Underwater Has 1 of the Greatest Endings of the 2020s

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For decades, Ridley Scott’s Alien has captivated audiences with its feelings of loneliness, confinement, and the terror of facing the unknown – and that’s why it remains a beloved film. So, it was surprising to many that Underwater, released in 2020, didn’t succeed at the box office, considering it shared so many of the same compelling elements.

Set in the near future at an underwater mining station, the movie Underwater begins when a deep-sea drill causes critical damage to the facility. The crew then faces a desperate struggle to reach the surface, battling terrifying creatures along the way. While clearly inspired by Alien, Underwater stands out with a shocking and unexpected ending that’s become one of the most talked-about twists in recent cinema.

Underwater is an Alien Movie With a Twist

The movie Underwater shares many similarities with Alien, even in its basic storyline. Like Alien, it features a team of workers – in this case, miners – who find themselves in trouble while working for a large, impersonal company called Tian Industries.

The people working at the mining facility are focused on their tasks, but when things start to go wrong, they’re terrorized by creatures that inspire the same kind of dread as the Xenomorph. The feeling of being hunted in a familiar place is deeply unsettling. However, that’s where the parallels to other films stop, and Underwater introduces its own unique and surprising story.

Unlike Alien, which presented a relatively understood environment of space travel, Underwater emphasizes the unpredictable and overwhelming dangers of the deep sea. In Alien, things like cryosleep and airlocks were reliable; accidents only happened because of mistakes. But in Underwater, the characters are constantly at the mercy of the harsh environment, no matter how carefully they prepare.

A particularly striking scene shows a survivor putting on a damaged helmet before venturing out for an underwater walk to another station. Inside the facility, the pressure is normal, but the moment they exit, the extreme pressure causes the helmet to fail. The survivor is instantly crushed in a gruesome and unforgettable death.

Beyond underwater safety – a key element of the film – the creatures themselves behave according to unique instincts. The movie showcases their entire life cycle, from surprisingly powerful young creatures to teenage versions that violently tear apart their food, and exhibit distinct physical changes as they grow.

The humans often seem lost and out of place, but the movie focuses more on their struggle to survive than on explaining the creatures’ origins. While the characters briefly discuss where the creatures came from, the real mystery lies in why they exist and what they are. The explanation offered – that humans drilled too deep – feels basic, and doesn’t hint at the shocking reality audiences will soon discover when they finally see what these creatures are connected to.

Underwater readily acknowledges its inspiration from Alien, and surprisingly, that’s part of its appeal. While the basic storyline echoes other films, the struggle to survive feels fresh, and the ending offers a genuinely unexpected and satisfying conclusion, making it a memorable watch.

Underwater’s Ending Comes Out of Nowhere

In the final part of Underwater, things start to look hopeful. The crew has a chance to escape to the surface and has found a safer, more secure underwater station. However, a previously hinted-at reveal comes to light: the source of the monsters is a powerful, ancient being inspired by the writings of horror author H.P. Lovecraft.

As a huge movie fan, I think it would have been a really bold move to even hint at Cthulhu in a film like Underwater. But actually showing him? That feels like a total genre leap, something nobody saw coming! Like the original stories, Cthulhu is this unbelievably powerful, ancient cosmic being – just trying to understand him could mess with your head, and it would definitely change the whole feel of the movie.

In Underwater, the creature is unlike anything you’d expect. It’s enormous, like a giant monster from a movie, and combines features of an octopus with wing-like fins. This being lives far beneath the Earth’s surface and creates smaller copies of itself to launch attacks. The creature’s appearance is shocking enough for fans of science fiction and horror, but it’s the implications of its existence that truly make the ending of Underwater so powerful.

The movie Underwater takes a turn into cosmic horror, becoming a story about the dangers of pursuing knowledge beyond our grasp and the repercussions that follow. However, it’s also a tale of ordinary people unexpectedly thrust into a terrifying situation and their struggle to overcome it. While the creature, inspired by Cthulhu, is ultimately defeated, the film leaves viewers with the unsettling realization of what else exists in the vast universe.

That primal fear is at the heart of the movie, and Underwater skillfully blends genres without sacrificing entertainment or emotional weight, achieving a surprising level of sophistication. The character of Cthulhu isn’t limited to typical monster movies, and his appearance in Underwater feels organic. Because the deep ocean is so unknown, the film’s ending is truly remarkable – it forces viewers to consider the possibility of something as immense and terrifying as Cthulhu existing in the depths.

The ending of Underwater is brilliantly straightforward, which is a big reason why it’s so satisfying to watch again. The film starts as a typical monster movie, but it becomes something much deeper, subtly building the tension so that when the creature finally appears, it’s truly memorable.

Underwater Delivers a Perfect Sci-Fi Ending

Despite its flaws, Underwater boasts a truly excellent science fiction ending – one of the best of the last ten years, and a strong conclusion within the 21st century so far. The film effectively uses its setting, showing early earthquake activity to foreshadow the dangers lurking below. The post-credits scene adds a chilling layer, revealing that Tian Industries intends to resume drilling despite the disastrous events of the movie.

CBR Report

CBR Report

The movie Underwater is a stark reminder of human flaws like recklessness and greed, while also highlighting how insignificant we are in the face of immense, unstoppable forces. The ending isn’t uplifting; instead, it suggests a potentially catastrophic fate for humanity.

I often encourage viewers to consider thought-provoking films like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Alien. The concept of encountering something in space, or even hidden within our planet, that’s more intelligent or powerful than us is really compelling. Underwater directly addresses these ideas, even though it didn’t necessarily need to explore such deep themes to begin with.

The movie is a lighthearted and frightening experience, culminating in a powerful, unstoppable force that highlights a chilling message: the only way to defeat this ancient evil is to stop disturbing its resting place. Viewers are left with the unsettling feeling that the events of the film are just the first signs of a much larger, inevitable catastrophe for everyone involved.

This concept works perfectly as both a compelling story and a solid foundation for science fiction. It doesn’t need to be as complex or intellectually stimulating as films like Arrival or Interstellar. What it does need is to evoke a strong feeling or pose a difficult question, and then end with a bleak or unsettling outcome just before the movie finishes.

The movie Underwater really embraces its influences, and while the 2020s have given us some good science fiction films, none stand out quite like this one. It’s the ending to a movie that tried to be the next Alien but didn’t quite become a blockbuster.

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2025-12-22 02:09