This low budget British thriller does disaster on a small scale. It's a single location film in which four divers find themselves trapped on the ocean floor in a diving bell when the oil operation they're working on is hit by a storm, sinking the vessel above and leaving them stranded and with their oxygen running out. It's a great set-up and one that thrilled me with awe, but sadly the execution of this film is less than stellar and fails to get the right balance of sympathy and suspense. With the constant bad language none of the characters are very sympathetic and most get on your nerves after a while.

The film's failure can be laid directly at the door of the writer, who fumbles the premise after a solid first half an hour. Certainly the experienced cast members, including Danny Huston and Matthew Goode, can't be faulted, although the dullest character (played by Joe Cole) unfortunately gets the lion's share of the screen time. PRESSURE is thrilling at first but as it moves towards the end, the tension should really be mounting but instead the story seems to slow down and devolves into various fantasies experienced by the main characters. I don't want to watch any of this mindless filler, I want to see the protagonists fighting back against impending death, and only Huston seems to do this. In the end, it's a missed opportunity.

In the Somalia coast, the veteran divers Engel (Danny Huston),Mitchell (Matthew Goode),Hurst (Jones Alan McKenna) and the rookie Jones (Joe Cole) are assigned to repair an oil pipeline on the bottom of the sea by the Vaxxilon representative Karsen (Ian Pirie). They are advised that a storm is coming, but the Diving Support Vessel Lorimer lowers the bell with the team. They succeed to weld the pipeline but the storm comes and the vessel sinks, killing the whole crew. Short of the oxygen, the divers try to communicate with the surface and the leader Mitchell keeps the hope that they will be saved. But will the oil company send another vessel to rescue them?

"Pressure" is one of the most anguishing and realistic drama about the deep water divers ever made and economical interest of oil companies. The performances are top-notch and the realism of the scenes is impressive. The director Ron Scalpello makes an excellent film that keeps the tension along 91 mm running time. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Sob Pressão" ("Under Pressure")

In the Indian Ocean, a diving bell with a crew opts to make repairs with a storm coming. [email protected]#t happens and it becomes a fight for life among a crew that doesn't always get along. The acting was Goode, but the storyline grew old. I can only take so much drama of people trapped in one place. This is a drama/thriller and not a horror. Not much more exciting than the cover art.

Guide: F-bomb, FF nudity (Gemita Samarra)