Deep Water: Movie Review

Cast: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Finn Whitrock

Director: Adrian Lyne

Deep Water is supposed to be a return to the erotic thriller, helmed by the meister Adrian Lyne.

The director who steamed up the screen some 20 years ago with the likes of Unfaithful, 9 1/2 Weeks and Fatal Attraction.

But what emerges in Deep Water is sexual tension that's about as tepid as a cold bath and about as sexy as a wet lettuce.

Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, former lovers Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas play Vic and Melinda, a married couple whose passion has veered into loathing and parenting.

Vic spends his days wasting time and biking after retiring from making millions creating a microchip that helps with drone warfare; Melinda spends her time having casual affairs with younger beaus under the growing-resentful eyes of her husband.

But when one of the latest flings ends up dead, Vic's suddenly in the frame for murder.

Deep Water doesn't really do much to build any kind of tension over the 2 hours run time - it's neither sexy nor engaging, and seems to be a lifeless husk of what Lyne achieved in his younger years.

Affleck spends most of the film doing variations of his own Sad-fleck meme, with plenty of shots showing him bearded and looking generally disgruntled while his young vibrant wife lives a life of joy in front of him.

The problem is that a lack of background doesn't help to build the sense of resentment or provide enough reasons why viewers should care about a former beau of Melinda's who has no screentime but who turns up murdered. Throwaway lines from de Armas' character are not enough to help there, and given it's central to the themes on display, it's a deep flaw.

Affleck's feckless Vic isn't exactly an overly nice character as well, failing to garner any kind of sympathy from an audience - and while de Armas brings an energy and exuberance to the wife playing freely in her world, there's just nothing to cling on to here other than a case of first world problems for pretty rich white people.

But it's also Lyne who feels like he's got the worst deal. For his first film in some 20 years, it's nowhere near a return to form, and feels like the two decades and seismic changes within Hollywood have scuppered his approach to making the genre sizzle.

Ultimately, Deep Water plays out as a flat psychological flick that has none of the hooks or charisma it needs to build an erotic film or a sexy thriller. Robbed of tension and denied of its sexuality, it's a flaccid, unappealingly tedious watch that wastes all of the talent involved.

Deep Water is streaming on Prime Video on March 18.