Open water review “Watch the first 12 minutes and last 20. Ignore the rest” – (5/10).
The Good
“Pretty scenery”.
“Natural environment shot well”.
“Cultural opening”.
“Underwater/ above water shot switching good”.
“Okay ending’.
“Sound effects improve”.
“Joyful music works well for opening”.
The Bad
“Basic storyline”.
“Abysmal hour of horror”.
“Poor acting”.
“No plot surprises”.
“Persistent lack of tension”.
“Lighting effects rare”.
“Scenery too consistent”.
“Barely counts as any genre”.
“Poor script”.
“Tension lacking in scary moments”.
“Not remotely entertaining till ending”.
Introduction
Open water original is a 2003 Adventure, Drama, Horror, Thriller film according to IMDb.
Storyline
The scenery is filmed in an effective way to convey natural beauty in the tropical landscape. Scenery was complemented by the therapeutic portrayal of wildlife. Local culture was showcased well. Camera shots underwater, and above water, were switched effectively. Worryingly, the above points alone, are comfortably the most enjoyable part of this “so called horror”.
The story is unfortunately a very slow burner, barely burning at all for most parts. Nothing remotely interesting occurs till 15 minutes in. Tension exists by 24 minutes in, but is quite feeble. The story isn’t entirely believable, which is only partly due to poor acting. In the last 20 minutes, everything improves ! The storyline becomes more eventful, even a little tense. Camera shots are switched. In the last 10 minutes, lighting is changed well too. No huge surprises though, with a very standard and predictable plot throughout.
Scenery isn’t changed enough, which again lets the film down against competition.
Genre
Being honest, the first half doesn’t deserve to call itself any genre.
Adventure, Drama, Horror, Thriller are billed on IMDb. Aligned to those expectations, the film has a little drama in the last 18 minutes. It isn’t remotely scary until the final half an hour; Even then, barely a horror. Both drama and horror features, are exhibited poorly. Nothing about the storyline is good enough to be thrilling, as for adventure, that should mean excitement.
It doesn’t here !!
The Genre is Horror/Drama, seldom living up to this.
Characters
Acting, okay but not dramatic or entertaining. Characters spout corny lines from opening, and don’t become any more relatable throughout. You’d feel indifferent whether they died or not. Tension in mood is poorly consistent, with moments of really serious nature, brushed off without any excitement or anticipation. There are glimmers of feeling at times. In the final minutes, the script miraculously rises from bad to adequate.
Music
There were many spritely scene-setting, opening tracks. When darker tones began, sounds were inconsistent with mood. Tracks were slowly introduced. Lack of contrast was evident in the music between traumatic, and calm scenes. Even in times of tension, after sound effects finally emerge, it still failed to instill fear in the viewer. This needs work.
The first halfs’ soundtrack, was highly disappointing.
Just before you begin tugging out your last bits of hair though, the final half an hour, brings better sound effects and more tension.
Thank God !!!
Summary
Watch the first 12 minutes and last 20. Ignore the rest.
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Tags: Creep, Creep 2, movie reviews, action movie, Drama movie, Stephanie horror movie, Cloverfield review, Overlord 1975 movie, horror movies, giant monster movies, monsters in movies, Adventure, Drama, imdb movie reviews, user reviews, reaseaorg, reasonedandseasoned, benandthegang, shin Godzilla, Godzilla, Godzilla 2016, Shinjuku, Tokyo, open water, shark attack, shark movie, romantic drama, full frontal nudity,
Sources
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374102/
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