I’d missed this in theaters. It was on my list, but not a priority. And I think it just ended up being one of those times where I preferred to do other things than squeeze in every movie. I didn’t need to see it. So I got it with that stack of cheap movies as soon as lockdown started. I was taking my time with them at first, so there was no rush to get to it. Then the Saw debacle happened, and I implemented the positivity rule. This and a couple others got stuck in limbo, waiting in the queue until my spirits were livened up. I relaxed the rule the following week mostly so I could get thru them, but also because the positive pile was dwindling and the non-positive pile was rising faster. It’s a short one, so I was able to squeeze it in late on a non-school night when my other movies for the night were done quicker than expected.
Story is pretty straightfoward, which is prolly why I thought it was skippable in theaters. Two touristy American girls are on some nice beach vacation somewhere and they’re talked into going on a shark tour. They’re taken on a rinky little boat into the middle of the ocean, given scuba gear, and lowered a few meters into the water in a rusty old shark cage. The cable holding the cage snaps, and they plunge from their expected 5 meter depth down to 47 meters (oh there’s the title!) in shark infested water and no clear and safe way to the surface. Fun!
My concern was how were they gonna fill out a full 90ish minutes? Sure extend the intro maybe longer than needed, but once they’re in the cage, then what? Turns out, there’s a lot that can go wrong at the bottom of the ocean. It made for a tense and satisfying film, if a little thin. But sometimes thin is fine, esp when you’re pushing bedtime and your tired little mind can only handle so much.
I liked our leading ladies, Claire Holt and especially Mandy Moore. They had enough personality to keep you interested in the characters and their welfare. Last thing you want in a movie like this is to be rooting for the sharks. I don’t regret skipping it in the theaters because it ended up being just right for a quiet night at home.