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Film: 47 Meters Down
Year: 2017
Director: Johannes Roberts
Writer: Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera
Starring: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt and Matthew Modine
Review:
This film starts showing us the bottom of the ocean. We then see something from below. It is then tipped over and we see that this is inside of a swimming pool. The person was sitting in a floating chair and they dropped their drink. It was red so it looks similar to blood in the water. We then see the person who was dumped from their seat was Mandy Moore. Her sister is the one that did it to her, played by Claire Holt. They are on vacation in Mexico. Moore states she is going back to their room to call her boyfriend.
That night though we learn the truth of this vacation, that Moore was dumped by her boyfriend. Holt recommends they go out and have a great night. The idea is to get Moore’s mind off of everything and the other part to have some fun while they are on this trip. They meet two guys, played by Yani Gellman and Santiago Segura. They have a good time. They ask if the two ladies want to swim with sharks the following day. They agree. Holt kisses the guy she is with and Moore tells hers that she isn’t ready for that. She changes her mind and lays one on him.
The next morning Moore texts her ex that she misses him. He is cordial with her, but not what she wanted. She is reluctant to go when they get to the pier. Holt states the guys probably won’t show, but they do. They see a little boat that will take them out. The captain is played by Matthew Modine. He asks if they both know how to scuba dive. Holt does, but Moore lies that she does as well.
They get out to the boat and meet the guy who works with Modine. He is played by Chris Johnson. He is kind of rude to the ladies. They start to chum the water, which attracts the sharks. They are Great Whites and are around 20 feet long. Moore panics in the bathroom of about going down, but Holt convinces her that she needs to do this. Even for the selfish reason to make her ex jealous with the pictures.
The guys go down first and come back up. They had a blast. The girls then go down next. Modine tells them some instructions and convinces Moore that she needs to calm down. He informs her she will have a blast. They are only going 5 meters down.
When they get down there, she has a blast like it was stated. They see a couple of sharks swimming around them and it is exhilarating. She panics though when the cage slips a bit. Moore wants to come up while Holt tells her to calm down. They start to bring them up and it breaks. They fall to the bottom, 47 meters down. The winch falls on top of the cage.
Holt slips out the cage and frees the opening at the top. She has to swim a few meters up to get the radio to work. Modine informs them that he is sending down Johnson with the cable to a back-up winch. The women just need to stay calm and in the cage. Holt swims back down and the sharks are close by.
Johnson never makes it though. Holt’s oxygen is getting low so Moore swims out to find him. She does, but he has been torn apart. She found him from his flashlight. She does bring the cable back to the cage. They start to be pulled up, but this one snaps. It falls back to the bottom on Moore’s leg. All Modine can do is drop extra oxygen and flares. The Coast Guard is on their way, but it will take close to an hour. They have to worry about hallucinating with changing of the tanks.
Can these women make it out of the water? Or will the sharks or running out of oxygen get them first?
I remember seeing this film being advertised as well as heard good things from some of the podcasts I listen to. Now this film actually plays on one of my greatest fears of open water and the bottom of the ocean. For me, that built a lot of the tension that had me intrigued. I thought the concept was good, that this operation isn’t the greatest and something like this could really happen. There was a great idea that was introduced and I guessed what the twist was when it started to play out. I didn’t mind it though, because it comes off very realistic. I didn’t mind how the film ended. It definitely works for me
The acting for this film was pretty good. This film is quite contained, mostly being the two women at the bottom of the ocean. I thought Moore shows a lot of fear and it was believable. I liked the call to action as well when faced with what she has to do to survive. Holt is the more adventurous, so she would do what she does in the beginning. I love the role reversal. Modine isn’t on screen much, but he is the savior type character. His voice gives them hope; they just have to survive until it can be done.
The effects in this film I know were CGI, but I could barely tell. The sharks looked so real and how they act seemed that way as well. There are some jump-scares that I felt really worked it. It made me yell out so I give them credit for that. They don’t really set you up and it just happens, which I more of a fan of. The editing of the film was good. It has a short running time, so the tension is constantly building as their oxygen continues to burn. Finally we come to score, I don’t really remember there being one. I think this works perfect, because they are underwear so it is similar to being in a vacuum. If there was music, it is subtle enough and works very well.
Now with that said I came in not expecting a lot and was surprised. This film is pretty well done. The concept is terrifying to me and I like how it plays out. The twist wasn’t that unexpected, but it worked. I liked the ending. I thought the acting was good. I’m not normally fan of CGI, but this film it was very well done. The editing of the film was tight and built tension to the ending. The score was subtle, if any, which I think works. I found this to be an above-average shark/animal attack film. I would definitely recommend giving this a viewing if you are a horror fan or not.
My Rating: 7 out of 10