47 Meters Down: Uncaged is a well-made, if completely implausible, horror flick.
2017’s 47 Meters Down was a shark thriller about two women trapped underwater with great white sharks and a rapidly depleting air supply. The sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, has absolutely nothing in common with the original other than it’s about four girls trapped underwater with great white sharks and a rapidly depleting air supply. It shares no common characters and doesn’t require any knowledge of the previous movie.
Mia (Sophie Nélisse) and Sasha (Corinne Foxx) are stepsisters living in Yucatan, Mexico. They don’t get along at all. Mia’s father, Grant (John Corbett), proposes that the two of them spend a day together to bond. They reluctantly agree.
The sisters are supposed to go on a glass-bottomed boat to see great white sharks. However, Sasha’s friends, Nicole (Sistine Stallone) and Alexa (Brianne Tju,) intercept the sisters before the boat leaves. The four girls travel to the entrance to a submerged Mayan temple. Mia’s father is actually mapping the same temple but from another entry point. Since there is scuba equipment stored at the site, the four girls decide to take a dive around the entrance of the temple.
Once inside, they are chased by a blind great white shark. The entrance to the temple collapses, trapping them inside. Since no one knows where they are, who will find them? What was supposed to be a quick dive becomes a struggle to survive.
47 Meters Down: Uncaged is a simple movie with no real ambition other than to put the characters in danger, serve up a bit of gore, and scare the audience. There is zero character development and no real story. Once the girls go diving, the entire sisters-not-getting-along storyline is completely forgotten. But, for what it is, it’s not terrible. The shark effects are effectively menacing and there is a decent amount of suspense. Claustrophobic viewers may squirm more than others as the photography highlights the closed-in surroundings.
My main gripe about shark horror movies is that they perpetuate the idea that sharks are, by nature, wantonly evil creatures. And, as such, they rarely get the facts straight about how and why sharks actually hunt for prey. That’s true of this one as well. Setting those complaints aside, though, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is a well-made, if completely implausible, horror flick.
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
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