47 Meters Down: Uncaged
(director/writer: Johannes Roberts; screenwriter: Ernest Riera; cinematographer: Mark Silk; editor: Martin Brinkler; music: tomandandy; cast: Sistine Rose Stallone (Nicole), Nia Long (Jennifer), Corinne Foxx (Sasha), Sophie Nélisse (Mia), Brianne Tju (Alexa), Brec Bassinger (Catherine), Khylin Rhambo (Carl), John Corbett (Grant); Runtime: 89; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Mark Lane/James Harris/Robert Jones; Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures; 2019)
“All the characters and the narrative are forgettable.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
The sequel thriller comes after the surprising commercial success of the original in 2017. British director-writer Johannes Roberts (“Road Kill”/”F”) and co-writer Ernest Riera tell the story of sisters whose cage dive goes wrong when a technical fault leaves them stuck in white shark-infested water, on the ocean floor.
The slight plot revolves around four teenage girls–(Sasha (Corinne Foxx, Jamie’s daughter), Nicole (Sistine Stallone, Sly’s daughter), Mia (Sophie Nélisse), and Alexa (Brianne Tju)–who make the ill-advised underwater exploration dive into an underground Mayan temple only to find themselves trapped, with sharks around them, and their oxygen quickly decreasing. They are all students at the Modine International School for Girls. Mia is the victimized step-sister of Sasha, in case you want to keep track of the bland girls, who all look the same underwater. The sibs (don’t ask me why) are raised by Grant (John Corbett), an American archaeologist, and his wife Jennifer (Nia Long).
It was shot in the U.K. and the Dominican Republic.
The simplistic plot has the girls avoiding the shark predators and trying to find a way out of a string of dangerous underwater locations. All the characters and the narrative are forgettable. The middle-aged men co-writers rev up the action to try and get things going in this dumb film. But despite its attempts to try to find a credible story and fill the audience with the necessary primal fear for this type of Jaws film, this Z-budget action pic is too poorly conceived to do much. The best one can say, is if you have low expectations it will meet them and that the film might not be as bad as it could have been. It might only work as a crowd-pleaser, as it delivers a bunch of easy scares for those he like such uninvolving films.
REVIEWED ON 8/14/2019 GRADE: C
https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/