Dérive mortelle

I LOVE shark movies! Ever since I saw Jaws as a child I vowed to see every single shark movie ever made. When I saw this movie on NetFlix I was super happy, got myself a nice glass of wine, dimmed the lights and settled in for what I thought would be a shark fest of fun.

The movie starts off like most teenybopper type movies. A group of BFF's party it up and have a good old silly time together. They board their annoying arrogant friend's super yacht and have fun dancing, drinking and doing what young people do. They decide to go swimming in the ocean but being foolish and young they don't think to put the ladder down and opppps! they end up in quite the predicament.

The rest of the movie is spent listening to them whine and complain in the most annoying way. For the most part they end up doing stupid things that seem unrealistic but I can only assume this was filler since there is not much to show when you throw some people into the ocean with absolutely no other storyline other then that.

Some of the camera angles were quite scary when you are expecting a shark to come up and get his feast on. Scary underwater sounds, the darkness of the water, feet dangling treading water just taunting those hungry sharks. It would have made for a creepy suspenseful film except wait… where are the sharks?! I can't for the life of me figure out where the sharks went? Was this not a sequel? I cant imagine Harry Potter without Harry, Nightmare on Elmstreet without Freddy, what about Spiderman without Peter Parker! The only thing I can imagine was they were looking to make some quick easy money so they put a title on it that would attract.

I can forgive this if it was even remotely entertaining. As I stated above, there really isn't much you can do in 1.5 hours with a few folks dangling aimlessly in a huge ocean with nothing to do but be annoying.

Overall I wasn't that entertained. I've seen worse but I wouldn't recommend this movie to my friends. I'm still wondering where those sharks went though….

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On the whole I preferred this more that the prequel Open Water (I know Adrift was the unofficial sequel, but you know what I mean). I hated Open Water. The two protagonists were unpleasant and, for me, the film lacked the suspense and terror people would have you believe.

Adrift, however, had more potential, with more characters, albeit not much more likable, and even a baby. The first hour or so was almost edge of your seat stuff, with the true horror of their desperate situation being depicted perfectly. However, once I'd got used to the fact that they were in the water and there was little hope of them getting back aboard, I lost interest and it all became a bit tedious. Putting horribly shallow individuals in deep water (nice) with little chance of salvation results in a complete lack of viewer sympathy, which ultimately impacts the movie experience. Furthermore, a needlessly ambiguous and nonsensical ending added frustration into the mix.

The film was supposed to have been based on "true events". Yes, I'm sure it was - very, very, very loosely based. Some of the acting was nearly good enough to cover the gaping holes in the plot, but never enough to conceal the basic absurdity of it all. To the UK newspaper reviewer who allegedly said "You'll be on the edge of your seat!" I can only concede that I was - this was only because my wife had hold of the waistband of my trousers to prevent me leaving the cinema. The ending was extremely unsatisfactory and I was left feeling very sorry for the actors, whose performances are the only reason I've rated it as highly as a 5.

From the start I was glued to the screen. The acting was good and believable and the plot was tense. Okay the plot may seem a bit dumb I hear you say, after all who forgets to put the ladder on their yacht down before jumping in the ocean, but hey apparently it'a a true story.

Basically the whole film is based around these guys and girls stuck in the ocean 'cos some moron forgot to put the ladder down before they all jumped in. One by one they get bumped off by a bump on the head, a knife wound, etc etc. I found myself thinking why doesn't one of them just lend one of the other members of the team their shoulders to 'bunk them up' so to speak so they can get up on to the deck.

It does seem to have minor influence from Dead Calm, but it's a much lower budget film I'm sure. The ending is confusing as hell. Are they all dead or not? I don't think the film maker intended to confuse us viewers, more likely he got stuck for a good ending and so made something that is not clearly defined and is rather disappointing.

Not a bad film but the ending really disappoints and confuses. Your mind will be boggling for days. I would suggest watching Saw instead.

The original Open Water had a couple stranded in the high seas when they went deep sea diving, and somehow missed the boat, literally, thereby being stranded in the middle of nowhere. The formula is now repeated in Open Water 2: Adrift (just called Adrift here probably to disassociate itself from being a "sequel of sorts" movie), with the number of couples increased threefold.

But I can't judge which is better, having not watched the original. Adrift though seemed decent enough, with human nature for self-preservation portrayed so starkly on screen, it's scary. And having to bump up the number of those in trouble, allows for different views and types of people (read: caricatures at times) to be showcased. Each cast member have certain strengths, and some just have total negativity built into them, for contrast purposes.

The setup is simple and we waste no time in being introduced to our characters, almost all of whom are high school friends, and gathered together to celebrate one of their 30th birthday. They go on a weekend cruise on a luxurious yacht, and it's party, party, party, enjoying the finer things in life. Until they decide to go swimming in the sea, did they realize that hey, did someone lower the ladder on board? Otherwise, how are they going to get back to the deck? It's down to the adage of looking before you leap, and that danger lurks when you're enjoying yourself so much, that common sense, precautions and safety get thrown in the wind.

And when the severity of the problem surfaces, what do you do? Are you the leader, the thinker, the whiner or the quitter? When everything is fine and dandy, everyone knows how to enjoy to the max. But when there's an issue at hand, do you begin to point your finger at everyone else, or help to think of a solution? And when all seems lost, do you give up, or try, try again? The characters partake in exhibiting some of these traits at different points, and with time running out, and dehydration, paranoia and hysteria slowing creeping in, you'd wonder how long they'll last.

It's human nature to instinctively try and survive, and watching the characters on screen do just that in spite of impossible odds, just makes your heart pound faster as you think - what would you do if you're caught in the same situation? Would you bitch slap the complainer? Would you follow instructions to a T? Would you give ideas and shut up when it doesn't work? And when all seems lost, what would you do?

Supposedly based on true events, this story might have its plot holes at certain times when you think, hey they should have done this or that, but I'd suggest to hold onto your train of thoughts, until a key revelation is made, to which you may nod in agreement why it happened the way it did, and that shake in disbelief when you think that when it comes to life and death, material things should be sacrificed first, and facing the music is just part of the inevitable consequence.