Anyone expecting a low budget version of Jaws may well be disappointed with this film, as the relatively low rating on the IMDb suggests. Rather than being a gory B-Movie style monster film, this film is almost completely a psychological thriller - a wise choice given the budget constraints and absence of special effects.
Many people here have criticised the film for taking way too much time to get anywhere near the central premise of the film - two divers left stranded in the ocean by their tour boat due to a head-count mistake. Yes, it's boring and mundane - but that's the point. You can't create the sense of an ordinary couple by having them do or say extraordinary things - it HAS to be mundane. Also I found it interesting that they weren't even a particularly likable couple - Susan being one of those insufferable workaholics who juggles business conversations between phones, one call being from her husband just outside the house, in their shiny Lexus SUV. In that sadistic, horror-film kind of way, you just know their comfortable, affluent lives are soon going to be shattered.
Once the couple find themselves abandoned, their sense of feeling a deep irrational fear whilst keeping a superficial, positive spirit is palpable. It really does trigger off nightmarish thoughts - just what would you do or could you do in that situation?! Teasing glimpses of passing cruisers and light airplanes further strengthen the horrible, ironic fact that they are probably surrounded by lots of similar boats, and the shore itself can't be that far away, but they are powerless to be noticed. One brief sequence shows life carrying on oblivious on the shore, as revellers drink and dance. As the hours pass by the couples relationship goes through a variety of believable stages - from the initial, optimistic belief that the boat is sure to return for them through to the first feelings of cold and hunger, than anger and blame at each other for what has happened.
The first few shark sightings are teasingly quick, and anyone who knows how sensitive sharks are to blood in the water will cringe when a character's leg is cut. Realism remains the key here, so there are no bloodthirsty Great Whites here, just an expanding pack of smaller sharks that are merely inquisitive at first.
The performances all seem very natural, apart from some fairly clunky lines of dialogue and the nude scene seems gratuitous, but hints at fractures in the couples relationship which widen during their ordeal. The plausibility of the film, based on true events, revolves around the central mistake which leads to the couples abandonment and it's presented here as an incompetent, yet genuine oversight.
Unfortunately, despite the teasing possibility of a successful rescue mission the film has no Hollywood ending - despite disliking the characters I was rooting for their safety, but the downbeat ending stays true to the films basis in real life. Susan's final decision is moving and gloomy, yet somehow understandable. Not as entertaining as you might expect, (Jaws is still king of the shark films) but worth a look if you like vicariously confronting a few human primal fears.
Many people here have criticised the film for taking way too much time to get anywhere near the central premise of the film - two divers left stranded in the ocean by their tour boat due to a head-count mistake. Yes, it's boring and mundane - but that's the point. You can't create the sense of an ordinary couple by having them do or say extraordinary things - it HAS to be mundane. Also I found it interesting that they weren't even a particularly likable couple - Susan being one of those insufferable workaholics who juggles business conversations between phones, one call being from her husband just outside the house, in their shiny Lexus SUV. In that sadistic, horror-film kind of way, you just know their comfortable, affluent lives are soon going to be shattered.
Once the couple find themselves abandoned, their sense of feeling a deep irrational fear whilst keeping a superficial, positive spirit is palpable. It really does trigger off nightmarish thoughts - just what would you do or could you do in that situation?! Teasing glimpses of passing cruisers and light airplanes further strengthen the horrible, ironic fact that they are probably surrounded by lots of similar boats, and the shore itself can't be that far away, but they are powerless to be noticed. One brief sequence shows life carrying on oblivious on the shore, as revellers drink and dance. As the hours pass by the couples relationship goes through a variety of believable stages - from the initial, optimistic belief that the boat is sure to return for them through to the first feelings of cold and hunger, than anger and blame at each other for what has happened.
The first few shark sightings are teasingly quick, and anyone who knows how sensitive sharks are to blood in the water will cringe when a character's leg is cut. Realism remains the key here, so there are no bloodthirsty Great Whites here, just an expanding pack of smaller sharks that are merely inquisitive at first.
The performances all seem very natural, apart from some fairly clunky lines of dialogue and the nude scene seems gratuitous, but hints at fractures in the couples relationship which widen during their ordeal. The plausibility of the film, based on true events, revolves around the central mistake which leads to the couples abandonment and it's presented here as an incompetent, yet genuine oversight.
Unfortunately, despite the teasing possibility of a successful rescue mission the film has no Hollywood ending - despite disliking the characters I was rooting for their safety, but the downbeat ending stays true to the films basis in real life. Susan's final decision is moving and gloomy, yet somehow understandable. Not as entertaining as you might expect, (Jaws is still king of the shark films) but worth a look if you like vicariously confronting a few human primal fears.