Matt can't help with this since he's impaled in some way to the car. Jessie lies unconcious next to him after she was being drugged. And the only thing the other hysterical four sitting in the back could come up with, was useless banging on windows and accusing each other of being an accomplice. That's why Matt closes the soundproof partition now and then. Next to a totally implausible denouement, there are also some ridiculous and ludicrous developments. I'm still trying to figure out how the trick with the trunk of the car worked. The designer of this car was very foreseeing. And I'm also pretty sure that a smashed glass roof would cause a devastating flood of water and not only such a pitifully little bit of water.

The most positive part was the running time. It's a short and compact wannabe thriller without much sensational events. Most of it, is already shown elsewhere before. Afterward, it looks more like a thriller-episode of "Melrose Place" or some similar crap teen series from the 80s. Talulah Riley is a spoiled brat that doesn't really excels when it comes to intelligence (look for "Inception" in IMDb and you'll see she plays a "Blonde" there). Actually, the whole gang has a similar level of intelligence. You can conclude that the idea behind the story is kind of original, but the elaboration failed hugely.