This was based on actual events that happened to a couple who were inadvertedly left behind in the middle of the ocean by their diving boat while they were on vacation. The story telling style was very realistic, it's like watching it as it was actually happening. This made it difficult for me to watch as I genuinely felt the fear and terror the couple were going through. It times I would forget this was a movie, and that these were actual footage being shown.Very well made film. The fact that it was made on a low budget was impressive. The sharks were not glorified, unlike other movies such as Jaws where they are overly aggressive. What I liked the most is that the movie doesn't resort to cheap tricks such as startling the viewer or surprising them with loud sounds or sudden attacks. In the DVD the director shows some techniques on how he got the sharks to 'cooperate', just throw out chunks of meat at them, then join them in the water with a camera to shoot the footage. The guy obviously has a lot of guts.
There were times when I got annoyed with the couple. The woman engaged in a lot of passive-aggressive behavior, while the man was kind of a wuss. But I guess this just adds to the realism of the story, these are real people after all, not superheroes. It also reminded me of why I hate vacations where you have to go somewhere and end up getting more stressed and tired. The main characters talked about this several times while they were lost in the open water, and it just brought back unpleasant memories of going to resorts or beaches and going back home exhausted.
The result is I'm left with mixed feelings. This is a good, unique flick which accomplishes its goal of capturing feelings of terror and suspense. But it left me with a bad feeling because the characters were mildly irritating, and I was upset with their decision-making, plus the fact that I don't like shark movies in general (yes, I didn't like Jaws too).
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars * * *
Very realistic, well-made, and irritating at times.
3 comments:
you couldnt be any more honest than this movie.
harmless at the beginning and then the deadly outcome. surprise! you die because other people are idiots. and the world is filled with idiots. you will hate (to hell) the person(s) responsible.
no miracles and no angels.
The movie also taught me a very valuable lesson: When in a diving boat with other people, and your lives may depend on them, for pete's sake try to at least talk to some of them so they can remind the incompetent boat organizers later that you're missing from the roll call. The yuppieness of the couple irritated me in the first half of the movie and that's probably why I didn't enjoy it as much (note: I'm biased).
let me know when you're planning to go diving, rob. magpapa-misa lang ako because you finally got out of the house and actually went somewhere! :p HAHA!
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