Open water - En eaux profondes

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.

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!

Hyper-busy couple, Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Kintner) finally take a break from their hectic lives to go on a scuba-diving holiday. At first, all is well. Then, their charter boat leaves without them, leaving the pair stranded in the middle of the ocean!

Small, bothersome marine life soon give way to schools of hungry sharks.

OPEN WATER, like the somewhat similar movie LONG WEEKEND, is about a bickering couple at the mercy of nature. The shark footage is very effective, while the vastness of the ocean adds a definite sense of desolation and probable doom.

This is a solid, low-budget thriller...

Open Water might be a bit too low budget for many audience members.

But this is a prime example of how budget should not hold back a brilliant concept.

This is as realistic as it comes, from the scene in the hotel room where the couple lounge around completely nude (like people do in real life!), to the anxiety and horror of being in the Open Water, alone.

This might very well be an underrated masterpiece that has spawned numerous awful sequels.