The Chamber

A special ops team hire a makeshift submarine and its Swedish captain for a top secret mission (which remains top secret), venturing into North Korean waters. The setting is claustrophobic and volatile for 90 minutes, which is my kind of movie. A confined space and a kick-ass chick are always good ingredients. A little disappointed the actual mission is never revealed (though it is implied it may be something trivial), nevertheless the movie had me on the edge of my seat for its duration. I also really liked how this ended -- From the desert to the ocean.

Retread of other similar films. 4 people one a sub under the sea. Political or government choices make bad decisions the norm. Then more problems ensue. Decently acted but doesn't do much or bring anything new to the genre.

The Norwegian whose sub was used as a cover was not aware that explosive charges had been stowed on the ship. The Norwegian captain caused trouble before they found the target, so they tied him up. He was untied and then caused trouble after they found the target. They mentioned that this sea next to N Korea was 300 meters deep and the search for their target would be difficult, yet they found it in fewer than three minutes. The military chaps were said to be rough and ready Seals, but these were the most emotionally unbalanced Seals in existence. The skinny leader "Red" because of a twist in the story was made to kill a man three times her size, which was implausible.

The film opens reminding us North Korea is still there. A Norwegian ship operating precariously close to N.Korean waters has its own two man submarine of ancient design. Three Navy SEALS and one civilian driver of the sub, Mats (Johannes Kuhnke) take a top secret dive. The SEALS are lead by Alice "Red" Edwards. They over load the sub with people and special equipment then debark. There are immediate personality conflicts. Mats, who is steering the sub, is in the dark about the mission, as are we the audience. About halfway into the film, it goes from mission oriented to survival (see DVD cover). It was a fairly intense drama/thriller, although I was uneasy about the plausibility of the plot. The film consists of 4 people in a two man sub getting on each others' nerves very quickly. Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Ocean picture without sharks.

I've seen my share of "trapped in a sub at the bottom of the ocean" movies. In general, they're pretty good overall and they generate a good amount of tension. However, the ending of this movie really sinks it (pun intended). After spending ninety minutes with the two characters that you come to like, one dies as they finally make their escape and the other surfaces only to find herself smack dab in the middle of a vast and empty ocean. Yes, one can say that the very final scene shows her starting to swim -- but folks, she's not going anywhere -- especially since the bends are going to kick in pretty fast. There will be many who disagree with me about what I'm going to say -- and that's fine. I've had this discussion/argument with many friends over the years. But my feeling is that after investing ninety minutes or so in a tale of survival, there's gotta be some redemption. Fine, have three of the four people die. (And frankly, the first one to die -- the nice guy called Holmes -- had "I'm gonna die first" tattooed on his forehead from the beginning of the dive.) But don't have the final character -- after overcoming all the challenges she's been presented with -- just end up with certain death coming in the next three or four minutes. Is my theory about redemption right in every case? Of course not. I can come up with many movies that ended with all the main characters dying at the end -- but were still fine works of cinema. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" is one example. (And if you want to get really crazy, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" certainly qualifies.) And there are many more. But again (in my opinion), to be a successful film where the main characters die, there has to be something more in the telling of the tale to make the sacrifices understandable and worthy of the watching. Okay, the point I'm trying to make is not one that I can explain in a review. And I'm sure, again, that there are many good arguments in opposition to mine. But the bottom line on "The Chamber" is that I'm sorry I spent the time watching it.

If you are into thriller, watch it. But, I guarantee you that the flow of the story was not good. Script was not executed clearly and so many changes of emotions, like it was skipping time but it wasn't. Red is always changing characteristic casually, and the other character are a bit of over acting. I'm not a hater, but The Chamber isn't thrilling or something interesting. It's like written geniusly at the start and the end, but the body is not that convincing.

Besides the only woman being a complete annoyance and everyone else arguing over who's package is bigger. It was an okay movie.

There was no intent on hating on 'The Chamber' before seeing it, and actually do wish that it was a halfway decent film. Would never watch any film, television series etc. with that attitude, do find that an immature way of judging a film, and actually did like the concept. And despite how some of my reviews may sound, this is somebody who tries to be encouraging when rating and reviewing a film, while offering any necessary criticism, and hates hating on them. Even when trying to see it with an open mind, 'The Chamber' just didn't work for me. It is not a completely awful film, irredeemable films are not an awful lot, though not exactly rare, compared to the billions of films that exist as of now. From personal view (again), 'The Chamber' is also not a particularly good film at all, mind you this is agsin a very subjective opinion that is, and there is a lot that works against it that outweighs the little that works in its favour. Starting with the least bad things, the acting was serviceable, with an engaging lead performance from Johannes Kuhnke in particular. The visuals also to me weren't too bad, have seen far cheaper-looking films, the sets are limited but the photography shows some skill and atmosphere and the editing has coherence. Audio wasn't too unappealing either, it didn't sound too loud or like it was placed too predictably. On the other hand, 'The Chamber' badly suffers from a complete lack of tension and suspense, and some of it does get rather on the ridiculous side. The pace never really comes to life, so too much of the film is bland and dull. Despite the best efforts of the actors, the characters' illogical character behaviours and sketchy character developments did work against them, a shame because the actual performances were as said not bad at all. Furthermore, the story is completely flat and has no tension or suspense whatsoever, it's little more than a dreary muddle with absolutely nothing felt throughout. Pancakes have more life than the script and more natural dialogue has been found in an episode of the worst of Cartoon Network or something, not that that is much of an endorsement. In summary, weak but have seen far worse. 3/10

The dialog is captivating from start to finish. They are in the same little crevice the entire movie and I'm still on the edge of my seat. 8/10 easy. The lead dude actor is a cool sob. What a great actor.

I just watched "The Chamber" (2016) I had never heard of that movie, not even seen the trailer, so it was a gamble when I started it. The poster-image and short synopsis just made it look like it could be interesting and worthwhile. It didn't actually say much about what to expect from the movie, other than that it was about some people being trapped at the bottom of the ocean in some small, but otherwise un-defined, chamber. It didn't really give a clue as to what this chamber was. A sunken boat or ship? An alien city? Underground caves? It just said 'a small chamber'. Ok, why not, I've been pleasantly surprised before by unknown movies, so I figured it was worth a shot :) The movie begins... somebody comes walking in semi-dirty socks... on some ship of some kind... clearly not first class or anything remotely 'blinged up' (I first thought it was a fishing-boat actually, simply because of another movie I watched recently, which was an Alien-clone movie taking place on a fishing-boat starring Lance Henriksen (you know, the knife-wielding robot in Alien2 who preferred to be called 'artificial person' :) )) Anyway, it turns out it's not a fishing-boat but some kind of research-vessel... and that the guy with the semi-dirty socks speaks swedish... Hang on, I think to myself, the other day I started an unknown movie that begins with somebody speaking danish... now I start one that begins with somebody speaking swedish... deja vu or what? :) I kind of hope so at that point, because the one that began with somebody speaking danish turned out to be awesome, so how cool would it be if this movie actually repeated that. And then the movie just takes off :) It doesn't wait around to build up or lead on before it gets going. It just takes off. Just like that :) I suppose they could have made it 2 hours long and have it go at a slower pace, but the anti-procrastination of this movie actually works pretty well for its style and story. By doing it this way we (the audience) are kind of put in the same boat (pardon the pun) as the lead-character who doesn't really know what's going on. He's just being thrust into a situation he doesn't know anything about, and so are we along with him. It was a very tense 1½ hour that followed :) It's really only 4 people in the main bulk of the movie, but they are superb. I have seen the swedish actor before, but I didn't know the other 3. But they were cast exceptionally well. The tension was really palpable. No nonsense of any kind (No silly VFX or pointless jump-scares or lame senseless dialog), but just clean images and tight acting and well thought-out story-line all the way through. And the music was perfect too, really getting your heart racing and your nerves sweating :) It really felt like we (the audience) were there, like we were the 5th person along with the 4 others, being given the real deal, that our lives were really on the line with every decision made, in this movie, and not just watching it from a safe distance like some kind of theater-play. In that way the format the director chose for this film was simply brilliant. The story is very cool, but I won't say what it's about (Find out for yourself :) ) And just to cement it; the cast is crazy-good :) Their performances were A-list good. And the ending... damn... I can't really say anything without giving it away, but damn, very strong :) I recommend this movie.