Danny Huston stars in this strenuously acted thriller, which sends four men to the bottom of the Indian Ocean in a diving bell to repair a gas pipeline. It’s a grim but lucrative job and they are under immense pressure from the ocean’s weight and, naturally, their own various emotional states. Engel (Huston) is haggard and haunted by his past; Mitchell (Matthew Goode) is a thoughtful, Bible-reading guy; Hurst (Alan McKenna) is burnt out from the job and Jones (Joe Cole) is a cocky youngster whose girlfriend has just had a baby.
Disaster strikes and this quartet face terrifying choices in a confined space. It’s a promising starting point for a claustrophobia thriller and the four actors do an honest job, but it feels as if we are watching a by-the-numbers movie in which there is much pop-eyed staring and jaw-clenching. Backstories are disclosed in dream-fantasy sequences, where images of alluring young women balance out the oppressive male sweatiness. The film is earnestly intended, but doesn’t come to life.
