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OPEN WATER
Review by Michael Jacobson
Stars:
Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis
Director: Chris Kentis
Audio: Dolby Digital EX 6.1, DTS ES
6.1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Lions Gate
Features: See Review
Length: 81 Minutes
Release Date: December 28, 2004
“Water,
water, everywhere,
And
nary a drop to drink!” – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A
vacationing couple pops up after a morning of scuba diving and finds their boat
has gone, leaving them stranded in the middle of the ocean.
Not much could be more terrifying than that.
Yet
Open Water doesn’t much scare past its premise, and once you get used
to that, there’s not much left to do except wait and see how it all turns out.
Some critics have called the film the Blair Witch Project on
water, but the only true comparison between the two is the small budget each had
to work with.
Blair
Witch kept
audiences unnerved because we knew there was a menace threatening our
protagonists, but had no idea what the menace was or what it would do to them.
In Open Water, we know the menaces are sharks, and we know what
sharks will do to people. But while
the occasional fin or shadow in the water appears to keep us off balance, we
aren’t really giving in to the idea…after all, we’re pretty sure the
sharks won’t eat the divers at the 50 minute mark, otherwise there’d be no
movie left.
Susan
(Ryan) and Daniel (Travis) are a young married couple set out on a tropical
island vacation. They join a scuba
expedition group, but end up left behind because of an error in head count.
At first, they are confused, not knowing what happened.
Then they become worried when they realize they’re drifting with the
ocean’s current. And finally,
scared, when they remember they’re not the only living things out there.
It’s
an incredible premise, and I, for one, love scary movies that leave a little
something to the imagination. But I
just never got caught up in the goings on.
Director Chris Kentis filmed many of the ocean scenes at water level (the
technique Steven Spielberg perfected in Jaws), but others, he filmed
obviously from a boat with the camera pointed down at our intrepid swimmers.
I later realized that was subconsciously taking me out of the moment; the
high point of view made me think they really weren’t all THAT alone out there. That and the terrible music score of island voices suddenly
rising up out of nowhere…I kept thinking something was approaching.
There’s
only so long you can watch a couple bobbing around in the ocean before your
attention starts to wane. There is
no buildup into or resolution out of everything; the plot diagram is kind of a
flat line with little twitches in it here and there. An effort to drum up dramatic tension at the halfway point
leads to some considerably bad tripe passing for real dialogue.
Simply
put, the movie couldn’t sustain its singular idea for a full 81 minutes, and
the characters aren’t fleshed out enough to keep us emotionally invested.
Some of the technique is admirable, especially the night scene where the
screen is frequently completely black save for intermittent flashes of lightning
and the sounds of the divers getting more and more frightened.
But
the key to suspense is knowing just how long to keep the audience hanging before
delivering the payoff. Too little
time, and the fun is over before you even know it.
Too much time, and you’re no longer caring.
Video
****
No
complaints in this department…shot on digital video and transferred to film, Open
Water is a bright, colorful film rich in detail. The underwater scenes look fabulous, and shots in all levels
of light come across with clarity and integrity.
Very nicely done.
Audio
****
The
decision to use extended digital soundtracks was the right one…both Dolby
Digital and DTS 6.1 offerings keep you right in the middle of the action, with
the clear, crisp sounds of the ocean all around you, and splashes that will keep
you peering over your shoulder. Dynamic
range is strong and the subwoofer gets some workout from the boat motors and the
thunderclaps. A superb offering.
Features
****
The
disc boasts two commentary tracks…the first is from writer/director Chris
Kentis and producer Laura Lau (not just filmmaking partners, but married as
well), and the second is from actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis.
Both are enjoyable listens; it’s often the low-budget films that make
for the most interesting commentary tracks. The shoot was somewhat
perilous, and the actors were really in the ocean with real sharks, so be
prepared for an interesting tail...er, tale or two.
There
are also 7 deleted scenes, a trailer, a making-of featurette, some advice on
indie filmmaking from the Lions Gate executives, and some bonus at-sea footage.
Summary:
