Pressure

I love being close to the ocean. Especially if it has a white beach, palm trees and so hot your hairy chest is sweatty like Donald Trump´s combed hair piece. The feeling of swimming into a blue clear ocean is just fantastic. As long as you don´t run into any dangerous fishes, or octupus, i would swim far out. I always wanted to explore diving, lookin at the coral reeves, different fishes, and sea life in general. I am not sure though if i wanted to dive very deep, since i would probably panic. Just imagine those who work, both on submarines and in other sea crafts to finish a mission, depending on what needs to be done. That must be both hard but interesting, because you both get to experience the sea in a completely different way than we are used to, and it takes a lot of knowledge of how the sea works in different weather conditions. When it comes to motion pictures, we have plenty of titles that take on different jobs on the ocean, or underneath. One of the most famous underwater films of all time is of course The Abyss, by director James Cameron. If you by any chance have missed this one, make sure you rent it, or watch it online. Leviathan, the 1989 sci fi horror film with Peter Weller is also a classic, released on blu ray recently with some nice extra features. One film that perhaps was not great, but worked as an popcorn and beer film, is Into The Blue. Who does not want to see Jessica Alba in a bikini, being hunted by a drug lord and his men ? Speaking of films that takes place in water, i am actually one of the few who enjoyed Waterworld with Kevin Costner. As an action film, it had many elements from classic films, and also some Mad Max vibes. Let´s get more serious for a moment. Many men and women work on different oceans, in many different occupations. They work long hours, and have to be able to handle many hard situations that only certain types of people would accept. I recently came across a new released british film called Pressure, that i actually never heard of until now. In Sweden, there is no release date so far from what i know, so you can watch it online or get the dvd on Amazon. Since i am interested in films that take place on the ocean, i decided to take a look at Pressure. Is this another british release that guarantee quality acting, or is this a release that you don´t need to think about ?

A group of professional divers , Engel ( Danny Huston ), Mitchell ( Matthew Goode ), Jones ( Joe Cole ) ,Karsen ( Ian Praire ) and Hurst ( Alan McKenna, are sent on a mission deep underneath the sea to fix a damaged oil pipe. As they begin the reperation, their diving bell is struck by disaster. With damages on their diving bell, the whole crew realise that they will not survive, unless someone can locate their position. To survive, they need to find a way to make it to the surface, but is it possible considering how deep down they are stuck in the ocean ?

If you were hoping to see something like The Abyss, or a film that reminds us of underwater action film, Pressure may not be what you would want to see. This is a more realistic underwater film, where you follow a team trying to survive underneath the surface. You can tell that the budget is smaller, and that the cast is limited. With that said, i can not say that i am dissapointed, since Pressure is a film that manage to find a balance, between reality and claustrophobia. To be trapped underneath the ocean so deep, it will be hard for someone to find you, must be devastating to experience. The cast does a good job, trying to act out of their situation. Especially Danny Dyer, who you might have seen in films like 30 Days Of Night, Clash Of The Titans. Matthew Goode is also an actor who proves himself, he was really good last year in The Imitation Game, and let´s not forget his performance in Stoker. Director Ron Scalpello have only directed one feature film before Pressure, and it is called Offender. I have not seen it, but i know that the reviews were good for the film after it was released. With his second film, Pressure shows that he knows how to use a smaller cast, in an intelligent way. There are not many scenes filmed close to the surface, so we stay underwater almost all the time. This gives the film team a challenge, to make us interested in the storyline. There are some scenes where they have long conversations, but this is not supposed to be an violent film. This is supposed to feel realistic, and for that i have to say Ron Scalpello manage to hit the spot, good enough to keep us seated. There are a few moments where the tempo slows down a bit, that could have been a little bit more intensive. The acting is what really makes Pressure work, the story itself is not very original or suspensful enough. I would say that The Abyss is still the best underwater film so far, especially the extended version. Pressure is still a good choice though, if you want to see more acting than Michael Bay CGI effects, in the end it all depends on how good the acting is. I feel like going diving now, just to see how far i can go ? Probably just 2 meters, but thats not to bad.....right ?

Rating: DDD