The movie „Open Water“ is based on a true story, where a young married couple gets left behind in the middle of the ocean after diving off the coast of the Carribbean. The main characters Susan and Daniel decide to have a vacation on a tropical island. They book a diving trip on the second day which starts at 8:30 am. Susan, Daniel and 18 other tourists are taken far out to sea by a boat. At 9:45 after the safety instructions, all of the divers except one get into the water. The one who is left behind forgot his mask therefore he can’t take part in the excursion. Shortly after, a couple surfaces because the woman has a problem with the pressure. The man who had to stay on the boat takes the woman's goggles and goes diving. The instructor doesn’t see the man going into the water and only notes that three people had returned to the ship. When the time is up every person gets back onto the boat except Susan and Daniel. As the two main actors finish their underwater tour, the group they started the day with is gone because the guide miscounted the people who returned from the deep. At first they think the boat will come back to look for them but soon they realise that they have to fight for their survival. As the movie continues you can see the couple being set on by the creatures of the unknown deep. They try to attract the attention of other ships but their hope for rescue gets shattered every time because they can‘t be seen in the open water. When the day comes to an end, Daniel is bitten by a shark. Because of his huge blood loss he doesn‘t survive the night. In addition a thunderstorm breaks and by the time the night is over Susan is surrounded by a whole group of sharks. Whilst the terror proceeds, the diving instructor on shore notices that two people are missing and a rescue team is sent out to find them...
It is not a very hard role to play but I still think the actors did a good job. You can really see and feel their fear and frustration and I assume that everyone would react in the same way. They start blaming each other for being in this kind of situation but they realise that it was the careless handling of the diving organisation.
Another aspect of the film making is the set design. The movie starts in a usual neighbourhood and goes on to a nice resort. The majority of the film takes place in the water. Because it is based on a true story the set was probably chosen at the location of where this incident actually happened. So it’s realistic and the audience can actually feel they are a part of it.
I personally don‘t think it’s such a good movie because although it's devastating what happened, it’s not such an uncommon thing. We all know what kind of dangers are out there in the great wide ocean. It may be quite interesting to see this scenario from Susan and Daniel‘s perspective but the end is predictable. If something like this happens you simply have no chance of survival. Even though you know what‘s going to happen I find it very sad to see them fight for their lives in such a helpless way. The producer prolongs the movie by letting a shark surface from underneath every now and then but I find these extras unnecessary. We should also seriously question how two people can even be left out there in the first place. We humans think that we are so powerful with our intelligence and technology but this film shows us that nature is still stronger than us. I would give this movie 5 out of 10.
I agree to your review mostly. But I think something like this is not as common as you mentioned. Yes, the sea is dangerous and yes we are weaker than nature, but normally if you are going on a touristic boat dive, you are not going with 20 people, or at least, you have like one instructor for up to 5 persons as well as the safety rules are much strikter as shown in this movie. It normally is not allowed to seperate yourself from your group. On any of these dives I joined, there was practically no chance to get lost because of these safety measures. So to me it's mostly the fault of the organisators.
Well as I already mentioned I agree with the other parts of your review.
The film is well-made and it is shocking to see this devastating experience with the eyes of Susan and Daniel because you realize that you can't do anything in this situation except waiting and hoping for help (which is kind of absurd 'cause chances are pretty low).
All in all I'd give this film 5 out of 10 points as well. It isn't a bad film to me but in some parts the dialogues appear kind of posed and the fact that the diving company isn't noticing the missing of Susan and Daniel right after the dive seems really horrible, but impossible under normal circustances. (236 words) LJ
I have to agree with LJ that it is almost impossible to get lost in the ocean because you have to stay with the group when you go diving. I can speak out of experience since I went diving once myself. There the instructor always turned around every couple meters and checked if the entire group was still with him. The film was well made but I found the filming in the first scene very disturbing. The camera angle switched every second and sometimes you couldn't really tell what they are trying to show. On the other hand I really enjoyed the solution for the scene in the night. The idea to let a lightning flash every few seconds in order to let you see something was brilliant. All in all I would give the movie 4 out of 10 points because I found the movie quite boring and the only thing keeping the suspense was a shark that was shown once in a while.
The movie „Open Water“ is based on a true story, where a young married couple gets left behind in the middle of the ocean after diving off the coast of the Carribbean.
ReplyDeleteThe main characters Susan and Daniel decide to have a vacation on a tropical island. They book a diving trip on the second day which starts at 8:30 am. Susan, Daniel and 18 other tourists are taken far out to sea by a boat. At 9:45 after the safety instructions, all of the divers except one get into the water. The one who is left behind forgot his mask therefore he can’t take part in the excursion. Shortly after, a couple surfaces because the woman has a problem with the pressure. The man who had to stay on the boat takes the woman's goggles and goes diving. The instructor doesn’t see the man going into the water and only notes that three people had returned to the ship. When the time is up every person gets back onto the boat except Susan and Daniel. As the two main actors finish their underwater tour, the group they started the day with is gone because the guide miscounted the people who returned from the deep. At first they think the boat will come back to look for them but soon they realise that they have to fight for their survival. As the movie continues you can see the couple being set on by the creatures of the unknown deep. They try to attract the attention of other ships but their hope for rescue gets shattered every time because they can‘t be seen in the open water. When the day comes to an end, Daniel is bitten by a shark. Because of his huge blood loss he doesn‘t survive the night. In addition a thunderstorm breaks and by the time the night is over Susan is surrounded by a whole group of sharks. Whilst the terror proceeds, the diving instructor on shore notices that two people are missing and a rescue team is sent out to find them...
It is not a very hard role to play but I still think the actors did a good job. You can really see and feel their fear and frustration and I assume that everyone would react in the same way. They start blaming each other for being in this kind of situation but they realise that it was the careless handling of the diving organisation.
Another aspect of the film making is the set design. The movie starts in a usual neighbourhood and goes on to a nice resort. The majority of the film takes place in the water. Because it is based on a true story the set was probably chosen at the location of where this incident actually happened. So it’s realistic and the audience can actually feel they are a part of it.
I personally don‘t think it’s such a good movie because although it's devastating what happened, it’s not such an uncommon thing. We all know what kind of dangers are out there in the great wide ocean. It may be quite interesting to see this scenario from Susan and Daniel‘s perspective but the end is predictable. If something like this happens you simply have no chance of survival. Even though you know what‘s going to happen I find it very sad to see them fight for their lives in such a helpless way. The producer prolongs the movie by letting a shark surface from underneath every now and then but I find these extras unnecessary. We should also seriously question how two people can even be left out there in the first place. We humans think that we are so powerful with our intelligence and technology but this film shows us that nature is still stronger than us. I would give this movie 5 out of 10.
(668 words)
HL
I agree to your review mostly. But I think something like this is not as common as you mentioned. Yes, the sea is dangerous and yes we are weaker than nature, but normally if you are going on a touristic boat dive, you are not going with 20 people, or at least, you have like one instructor for up to 5 persons as well as the safety rules are much strikter as shown in this movie. It normally is not allowed to seperate yourself from your group. On any of these dives I joined, there was practically no chance to get lost because of these safety measures. So to me it's mostly the fault of the organisators.
ReplyDeleteWell as I already mentioned I agree with the other parts of your review.
The film is well-made and it is shocking to see this devastating experience with the eyes of Susan and Daniel because you realize that you can't do anything in this situation except waiting and hoping for help (which is kind of absurd 'cause chances are pretty low).
All in all I'd give this film 5 out of 10 points as well. It isn't a bad film to me but in some parts the dialogues appear kind of posed and the fact that the diving company isn't noticing the missing of Susan and Daniel right after the dive seems really horrible, but impossible under normal circustances.
(236 words)
LJ
I have to agree with LJ that it is almost impossible to get lost in the ocean because you have to stay with the group when you go diving. I can speak out of experience since I went diving once myself. There the instructor always turned around every couple meters and checked if the entire group was still with him.
ReplyDeleteThe film was well made but I found the filming in the first scene very disturbing. The camera angle switched every second and sometimes you couldn't really tell what they are trying to show. On the other hand I really enjoyed the solution for the scene in the night. The idea to let a lightning flash every few seconds in order to let you see something was brilliant.
All in all I would give the movie 4 out of 10 points because I found the movie quite boring and the only thing keeping the suspense was a shark that was shown once in a while.
(166 words)
DW