Movie review: Submergence
Swedish actress Alicia Vikander has to be one of the most hardworking actresses of her generation.
On average, the 29-year-old has had at least two movies released each year since 2015.
However, has quality been sacrificed?
Much like her recent Tomb Raider, Submergence has potential and is pretty, but the reality is that it is going to be filed under the mediocre category.
Vikander and Scottish actor James McAvoy are such gorgeous, photogenic people. Casting them in a romance cannot be a bad decision.
But apart from their initial meeting at the start of the film, they spend the majority of screen time apart. There are some flashback scenes, but they are not enough to sustain a story that moves at such a dreary pace.
Sure, the plot calls for them to be separated.
She plays Danielle, a bio-mathematician who applies mathematics to the life of the ocean and is bound for the Arctic Circle for a deep sea expedition.
He plays James, a spy en route to Somalia to try to end the wave of terrorist bombings in Europe.
Their accidental meeting in the scenic French coastal town of Normandy leads them to quickly fall in love.
What follows is distracting as we see Danielle descending into despair simply because she does not get a text or phone call from James.
The once enthusiastic scientist, who believes she is on the verge of discovering new life, turns into a lovesick girl who desperately wants to get to shore for reception on her phone.
James has his reasons why he can't return her calls or texts - he is trying to survive as a tortured prisoner of Al-Qaeda.
Director Wim Wenders has an ambitious global message about the environment and terror attacks, but his execution leaves this film and his lovely cast submerged under water.
MOVIE: Submergence
STARRING: James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander
DIRECTOR: Wim Wenders
THE SKINNY: Sparks fly when Danielle(Vikander) meets James (McAvoy) at aremote hotel in Normandy. But will their relationship sustain when they part ways a couple of days later when duty calls – she to the bottom of the ocean for research, and he to Somalia for some spy business?
RATING: NC16
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