I’m having a hard time figuring out if I didn’t like this movie all on my own or because everyone is dunking on it right now. It’s not the kind of movie that’s meant to be watched as a new release. It should be watched the way I watched Submergence. One day, I was like “Oh. Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy were in a movie? I wonder what’s that’s about?” and I watched it. No preparation or expectations. Just a cast list. Deep Water is meant to be discovered later. Then, when you watch it, you think “that wasn’t unwatchable, but I get why no one ever talks about this”.
The film is an erotic thriller, which is a genre that’s on life support these days. The central couple is played by Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. It’s from the director of Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal, Adrian Lyne. This is his first film since Unfaithful in 2002, and it feels like he hasn’t made a movie in that long. Everything about this movie feels more comfortable in the 90s. It’s about an affluent community who are rich enough that they never need to work and can have parties all the time. Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck play a very combustible couple. De Armas constantly has side lovers who she uses to make Affleck jealous with. Affleck gets some excitement out of it, but it also bothers him. They remind me a lot of that SVU episode where there’s a couple who hire male prostitutes to act like they are raping the wife so the husband can come in and “save” her. It doesn’t seem very healthy. Pretty early on, it’s clear that Affleck probably killed past boyfriends, and the movie isn’t about trying to trick us on that. It’s almost refreshing how upfront the movie is. It definitely makes sense why working on this movie led to Affleck and de Armas having a relationship in real life. They have a chemistry, even if it’s an unhealthy one.
My issue with this movie is a common one I have with movies. I don’t believe any of it exists off screen. The Affleck/de Armas relationship makes no sense as a long-term thing. I don’t even think there are enough bodies in Affleck’s past based on how he acts here. They’ve been together long enough to have a 6-year-old. Their 16-year age difference is right on the cusp of really needing an explanation in the film. Is this a gold-digger thing? Am I supposed to pretend they are closer in age than they are? Regardless, it seems like de Armas has been flaunting infidelities in front of Affleck for a very long time. However, Affleck snapping seems to be recent. There’s talk of the one missing body of a dead lover, implying that was the first one Affleck kills. Then, within a very short time, Affleck kills two more of them and threatens a third. Did something finally snap with Affleck’s character? What? Why? When? And how is de Armas’ response to this so “babe in the woods”? She’s been playing mind games on him for years, presumably. I assumed she always suspected Affleck killed that first lover that went missing and was excited by it. But when he drowns another one, she hires a P.I. and acts shocked that Affleck could do such a thing. It’s so inconsistent. I keep thinking back to Gone Girl, which does something similar much better. That movie clearly establishes a gamesmanship as part of their relationship. That relationship has history. The timeline of it checks out. The one in Deep Water doesn’t.
Again, I do feel like a lot of these issues go away once regency is removed. Over time, I can just appreciate it as a hot movie with some silly plot mechanics and lazy exposition that’s ultimately dumb fun. Or maybe I’m being too generous and it really is this year’s Serenity.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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