October 07, 2004
Open Water
We dollared this one last night. Crowd review: every single person in the audience talked at the beginning of the movie except for us. One couple was having an argument until I told them to "Sh!" But I suppose it's not so bad that people talked in the beginning, because the establishment of this story was the movie's weakest point.
Open Water opens with the two main characters leaving their busy lives for a much-needed vacation. The start included some boring phone calls, over-emphasized scenes of them checking their email and discussing how busy they worked at home (and thus REALLY needed this vacation), and a scene in which guy wants sex and girl's not in the mood. Most of this felt very college-movie-like, especially since it was all shot digitally. As they head out one fateful morning to go diving, we watch a cumbersome portrayal of how every diver jumps into the water and then the boat leader manages to count the number of divers incorrectly when all of them return from their swim.
The couple surfaces from their pleasant dive, and this is when the movie starts to work. (I almost felt as if the writer or director simply didn't care about the establishing story, and thus it lacked while the actual exciting moments worked well.) At first, they discover the boat is gone, then decide to stay afloat. Slowly but surely, everything goes wrong: dramamine wears out, jellyfish start stinging, and sharks wonder about who's sitting around in their territory...
I love how the couple goes through phases: protection of each other, fighting with each other, loving each other, panicking, and falling into despair.
What I liked about this movie was that it felt natural. The characters weren't perfect, and that's what I liked about them. Their interaction with each other and their reactions to their surroundings seemed real, almost like watching a private documentary of the physical and emotional demise of two people stranded in the middle of the ocean.
I felt a fear and care for them as they faced all of their challenges. The worst is a thunderstorm at night, during which the audience can only see the action as lightning flashes, while sharks swim right around the couple. Freaky stuff.
I would say that the movie picked up once the real story began, and from there, I enjoyed it. I could possibly say that some moments are slow, but then again, it's an accurate portrayal of how much time they spent helplessly floating around and waiting for help.
Dollar it. Rent it. I thought it was worth it.
Posted by wendytime at October 7, 2004 01:29 PM | TrackBackBy the way, this is based on a true story, which contains even more details to piss you off: like the boat guy not even DOING a head-count and basically both people dying being eaten by sharks (not confirmed because the bodies were never found).
Posted by: jeri on October 7, 2004 01:49 PMMy mom saw this movie and told me it was stupid and boring, and I thought she had a good point as for why... how do they even know what happened if the couple died? How do we know they ever even surfaced? Maybe they got eaten by sharks down below and that's why they never got back on the boat.
Of course I only see about 5 movies a year now, so this just won't be one of them.
They found parts of wetsuits, without any people in them, and they were torn as if bitten. Their gear was found all over the place. Everything I read about points to the fact that they did surface and suffered a horrible death.
Posted by: jeri on October 8, 2004 07:50 AMI just scratched scuba diving off my list of things to do someday.
Posted by: Jonathan on October 8, 2004 03:16 PM