47 Meters Down
Many will probably think that the shark-filled thriller “47 Meters Down” is a mere rip off, made in a hurry to cash in on the previous summer’s sleeper hit “The Shallows”. However, it’s not an exact point. Indeed, the movie was completed and ready for direct to video release in August last year before it was yanked literally one week prior to its placement into stores(but several copies actually managed to slip out into the marketplace) when another company purchased it for a theatrical release this summer presumably hoping to reap some of the same coinage as “The Shallows”.
However, the story behind the film is more intriguing than what happens in it which takes an interesting concept, a couple of fairly nifty “BOO!” moments and two likable leads and wastes them on ponderous execution and an ending so absurd that you almost can’t believe it.
Just having been abandoned by her boyfriend on the threshold of their big Mexican vacation because she is apparently too boring, Lisa (Mandy Moore) asks her fireball sister Kate (Claire Holt) to accompany her instead. While they are out partying they meet a local couple who persuade them that they would like to go with them on an excursion where they can climb into a shark cage and lower themselves down into the water so as to have a close-up view at great white sharks swimming within those waters.
It took quite some time before Lisa finally agreed but as they got to the dock she got fearful due to the boat being rickety while even more rickety still being the cage together with captain Matthew Modine himself. Sooner or Later, Kate convinced her friend that there is nothing wrong with trying this as all they are going through is diving straight inside.
There are no problems initially the sea marine life looks amazing and two sharks appear according to schedule, however their five meter dive rapidly turns crap when winching mechanism cracks and the cage drops 47 meters down to the seabed. The sisters are left with a little remaining air in their tanks as they try to figure out a way out of their situation. Unfortunately, they are just beyond radio range and cannot make contact with the surface without leaving the cage.
Kate is told that if they tried to swim straight up to the top then we would get decompression sickness or shallows disease and it could kill them. But, their air is running out, sharks still lurking around, no real assurance that there’s even a boat nearby, let alone attempting an incredibly improbable rescue so they struggle for solutions in increasingly desperate situations hoping that Lisa will find something inside her she never thought possible (though perhaps this won’t quite be enough to keep off those sharks who seem more aggressive by now).
The premises of the film taps into so many primal fears that you would expect it to be able to make its viewers squirm in their seats with ease. Yet it somehow fails to do so. Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera’s screenplay is a clunky piece of work that makes no sense at all.
The early scenes where Kate convinces Lisa not to be boring anymore and overcome her fear through getting into the cage are stupid, as are they when they wholeheartedly agree despite the illegal nature of this diving business. After reaching the ocean though, most of what these two characters say to one another is somewhat interesting, but then they keep doing ridiculous things just to increase their plight if someone has something very important with them, then he/she will drop it any time soon.
Finally we have this absurd ending which for some reason attempts to throw a twist in at the very point where it should not; admittedly, it is set up in such a way that you can more or less see it coming but this is done so terribly that there is just as good a chance that audiences may revolt against this part as much as they did with the ending of “It Comes at Night.” To put this another way the ending of “47 Meters Down” makes “The Shallows’ Ending (the only clear weak point of a strong movie) look like “Jaws”’ ending.
At least, there are several aspects about his film which aren’t quite bad either. Lisa may not have been able to come across ways through which she could begin acting all emotional; however by laving her facial expressions alone throughout she made me sympathize with everything happening around her because she was so cute. Clare Holt also acts well as Kate although she has fewer roles in comparison with others’.
His screenwriting skills were below par but he had an exceptional directorial ability when he immersed us deep into the ocean without knowing our location or who was waiting for us just around the corner. Concerning the sharks, they are depicted minimally enough to make it work until the movie ends and upon suddenly appearing out of nowhere they caused some fair sized frights. This weirdly done score by tom and andy actually weaves an extra web of suspense during the whole feature film the best thing about it is that such an effective outcome can be achieved through a simple sound track.
I was almost inclined to give “47 Meters Down” a 2.5 star rating for the majority of it it was far from “Jaws” and not even as good as “The Shallows,” which I recommend if you haven’t watched yet, but had some effective moments and its confined setting brought me some relief after those bloated wannabe blockbusters. But that ending came up and irritated me so much that I’m removing a whole star just because of it.
In other words, despite some redeeming qualities, “47 Meters Down” is ultimately a skip worth movie that will, ironically enough, probably fare better on TV and DVD where people might forgive its flaws more easily. And what I mean by this phrase is that whoever thought out the end of this film should be cut to pieces with fish bait.
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