Pros: scenes with red illuminated water; tense moments waiting for the shark to appear Cons: characters; hackneyed plot; predictability; The climax of Deep Blue 2 / 47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Genre horror, thriller
Directed by Johannes Roberts
Starring Sistine Stallone (Nicole), Sophie Nelisse (Mia), Nia Long (Jennifer), Corina Fox (Sasha), John Corbett (Grant), Brec Bassinger (Katherine), Breanne Tju (Alexa), Davi Santos (Ben) and etc.
Companies The Fyzz Facility
Year of release 2019
IMBD site
The film was a sequel to the underwater horror 47 Meters Down from director Johannes Roberts, which was released in 2017. There are no old characters in the new horror, but there are sharks chasing people.
This time the plot centers on teenage sisters Mia and Sasha, who do not get along well with each other. To escape the boring excursion for tourists that their parents send them on, the sisters, in the company of two friends, escape to more beautiful and exotic places. There, the girls find diving equipment and go underwater to look at the flooded Mayan city, where archaeologists are about to arrive. Along with the sunken statues, four teenagers discover a shark that begins to hunt them.
Many films that try to replicate the idea and success of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws are doomed to fail almost from the start. This also applies to the film “Abyss Blue 2”, in which all bets are placed on the fear caused by the appearance of a bloodthirsty predator. To diversify the plot, writer-director Johannes Roberts adds another element to the film – the lack of free space in the caves, which creates claustrophobia. In this, the picture is somewhat reminiscent of the film “The Descent”, however, the dramatic intensity with secrets from the past is not added to the anxiety of imprisonment. The characters have no time to sort things out; they have only one goal – to save their lives.
Because of this, the main characters get quite a bit of time to develop. The film has a cliché opening sequence about stepsisters being polar opposites of each other. Of course, in an extreme situation they must unite, prove themselves and show what they are capable of. Next to them are two more heroines, personifying the reckless youth through whose fault they were all trapped.
Unfortunately, the actresses in this film are not interesting because of their acting, but rather because of their pedigree. The role of one of the sisters was played by Corina Fox – she is the daughter of Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx. Sylvester Stallone’s daughter, Sistine Stallone, starred in the role of the most reckless friend. She has become bait not only for sharks, but also for spectators who follow a recognizable surname. Working on the film became an acting debut for Sistine, but unfortunately, it was not the most promising one yet.
As for the film itself, on the big screens it looks like a rather mediocre summer movie for one time, entertaining the viewer with the fear of the sudden appearance of a shark. Neither the fins, nor even the sharp teeth of the shark are real – the predator’s body is entirely created using computer graphics. In murky water you can’t really see the shark, and when the drawn version of it appears in close-up, it doesn’t inspire fear.
The thriller elements work best when the shark is hiding and the heroines are panicking and trying to get out of the underwater tunnels. The only thing that Johannes Roberts does well is the scenes with the underwater lantern illuminating the water with red light, this is reminiscent of the bloody trails left behind by shark victims. The director also tries to change the situation by installing a music speaker underwater, from which the song “Somewhere In My Heart” by the Aztec Camera band plays cheerfully.
Despite the attempts to liven up the film, it still remains quite predictable. And closer to the climax, apparently in order to finally impress the viewer, the fight with the predator reaches a new level, and it looks very ridiculous.
https://youtu.be/B3a2lIMot88
Conclusion:
not the most successful film about fighting an underwater predator. Somewhere until the middle of the film, the thriller elements still work, but towards the end the struggle for life loses its believability.
