jakepaints Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 http://movies.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/open_water/images/land_image.jpg'> http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/open_water/ Workaholic yuppie couple Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) go on a last-minute tropical diving trip together, hoping to rescue their stress-filled marriage and discover one another again - but what they find instead is abandonment, vulnerability and terror after a crowded tour boat mistakenly leaves them behind, floating in open water miles from anywhere. The couple must endure stinging jellyfish, cold, exhaustion, dehydration, hunger, sea sickness, cramps, as well as their own bickering, with only their inflatable vests and each other for support - and worst of all, more and more sharks are closing in, their initial curiosity turning to an instinct that is far more life-threateningly primal. Although 'Open Water' is loosely based on a true story, the action has been transferred from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to an anonymous Carribean locale, and writer/director Chris Kentis has changed his characters' names and stripped their backstory to its bare bones before plunging them into the deep. The dialogue may be hokey ("This is supposed to be a vacation...and boy do we need one", etc.), but the film compensates for such cliché with a narrative economy that takes Susan and Daniel from their connected-up life of cellphones and e-mail to the most extreme isolation imaginable in remarkably few steps, so that viewers are quickly reeled into identifying with their plight. The filmstock lacks the widescreen crispness that a bigger budget would have afforded, but the cheap, holiday-video look only adds to the sense of verité, without diminishing the powerful effect of seeing two lone figures engulfed by vast open waters and literally swimming with sharks - an evocative image, if ever there was one, of human desolation, so that the poetry of despair resonates deep beneath the film's rippling surface right up to the final credits. 'Open Water' is also very suspenseful, with enough tension to have you gnawing furiously at your own extremities, and nodding in uncomfortable agreement with Susan as she says "I don't know what's worse, seeing them or not seeing them". There are sharks everywhere in this film - viewed murkily underwater through Daniel's goggles, unexpectedly breaching the surface mere feet away from the hapless pair, snapping at seagulls, or, in an unforgettably horrifying image, filmed from above circling in a pack beneath Susan while she sleeps. Yet even when the sharks are not visible, the knowledge of their presence fills the film with indescribable dread - an effect taken to its very limit in a night sequence shot in total darkness occasionally punctuated by lightning that reveals hysterical humans and the odd flash of shark. The film lacked the budget to employ cheesey Jaws-style animatronics or 'Deep Blue Sea'-type CGI - but the real deal proves to be less predictable and far more frightening, making you catch your breath not just on behalf of the characters, but also of cast and crew who were in the water surrounded by the toothy predators. A harrowing film which expands the horizons of watery terror. fuck yeah this movie looks fucking awesome. personally that kind of shit has always freaked the shit out of me more than anything else, all the more reason to see it though. looks too dope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunm Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 It's because of movies like this that i have an extreme aversion to swimming in the ocean or deep lakes/rivers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 my scuba-diving co-worker is waiting to see it. Just whe nthe scuba guys got over jaws... along comes another one. yeah it's true..... We left the ocean and cant really go back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kr430n5_666 Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 http://www.kak.ru/images/archive/16/JUDITH_ZAUGG/Matrix.jpg'> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaCosaNostra Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 i wanna see this shit, looks pretty scarrry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE CORONER Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 i think itll be boring as fuck, a jaws ripoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest willy.wonka Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 i think that movie will be too stressful to watch..kinda like a more realistic and more fucked up blairwitch project who really wants to watch 2 people trying to stay alive in the water with a shark for 1hour and 45 minutes? where are the explosions and pigmees with poisonous darts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Dazzle Posted August 17, 2004 Share Posted August 17, 2004 Oh man.....I can't think of anything worse than being stranded in the middle of the ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weapon X Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Peter Benchley (sp) himself said that he regrets adding to the fear and misunderstanding people have for sharks because of his book, and subsequent movie, Jaws. I sure hope this movie doesn’t add to the stigma around those beautiful creatures. I saw the commercial for this movie, and it didn’t look too hot. I don’t give a fuck about some young, white, yuppie couple in the ocean – let them have the honour of being ripped to shreds by the sleek top predator of the Earth's final frontier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by Weapon X – let them have the honour of being ripped to shreds by the sleek top predator of the Earth's final frontier. what.... there's gonna be a polar bear? ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOOGLE? Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by Dr. Dazzle Oh man.....I can't think of anything worse than being stranded in the middle of the ocean. http://aipm.wellnesscheckpoint.com/library/aipm/health@home/gif/hemroids.jpg'> hemroids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weapon X Posted August 18, 2004 Share Posted August 18, 2004 Originally posted by <KEY3> what.... there's gonna be a polar bear? ;) I heard there was gonna be a Scuzzlebutt. http://home19.inet.tele.dk/j-ravn/personer/Scuzzlebutt.jpg'> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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