"Deep Water" Begs the Question: "What Did I Just Watch??"

 

by Terrance P. Elmore

Vic (Ben Affleck) and Melinda (Ana de Armas) Van Allen appear to be a loving happy couple. They smile at each other, laugh with one another, and at one point Melinda even reassures Vic that she loves him. About 10 minutes into the movie they go out to a big party at a friend's house. While at the party, in walks Joel, and Melinda excitedly steals him away and they head out to the poolside. This is where things start getting interesting.

Vic starts looking for Melina and finds her kissing Joel. She sees him watching and smiles, so at this point, I’m thinking they’re swingers. Boy, was I wrong. Melinda has a habit of bringing around “friends” that she’s having an affair with and flaunting it in Vic's face. He tolerates it because he doesn’t want to go through a divorce and he loves her to the point of insanity. Joel isn’t the first and he’s not the last.

Melinda plays dangerous mind games with Vic, using other men as pawns, just to see how far he will let her go and how far he will go to prove his love. It's hard to tell if Vic likes this game or if he’s a pawn himself. In the middle of it all is their young daughter, Trixie, who notices how different her mother acts when the other men are around and who also knows that her father is capable of anything.

This movie had some decent suspense and Ben Affleck’s performance was chilling, but it left me with a lot of unanswered questions. This is the second movie starring Ana de Armas that had me wondering: “What did I just watch?”. But I will say it’s better than Knock Knock!