Deep Water (2022)

Dull Erotic Thriller - Deep Water review by GI

A somewhat tepid erotic psychological thriller that fails to ignite into anything other than a routine murder story with stock characters. This is a surprise considering director Adrian Lyne brought us such gritty and shock thrillers like Fatal Attraction (1987). The one saving grace here is Ana De Armas who delivers a performance that exudes the warmth of youth and beauty juxtaposed with the cold, selfish control of the femme fatale. This is a story of a poisoned relationship where Melinda (De Armas) is married to the much older and wealthy Vic (Ben Affleck). He allows her to have affairs with a stream of younger men on the promise she'll stay in the marriage. Her casual flings that she conducts almost as a challenge to Vic are the catalyst for his seething anger. His subtle boast to one of her paramours that he killed an earlier one sets him on a path of emotional rage. The question of whether he did or not is soon abandoned for a plain murder story. Can you see the issues here? The story is all too plain and obvious. The delectable trophy wife openly bonking and assuming the cuckold of a husband is going to accept the situation even though he says he will. It doesn't add up and the film becomes predictable and disappointing. Affleck's character just does a square jaw, mean look throughout the film which reflects the lacklustre script and direction of what could have been a very interesting marriage character study.