47 Meters Down: Uncaged lacks depth and strong plot
The girls in 47 Meters Down: Uncaged get ready to go on a fun vacation in some underwater caves. Photo courtesy of IMDb.
Directed by Johannes Roberts and released Aug. 16 2019, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is the sequel to the original 2017 47 Meters Down. Although the two storylines were virtually unconnected, they still held the values of cliches, jumpscares, and predictability. While Roberts directed both movies, Uncaged received a budget of 6.4 million dollars more than its prequel.
The film follows the plot of four teenage girls who go on a secret getaway to cave dive in abandoned catacombs. Unfortunately for them, there are great white sharks in the caves that have evolved to have heightened senses to make up for their lack of sight. The majority of the 90 minutes is spent in dark, maze-like tunnels following the girls attempting to save themselves from a worst-case scenario.
Spoiler Alerts!
Eventually, two out of the four girls make it out of the tunnels and into the open ocean where they encounter a tour boat chumming the water to attract the infamous sharks. After a hopeless struggle, the two girls are brought up on the boat and tended to.
Sadly, the ending was very open-ended due to unresolved character vs. character conflicts at the beginning of the film. The only real closure provided is the fact that the girls are on the boat and the sharks are in the water.
The CGI was not anything spectacular or engaging. The poorly made sharks were a frequent reminder that you were watching a movie, not experiencing a scary event along with the characters.
The scuba gear, continually changing settings, and pulsing red flashlights combine to create a confusing scenario where you can’t tell which character is which. After the first 30 minutes of the movie, you get detached from characters as they are all expendable and any of them could be replaced with little or no difference to the plot of the movie itself.
The acting, especially that of the four main teen female actresses, feels very forced, cheesy, and scripted. The plot has no direction with weak foreshadowing and missed opportunities for character development.
Off the bat, both the movie and its prequel were at a disadvantage due to their settings. Although dark, murky water with little visibility adds suspense, it doesn’t allow for visual stimuli to keep you watching and is more often than not just confusing. For these reasons, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged deserves a 3/10.
