47 Meters Down

Before we sit down in the theater, we know pretty much exactly what happens. Two girls go scuba diving in a shark cage and wind up a trapped in said cage 47 meters below the surface. Since they aren't experts, we know how they will react. Then sharks show up. Since they are sharks in a scary movie, we know how they will react. There is no real room for surprises.

If you expect rampant plot twists and character development, you must not see this type of movie often. It is what it is and it knows that. Despite the only real mystery being which of the girls survives, if any, or perhaps both, the movie actually manages to provide a refreshing twist.

That may sound bold to say when talking about a powerfully simple shark attack movie, but take some time to think about it. The twist is secretly ingenious and explains away many of the ghastly errors in believability.

I'm surprised to find myself defending a movie that I didn't really like all that much. But I am. It's not that movie doesn't deserve criticism. It certainly does. The acting performances earn failing grades across the board. The dialogue is laced with embarrassing over explanations and repeated lines, most of which involve warnings from the captain about the bends. Other times this takes the form of the girls obnoxiously narrating the menial tasks as they carry them out. Once or twice might have been fine, but it's tough to stomach after about the 10th time or so.

My thought on this is maybe the filmmakers knew that it was too dark to see what was going on for most of the movie, so they made the girls say aloud everything that they did. This solution makes about as much sense as going on a five-mile run after knowingly drinking spoiled milk. If one problem is easily avoidable, avoid the problem. Don't attempt a remedy that almost certainly won't help the situation.

All that said, I defend the movie because I think it executes its mission reasonably well. I shifted to the edge of my seat and felt uneasy on many occasions. The movie managed to scare the audience and it did so with fewer jump scares than expected.

Instead, the movie built to moments that would normally climax with the infamous jump scare then simply opted not to deliver one. The goal is still achieved. The moments still induce a sense of dread from the audience, but without the cheapness of frightening viewers by essentially saying "boo." I'd like to see other movies emulate this tactic.

My advice: if you are going to watch this movie, understand what you are getting into. The movie likely won't surprise and that wasn't its intention. Be reasonable with your expectations. Accept the movie's strengths and weaknesses. Empathize with how terrifying the situation would be if it were you stuck in the shark cage on the ocean floor, and don't hesitate to laugh at the movie's weaknesses.

Do those two things, and you may walk away satisfied. If you are unwilling to do that, stay out of the water.

Had a flick through the comments here and I saw a bunch of 1's from people complaining about coast guard tactics, ocean safety and even "shark behaviour". IT'S A MONSTER SURVIVAL MOVIE! Just calm down and watch it for what it is. Lame and uninteresting characters, a boat, ocean, sharks. Followed by cheap jump scares.

Sure, it's nothing new, but it holds its own.

But hey, what do I know, when I was young, my brother and I stood on a beach in Wales screaming at a dead crab for a good 5 minutes.

Me and my fiance decided to watch this film as we had watched Jaws 3 the night before. Thought it would be interesting and it was entertaining as it was one of those movies you talk over as the characters in the film proceed to not use their minds at all and make poor decision after poor decision! I am betting this film was originally going to be a direct to DVD type film, but they ended up releasing it in theaters and considering it cost only about six million to make and went on to gross 44 million I would say they made a good decision. I am glad I did not see this in theaters and rather just watched it on Netflix as it was okay to some degree, but I could not have made fun of it in the theater like I did in my fiance's living room. The movie just begs a person to yell criticisms at the two main characters!

The story has two sisters who are in Mexico living it up. Apparently, one of the sister's recently had her boyfriend break up with her so the other sister gets her to go out and party! They meet two guys who get the girls to sign up to go on a boat that looks like crap, then go into a rusty shark cage and then plunge into the waters that are filled with great whites as the idiots on the boat throw chum into the water thus sending the sharks into a feeding frenzy. What could go wrong? Well, pretty much everything as the rusty, rickety wench that holds the cage breaks, go figure, plunging the girls 47 meters down. Hey, that's the title! They are running low on oxygen and the only help they have is the captain and his crew who at least stayed and tried to help them out and just didn't pack up and forget about them. Unfortunately, the girls keep insisting on leaving the safety of the cage. I can understand it the first time, and when they needed the oxygen tank, but not when they saw the flashlight in the water. They not only have to contend with sharks, the possibility of getting the bends but poor judgement by everyone!

As I said, this film was not bad, but certainly nothing great either. It passed the time nicely as it is a rather absurd movie. For one thing, sharks generally do not try to break through shark cages and rarely go for humans to chomp on unless said person is on a surfboard because then the shark mistakes them for a seal. Here it was ridiculous how determined the sharks are to get at people! Then the whole premise is idiotic as it is clear the captain recognizes the one girl was not experienced and considering how he actually did try to help them he I am betting he would have nixed the whole thing seeing how she was behaving on deck. The ending was a bit predictable too as the captain mentioned something that one who watches a lot of movies will know will come into play otherwise no mention would have been made of it at all. Entertaining, to a degree, good, not very.

I had a great time with this one! It really succeeded where few monster movies manage to. It provided tension, scary moments and it did made me hold my breath!

Beside this year's The Shallows, we got In The Deep, which is a beautifully shot movie, good acting, nice reactions, pretty much the whole nine yards here. It was a great little movie, I'm just sad it didn't get the attention it should have. People need to know that this is not another low budget shark movie, but a damn good one!

Watch it and you will not regret. It provides a great, great atmosphere and surely enough, most of you will enjoy it.

Cheers!

47 Meters Down is a highly claustrophobic shark movie starring Mandy Moore and Matthew Modine but it's flaws are quite unique.

Telling the story of two girls who go into a shark cage in Mexico to see the great whites but fall into peril when the chain snaps and they're plunged into darkness.

Let me say that visually the movie is incredible and is one of the most claustrophobic heart pounding films I've seen in years. You feel for these ladies, the movie gets across the panic, severity and time restrictions very well and it taps into something which makes me personally feel very uncomfortable.

But, and it's a big but the movie's logistics are dumbfoundingly stupid and defy logic. What I mean by that is that nobody involved bothered doing any research into oxygen at these depths, what is done here not only isn't possible but is to moronic science fiction levels. It quite frankly insults the intelligence of the viewer.

If you can get past that (And I couldn't) it's quite a memorable little film that looks great, has passable performances (I've always liked Moore) and is fairly unique.

If they'd done some research and applied it to the film then this would have been a lot better. However if they had then this would have had to be a different film altogether to be even remotely realistic.

The Good:

Looks incredible

Sets the tone perfectly

Mandy Moore

Unique stuff

The Bad:

Offensively unrealistic