Review of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) by Anaditz — 23 Feb 2023

This was a far better movie than expected -- pure popcorn all the way. Parts of the premise are pretty cliche: four attractive high school girls (of mixed ethnicity) who decide to go against parental edict and dive down to a mysterious underwater temple.

One of the girls has to be talked into going. Deadly, almost prehistoric-looking sharks arrive; people die. They become trapped within the temple and need to find a way out or they're going to die. An escape attempt fails.

More people die. And, there's one final showdown where either side could win and the other could die. The end. That hardly sounds like enough to merit my vote of 7 for this film. But the truth is, given its limitations (working budget was about $12 million, which is barely the travel expense for some big budget blockbusters), it's all executed fairly well.

Gore is nearly non existent, although there are a few body parts floating around here and there. You have one rather shocking, sad, graphic death. There's enough happening to jolt you every so often and hold your interest.

Yes, there are a few plot holes big enough to sail a shark-viewing boat through. The effects are so-so at times; you can tell shark attack footage was being reused from scene to scene, and some of the props look just like that -- props.

But the biggest thing it has going for it is the fact these four friends come off exactly as that: friends. There's no "every man for himself" mentality during this whole affair, no finger pointing as to whose fault it was for getting everyone into this mess, no arrogant, backstabbing, unlikable person adding to the danger, no one emerging as the superhero (until, perhaps, the very end).

Everyone has their moment when they're leading the group, and a moment later on when they're falling apart. In other words, everyone is human. And that's what makes this low-end film so watchable.