Checked out the recent shark attack movie 47 Meters Down where Mandy Moore and her movie sister get in a shark cage, cage goes in the water, winch breaks, cage goes down 47 meters. The ladies have to figure out how to get out of the cage and to the surface with the threat of man-eating sharks, the bends, and their oxygen level getting in the way.
The movie has decent buzz but I found it tedious. I guess maybe if you are a SCUBA diver (or if you hang out in shark cages), maybe the movie would work better on you. But it just felt like a couple underwritten characters arguing and freaking out in a dark watery space. I did get the “feel” of all that water above them and appreciate problems like nitrogen bubbles in the brain (the bends)… but once you have that discussion a few dozen times and dumb dialog (“I have 5 minutes of air!” as she looks at the oxygen gauge that tells you the same thing), the movie runs out of smart things for the characters to do.
Plus the ending was a “have your cake and eat it too” type that reminded me of the original cut of The Descent (that’s a spoiler)… but then had a happy ending anyway. So they escaped the shark cage twice… or maybe not even once.
Anyhow, I’ve seen much worse “problems of place” type movies (e.g. trapped on a ski lift, trapped in a coffin, trapped in ATM vestibule) but I’ve seen MUCH better shark movies (not just Jaws but even The Shallows from last year). Maybe this is more a SCUBA diver horror show… either way, it’s not trash but it’s not very good either. It’s kind of ‘meh”.
Score: 66