Mar Aberto

An excellent example of how a very high-quality survival film can be made for a low budget. The emphasis in the film is on the development of relationships in a couple thrown into the sea. Sharks appear in moments, which is not surprising for such a budget, but closer and closer each time. This is enough to understand the hopelessness of the situation. Shots with a couple in the water and parties on the shore alternate very successfully. Everyone is having fun and is not even aware of the tragedy unfolding at the same time. The actors play great, especially given the shooting conditions. An excellent film about how people find themselves helpless and defenseless on the open sea.

It really doesn't surprise me that some people don't like this film. After all to truly enjoy Open Water one must open their mind and think. In this day and age that hardly ever happens anymore. Most filmmakers just decide to blow things up and hope that it's enough to entertain their audiences. Society in general has become numb what with the plots just laid out in front of us never questioning or asking us to use our imaginations. Open Water is a film that asks its viewers to place themselves at the heart of the movie; to feel the desperation, the hopelessness and the absolute terrifying ordeal. And for a change the movie is shot in a way that allows the viewer to feel as if truly there. Is it Jaws? No and its not meant to be. Maybe that's where the confusion lays. Open Water is a suspenseful film, excellent at that. If you're someone who actually enjoys figuring out the movie for yourself instead of being told in the first five minutes this is the film for you. Score: A.

First of all congratulations to Chris Kentis for spotting this topic and writing and directing the film. Now you can tell after praising the film maker up front the rest of this review is going to be quite critical! This film unnerved me, it made me feel uncomfortable as well and that's the problem - it should have frightened the absolute living daylights out of me! Because I rate being deserted at sea in shark-infested waters right up there in the scary-stakes with being buried alive. Now I respect Mr Kentis and his collaborators decision to tell the story in a very minimalist way, I guess they considered this story was powerful enough on its own not to require a heavy hand, and I could have agreed with them pre production. But now having seen it I don't think it was. I'm not saying they needed full on John Williams score and masses of special effects but perhaps varying the camera angles a bit more would have worked better.

Most of the story is told with the camera in an elevated position looking down on the protagonists, i.e a boat! This means I am divorced from any threat or the action. Couldn't we have got down to eye level more allowing us to feel we were more apart of the story? It was our toes about be chomped off? I'm afraid in the drama stakes this movie never got anymore dramatic than the average TV docu-drama and that's a real shame for after coming up with this concept and creating a half decent script Mr Kentis has missed an opportunity to create a classic.

Uses a minimalist budget, a vast outdoor setting, a very small cast, and a narrative that meticulously builds a pervasive sense of dread without giving too much away

I guess I'm simply dense because I failed to understand why previous critics raved about this boring,boring movie and how some of them were so scared and distraught that brain numbness overwhelmed them. This fragmented ,tiresome story was just plain silly --Imagine a crew member who can't count to twenty and the feeble overused gimmick of contrasting the couples' plight with all the bustle and liveliness of natives in an outdoor shopping mall. Cut to the luckless couple , heads just bobbing along for over an hour in a monotonous sea. Exciting,no! Throw in the mandatory shark attack and your fright knows no bounds. I have this uneasy feeling that because of all the overworked hype, people feel compelled to rave about it, lest they admit (like me) to having been taken in. Simply, just an insipid travesty. Don't waste your money!