Review of 47 Meters Down (2017) by Kyle L — 02 Aug 2018

47 Meters Down is a terrifying film that managed to capture the brilliance of what made Jaws so popular while also managing to be different to 2016's The Shallows. This movie tells the story of two siblings who are spending their vacation in Mexico for a day of fun partying, upon learning from their new friends about watching sharks underwater, they decide to give it a try to make their vacation the best one yet.

But when the crane holding the cage suddenly breaks. The girls are trapped underwater with little oxygen left while being terrorized by a group of bloodthirsty monstrous sharks and they must survive until help arrives.

Shark movies have reached the ranks over the years ever since Jaws introduced this concept. With 2016's The Shallows and now 47 Meters Down, the shark Horror genre has been fully revived as filmmaker Johannes Roberts and writer Ernest Riera deliver an intense Horror film that makes you think twice about going below the surface.

This film is comparable to The Shallows and I can see why, both movies have the same basic premise (Our protagonists going on vacation in another country for a fun time that turns into a nightmare when sharks attack them) but are different in their own right.

Whereas The Shallows only has one actor and a shark plus it is shot on land with a beautiful view of the beach. 47 Meters Down features two main characters, more teeth and is the first movie completely shot underwater.

What sets it apart though is that The Shallows was more of a rogue survival Horror film, This movie is a dark claustrophobic Horror film that toys with the audiences many times filled with an original twist.

I love the underwater shots and its so gorgeous that you can see fishes and sharks from below, something so original in the history of Hollywood filmmaking. The soundtrack does a job to double the suspense and tension and makes you feel scared right when the terror starts.

There are so many scenes that are so suspenceful, packed with great build-up to maximize the terror (The terrifying sequence when the cage holding the girls suddenly breaks and falls down deep in the surface, first glimpse of the shark eating the camera, Kate nearly eaten by a twenty feet shark, the scary part where Lisa desperately tries to find a way back to the cage until a shark attacks her, Javier's brutal death, the shark trying to attack Lisa from under the rocks, the sequence where the cage falls again after the girls were almost rescued, the two girls trying to resurface as they are circled by a group of sharks, Lisa gouging a shark's eye and the finale that reveals a twist where Lisa is still trapped underwater as she is rescued by the Marine Coast) and the way the suspense and tension are handled is not overdone as we have another shark Horror film that manages to be purely entertaining in the best way plus the CGIi sharks look amazing and it almost looks as realistic as the shark in The Shallows.

Now the acting is great, the performances of the two main leads are good, Claire Holt was a better actress than Mandy Moore as she delivers a strong performance as Lisa's little sister Kate. Mandy Moore is also fine but it felt as if she was overacting in parts but her performance is decent at best while I love seeing Stranger Things actor Matthew Modine in his role as Taylor the boat man.

Director and Writer Johannes Roberts did a fantastic job with his work on this film, although I haven't seen his work on The Strangers: Prey At Night which is the sequel to the 2008 film The Strangers.

I am keen to see it now as he shows his talent on this film and he knows how to craft suspense and tension and turned the screenplay that he and Ernest Riera worked on into a powerful, masterpiece packed to the brim with well developed scares.

Overall, 47 Meters Down is a tense, scary, claustrophobic and frightening Horror movie that toys with the audiences for fun in the best and unexpected way. This film gets a 10/10. I hope 48 Meters Down can do the same thing next year in 2019.