Before I proceeded to review the trailer of 20th Century Fox’s Underwater, I had to review the clip twice to see if my initial impression was correct. My initial thoughts hinted at a monster lurking in the bottom of the ocean and the high intensity trailer seems to be hinting at the same thing. Without further ado, I will now start sharing my first impressions of Underwater.

Synopsis: A research crew travels 5,000 miles from land and seven miles to the bottom of the ocean floor. What seemed to be a peaceful research endavor to collect data is disrupted by an earthquake which heavily damages their station. As they attempt to escape their soon to be underwater tomb, they discover that their problems are just beginning as a dormant creature is jolted awake by the quake.

At first glance, Underwater already seems interesting with all the familiar faces on deck. We have Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Snow White and the Huntsman, Charlie’s Angels), TJ Miller (Deadpool, Silicon Valley ), Jessica Henwick (Game of Thrones, Iron Fist) and Vincent Cassell (Westworld), among the stars to watch out for. This means that the movie was willing to spend on the cast but not to a degree that makes it an all star ensemble (which usually fails because of the need to balance exposure rather than focus on the execution).

I liked the fact that the trailer was straightforward with the main crisis but still left something to the imagination as they kept their monster in the dark to keep the suspense. This way, they are baiting the audience with the idea but they are not giving the entire thing away. Folks still need to figure out which type of monster they are dealing with, level of danger, et al.

Another plus was the fact that the team is dealing with a double crisis to survive. Its like Armageddon or The Core in an underwater setting, but they throw in a monster for good measure. The trailer played it smart by leading with numbers. 5,000 miles from land, seven miles under the sea. It makes audiences recall how hard it was to survive 47 meters under the sea with the threat of a shark attack, and makes them multiply the numbers in their heads. Seven miles is equivalent to 11265.4 meters if you’re curious. Apart from getting to the surface, they also have to reach land which is 5,000 miles away. That’s 8046.72 kilometers to be exact. Thank you, Google. I’m already panicking for the crew.

All in all, Underwater seems to be a survival, disaster, sci fi, monster movie combined into one and banks on the strengths of each one. It looks tricky to pull off but it has great potential to be a great popcorn movie if not for anything else. Its bound to be entertaining for sure. We just have to wait until next year to see it, though so hold your excitement at bay.