“Gods of the Deep” follows a deep-sea submarine team that wakes up an ancient race of otherworldly beings while on an expedition to a mysterious opening on the ocean floor.

As a low-budget, independent film, this is extremely well made. The performances are believable, it’s shot and edited well and the effects are solid for the most part.

At only 78 minutes long, the film dives into its central plotline fairly fast. It quickly highlights the risks that each of the characters are taking by going on this mission, which heightens the stakes later on. It also sets up mystery surrounding some of the characters, as the true intentions of everyone are unclear.

The ocean is such an intriguing landscape with a lot of untapped potential. The film utilizes this, creating suspense and tension out of the unknowns that lie below. Because this is all taking place in the deep sea, the environment is quite dark. The look of the creature benefits from this, as you can see the scale of its threat without being able to see some of the small imperfections as clearly.

“Gods of the Deep” throws all reality out the window after entering the “submarine.” So many unrealistic things happen, meaning you need to turn your brain off to enjoy it. The final act ups the ante on the craziness, and unfortunately, that’s where the movie falls apart.

The twist in the last act is… interesting. The film goes in a different direction, and the idea itself is something that we’ve seen before. I wish we could’ve seen more of the deep-sea creatures, rather than what actually happened in the last 25 minutes.

“Gods of the Deep” is plagued by an extremely unsatisfying final act. The film shows us a menacing, giant and unknown creature, but decides to put it aside for a generic twist that has been executed better in the past.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5