Review: 47 Meters Down (2017)

Directed by: Johannes Roberts
Written by: Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera
Starring: Mandy Moore and Claire Holt

I went into 47 Meters Down with low expectations. I wanted some turn-off-your-brain entertainment and saw that this was probably gonna be a lackluster entry into the oversaturated, yet completely underwhelming 'shitty shark' genre. In some respects, this film is a pleasant surprise, but in others it doesn't deviate much at all. The final result is mediocre. It's sometimes quite thrilling, but often leaves you sighing at its contrivances. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Two sisters are on vacation in Mexico. Lisa has just broken up with her boyfriend, so Kate suggests they go cage-diving with sharks to bring some excitement to an unhappy situation. Something however goes terribly wrong. After the cable breaks, the two women plummet 47 meters into the depths and are near-unable to communicate with the boat above. They're now fighting for survival as they're surrounded by great white sharks and running out of oxygen.

I have somewhat of a phobia of sharks, but I have an even more considerable phobia of open water. I don't like the feeling of being surrounded by an immense open space and not being aware of what's in it. The film capitalizes very well on these fears through its atmosphere. The murkiness of the deep water creates feelings of paranoia and confusion. It's a little disappointing that with this established the film then resorts to unnecessary jump scares. It transforms a slow-building sense of dread into an abrasive shock.

While 47 Meters Down performs decently in the area of visuals and using that to create atmosphere, it falls short in writing in that it feels artificial and shallow. On character, Lisa and Kate are stereotypes seen in 1000 movies before this. Lisa is an inhibited damsel-in-distress carrying a lot of anxiety, and this gives Kate the role of the encouraging friend. Once submerged, these two stereotypes basically become indistinct from one another. The other weakness is the writing is too much happens by pure convenience. The cable snaps and cage sinks for convenience, the sharks disappear at the right time for convenience, the film defies some of the very science it claims for convenience. Finally, the ending rescues its lead through little action on her own part. There's a twist that actually diminishes what could have been a decent ending.

47 Meters Down is suprisingly better than I expected it to be, but I don't think that necessarily makes it a good film. It doesn't capitalize on what, in my opinion, is an excellent premise and what it does accomplish in playing on our fears it loses to bad character and story development. Acceptable, but you can spend your time better.

My Rating: 5.5/10