Directed by Johannes Roberts

Starring: Sophie Nelisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju

Rated PG-13 for creature related violence and terror, some bloody images and brief rude gestures

The great Alfred Hitchcock once explained the difference between surprise and suspense. “Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor.” “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” features multiple scenes of cheap surprises, director Johannes Roberts has no knowledge on how to make a scene suspenseful. There are many instances where a scene could be suspenseful, instead Roberts goes in for the typical jump scares. The question of why suspense is not displayed in a film like this lingers throughout the film, along with other questions such “how in the world does a shark get inside a cavernous lake” or “why does this film exist?”

“47 Meters Down: Uncaged” is the sequel to the first “47 Meters Down” in which a group of teenage girls go scuba diving under a lake, in a cave, only to find a blind shark hunting the girls down. Now the girls are against time as they try to escape the shark and exit the lake. This film is marketed as a sequel to the first “47 Meters Down”, yet it has no connections to the first film. I have a feeling that this film was written under a different title but the studio forced the writer to change the title to have it connected to the successful original film.

Normally I try to find the positives in films, regardless of the quality. Unfortunately I cannot find any redeeming quality in this terrible film. The film itself is quite hilarious, but not intentionally. This film features some of the most dumbest characters I’ve seen on film. Spoiler alert, but most of the characters die in the film and they deserve it. The film does not make any of the characters sympathetic so when a character bites the dust, the audience does not care. The beginning of the film has one of the most boring title sequence put on film. I normally don’t skip or get bored of a title sequence in films, but the filmmakers put thought and care into these. Whether they feature great visuals such as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” or great music such as “The Hateful Eight” or even both, such as “Goldfinger”, a title sequence has to have one or the other to make it standout. But the title sequence is lackluster as previews the film as another dull film. It may sound like nit picking to point out the opening credits but the opening credits here are just insulting to exceptional opening credits.

After the credits, the audience sees a slow motion shot of a girl falling down the pool. The slow motion is shown constantly throughout the film and it annoys me. It adds nothing to the film and makes the editing so choppy. In regards to the editing, in the third act , our main heroes must swim back where they came from and go to the sea, where they can escape the sharks. When they group goes back swimming, we get a cool shot of the girls swimming with eerie sounds a red light flashing. But immediately the flashing stops and suddenly the group is in a whirlpool. I was so confused on how the group arrived at the current indicating that they are near the sea. How is that the group have trouble throughout the film but arrive at the edge of the sea with no issue? I have a feeling that the editor of the film cut a scene to keep the run time down. But the film is an hour and a half, so a long run time is no issue.

Other issues that hurt the film is the slow paced scenes in multiple scenes. It takes about thirty minutes before the group goes into the cave. Some of the acting leaves a bad taste as well. Nia Long plays the mother of the two characters, yet she has little emotion and acts like she is only there for a paycheck. I don’t blame her as well as her role feels more of a cameo. I’m sure it was an easy paycheck for her along with the other actors.

If “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” was featured on the SyFy channel or on Netfilx, I would have dismissed the film as a cheesy, run of your mill shark film. Instead it is a film that is shown in a theater, in which audiences have to pay about $10 to watch this. As I prepare to give this film a 1/4, I feel as that rating itself is way too lenient. “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” is poorly directed, edited, and acted film that has little to no value.

1/4