The Dive is a perfectly alright “trapped in an unlikely situation” survival thriller. The kind of movie that sticks its protagonists on the top of a tower, in a shark cage, or buried underground. I have anxiety about these films… not because I’m claustrophobic, acrophobic, or galeophobic but because I worry they won’t find enough interesting things for the characters to do.

The Dive at least does that much… the predicament in this case is two sisters are diving in a remote location when one gets pinned under a rock. The other has to free her with oxygen levels running low.

The film does the smart thing and follows the free sister to the surface so she can run around on land. This saves them from being trapped underwater the whole time, running out of ideas and tossing in a shark or an eel or a Creature from the Black Lagoon.

The survival decisions were pretty good. Enough struggle to make the audience wonder what we’d do in similar circumstances. Like a lot of these movies, they elevate solutions only to slam the door hard. It can be frustrating but that’s the kind of movie we signed up for. Probably could have done with a little less fiddling with air valves though… but divers might appreciate the details. 

And yet the film still struggles to fill its runtime. It introduces random lyrical moments that I’m mixed on… they are introspective and even a little artsy but they also feel like wheel spinning. Something to fill the time.

The end of the film was a whole lot of yada yada though. It made the film feel rushed suddenly. All this time spent ascending and descending and running around on dry land and then it kind of skips to the end? Not very satisfying.

The flick does enough to moderately entertain and then it ends. It’s better than some of the other survival films… though its a little less ambitious than others. Not a bad ninety minutes.

Score: 78