Movie Review: 47 Meters Down

ALLIE'S TAKE: 

Confession: I am a big Mandy Moore fan.  Sure, I love “This Is Us” (doesn’t everyone?) but I also love Because I Said So and How to Deal and A Walk to Remember.   I even got unfortunate-looking Mandy Moore-copycat bangs when I was younger (note to self: curly hair and bangs don’t mix well).  So when I saw she had a new movie coming out, I dragged Bob to the only theater near us that was playing it as soon as I could.

47 Meters Down follows Moore’s character and her sister on a vacation in Mexico when they decide to go on a scuba diving expedition on a shady boat with people they barely know.  Great idea, right?  It’s obviously not a great idea and the movie doesn’t do a wonderful job of selling it—Moore’s character is a cautious, realistic one, and the only justification the movie provides for her going along with this plan is to make her ex-boyfriend jealous.  Not buying it.

If you can get over this plot hole, the movie does a fine job of creating suspense when the sisters become trapped at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by sharks.  How will they get past the sharks to the surface?  Will they run out of air before that?  Will the people they came with abandon them in the middle of the ocean?  The tension is there but there’s only so much of it, and even though the move is less than an hour and a half, it feels longer because after the initial “oh no!” moment when you realize they are trapped…not much really happens or changes.  Everyone is talking about the ending, saying there is a big twist, and I am here to tell you there is not a twist.  If you’re paying attention, the “twist” is pretty obvious.

This movie is entertaining but lacks originality.  It’s a fine summer movie to watch while cooling off in a theater, but not much more than that.

Stars: 2 out of 5

Moore fun: Any other Moore movie

"You mean this character doesn't get to sing?  But I sing in all my movies!!!"

BOB'S TAKE:

47 Meters Down is destined to be a movie that you see on TV or on a Netflix queue in a few years and struggle to remember if you saw it or not.

Plot and characterization are mere necessities on the way to shark action, and while these elements are never anything more than serviceable, they're also never offensively stupid. Director Johannes Roberts thankfully doesn't spend too long on them.

There's not a whole lot to say about the rest of the movie. It's a movie that promises to be about a couple of people in a cage in imminent shark danger, and it is exactly that. No less, and certainly, no more. It looks for a while like it's going to do something at least sort of interesting with its ending, but then it goes on a few seconds too long after what would have been a much better closing scene.

Stars: 2.5 out of 5

How Does It Compare to 47 Other Shark Films?

Better Than: Sharknado

Worse Than: Jaws