Cage Dive was an enjoyable watch: it's short (80 minutes), it's an independent sequel (meaning no catch up) and it has good use of the found footage format. It has multiple effective jump scares and paces itself fairly well when the ball starts rolling.
However, the introduction felt quite long as it introduced the characters and story - nothing new to see here but it's adds to the scenario - you ultimately don't care too much about characters in a shark movie, you just want the horror aspect. Some of the story is very basic but you have 'go with it' for the sake of the situation.
The use of real life stock footage and minimal CGI means the sharks look realistic for most of the extended scenes throughout, though a bit more grisly shark footage would have been nice and the cage should have been used much more; there would have been a lot more tension in the cage and I would have loved to have seen it utilised more. The music that's teased is decent enough alongside some punchy sound FX but it could have been more bleak. Same with the acting at times, the lines could have been delivered with a lot more conviction and aggression.
You'll enjoy it if you like the mockumentary format but if you don't, you'll feel disappointed.
However, the introduction felt quite long as it introduced the characters and story - nothing new to see here but it's adds to the scenario - you ultimately don't care too much about characters in a shark movie, you just want the horror aspect. Some of the story is very basic but you have 'go with it' for the sake of the situation.
The use of real life stock footage and minimal CGI means the sharks look realistic for most of the extended scenes throughout, though a bit more grisly shark footage would have been nice and the cage should have been used much more; there would have been a lot more tension in the cage and I would have loved to have seen it utilised more. The music that's teased is decent enough alongside some punchy sound FX but it could have been more bleak. Same with the acting at times, the lines could have been delivered with a lot more conviction and aggression.
You'll enjoy it if you like the mockumentary format but if you don't, you'll feel disappointed.