Score: See in theaters
Author: Travis Hayward
Since the seminal classic Jaws hit the silver screen in June 1975, Hollywood saw sharks as a bankable property. Entertainment Studio’s’ most recent venture, 47 Meters Down, tells the story of two sisters, Lisa and Kate, who embark on an underwater cage dive while vacationing in Mexico. They are soon fighting for their lives when their cage’s winch breaks, leaving them stranded 47 Meters below sea level in an ocean full of hungry Great White sharks.
The feature stars Mandy Moore (Tangled, This is Us) as Lisa and Claire Holt (Pretty Little Liars) as Kate. Both actresses are terrific in their roles: Moore portrays the more vulnerable sense of reason, while Holt provides quirky spunk to her role.
Also rounding out the small but talented cast are Chris J. Johnson as Javier, Yani Gellman as Louis, Santiago Segura as Benjamin, and the legendary Matthew Modine as Captain Taylor. While important, the male roles in the film aren’t in the movie much; they serve only as a plot device to get the two leads into the water.
47 Meters Down should be seen on the biggest screen to get the full feel of each shark attack. These creatures are massive beasts of nature, crafted marvelously by the folks at Outpost VFX. Mark Silk’s superb cinematography also gives us the jump-out-of-your-seat scares without resorting to the more popular “shaky cam” efforts used today.
Though the flick provides plenty of scares and thrills as the young women fight for their lives in an underwater prison, Director Johannes Roberts’ script also sports some cheesy dialogue and certain bouts of predictability. Regardless of this, the picture is a triumph in what it sets out to do – entertain an audience with predators of the ocean.
All in all, 47 Meters Down is a fun, scary callback to the thrillers of the 70s and 80s. This would be a good start for anyone who needs a fix before Shark Week.
Rating: PG-13
Director: Johannes Roberts
Screenwriters: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Starring: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine
Genre: Thriller, Action
Synopsis:
On the rebound after a devastating break-up, Lisa (Mandy Moore) is ready for adventure while on vacation in Mexico. Even still, she needs a little extra persuasion when her daring sister Kate (Claire Holt) suggests they go shark diving with some locals. Once underwater in a protective cage, Lisa and Kate catch a once-in-a-lifetime, face-to-face look at majestic Great Whites. But when their worst fears are realized, and the cage breaks away from their boat, they find themselves plummeting to the bottom of the seabed, too deep to radio for help without making themselves vulnerable to the savage sharks, their oxygen supplies rapidly dwindling. “47 Meters Down” is a terrifying tale of survival set in the domain of the ocean’s fiercest creatures.