Review of 47 Meters Down (2017) by Reel Life R — 15 Jun 2017

47 Meters Down - Weak writing takes away from an otherwise suspenseful trip back in the water. When the best parts of a movie are when the characters stop talking, it's probably not a good thing.

Since this is a shark movie, I'm contractually obligated to mention Jaws in this review. Suffice it to say, this falls well short of that mark. It does, however, surpass last summer's offering of The Shallows; a movie that ended up being a disappointment for me. While I want the movie to stand on its own, it's difficult not to have some level of comparison.

In this film the characters are put in much more dynamic situations. The director finds multiple ways to bring tension to the forefront rather than just being one-note. There are quite a few legitimate scares in it as well. Even though some moments are telegraphed, they still managed to get me. And while there isn't a strong back story, you do get more time with the characters before they're tossed into the fray.

What can't be praised are the lines these characters throw around. We're constantly being told what they are feeling, rather than being shown. "I'm frightened," "I'm embarrassed," "I'm sad." The dialogue is just flat an uninteresting. And the exposition that is presented is often completely contradicted. It always baffles me when movies create their own inconsistencies this way.

If you can get past the script, it's at least worth seeing for the imaginative ways its shot and for how well the moments of peril are presented. It won't end up on my Best of 2017 list, but it's worth a bucket of popcorn.