Is this some elaborate prank?
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ringram — 15 years ago(June 28, 2010 03:01 PM)
Well, I have to say I liked the film very much. The film is so simple yet holds interest and tension throughout. The end is pure pathos. So refreshingly un-Hollywood, shows that engaging thought provoking and entertaining films can be made on the tiniest budget.
I re-watched it with my girlfriend last night, she gets bored with films very rapidly (her comments on Avatar are unprintable!), she liked this film.
Those of you who don't like it aren't wrong, you just don't like it. Likewise, those of us that do like it are not wrong either
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robsea32 — 15 years ago(July 17, 2010 07:18 AM)
** SPOILER WARNING ***
I think everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion on this I'd just like to add my own 2 cents in comparing with the aforementioned films.
I've seen Paranormal Activity, Blair Witch Project, and Open Water. I found BW more grating than scary, although it picks up some steam towards the end. The ending was pretty scary. I only saw it twice, at home on VHS when I was 18 back in 2000 or so.
I saw Paranormal Activity in the theater and frankly found it quite laughable and ludicrous. Particularly annoying was the boyfriends obsession with filming the events happening even despite the risk to their lives and the obvious harm it was causing his girlfriend. Second only to that is the lazily orchestrated plot development of "the one person that can help you is out of town for an undisclosed amount of time, so you are better off staying put until they show up despite the incredible danger, because this thing uhhh.. could follow you?" Yeah that sounds good enough, put that in the script. I think perhaps if I had any fear or belief in ghosts that maybe it would have scared me more. Perhaps if I'd seen it in my creaky old house instead of a state of the art cineplex, I would have been afraid. I doubt it though, they brought too much attention to what made it so hard to suspend my disbelief and in the process, yanked me right out of the movie.
Open Water on the other hand, is terrifying to me pretty much the whole way through. Once those initial two boats vanish off the horizon and all that can be seen is miles of ocean and the occasional shark fin a sense of dread just grows in my stomach and eats away at me for the next hour.
I left Blair Witch a little disturbed, I left Paranormal Activity wishing I had my money back, but Open Water made me feel sick as I was leaving the theater and so glad to be alive when I stepped outside into the parking lot.
In it's defense I think the acting is a big part of what makes it so effective. In BW and PA, you have people screaming hysterically all the time, which to me is extremely unrealistic. To me, it's used as a cue to tell the audience "this part is scary, because it's very loud, you should get scared now". Besides, anyone who has cried or screamed for a long time realizes that all that makes one very tired and worn down. In Open Water, these characters subconsciously realize they have limited resources that are not able to be replenished; there is no food and no water that is drinkable.
In real life, when people are faced with only a glimmer of hope, they latch onto it like in Open Water. When that glimmer starts to fade, they ignore it for as long as they can. They talk about other things anything to distract them from the elephant in the room and that elephant is the realization that death is staring you in the face and that there is nothing you can do about it there is no way to fight it because there is no enemy to fight, all you have is time, just waiting to die. I think a lot of movies would portray accepting death through teary eyed hospital bed monologues, but sometimes death doesn't strike you comfortably in bed, sometimes it gets you out in the middle of nowhere, exhausted, irritated, hungry, and hopeless. -
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Auntiemaim — 15 years ago(September 18, 2010 07:55 PM)
jbowser09, I could not agree more. The acting was the first thing that made me look at my man incredulously. A promising concept, poorly executed. SO much more could have and should have been done with this.
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Blackace — 13 years ago(March 28, 2013 05:47 PM)
@Judimex
The acting was some of the worse Ive ever seen in a movie.
That was one of the reasons it didn't work. The acting was horrendous. There was no character development that drew me into their world and made me feel for what they were going through. Seriously, but the time the shark appeared on screen, I yelling at the screen, "Eat them!! Eat them!!" I just wanted the movie to end as quickly as possible.
I knew this movies was going to suck, but my wife begged me to take her, as we usually see movies I want to see. So I had to sit through 90mins of garbage. I did see most of Open Water 2, which isn't much better, but at least there are more characters and major goal to save the life of a baby. It was a bit more interesting. -
euromarkusx — 15 years ago(December 06, 2010 12:31 PM)
What were expecting to see? X-wings? Speeding boat chases? Aliens? A romantic comedy?
The film shows 2 people who are no longer in control of their lives, and their fate is sealed even before they surface from their dive.
The film illustrates very well, the stages of human emotion, as the divers deal with their slowly eroding situation.- Bewilderment - Where is the boat?
- Denial - This can't be happening
- Reassurance - The boat will be back
- Realization The boat will not be back
- Anger - Why did THEY do this to us (boat crew)?
- Blame - Why did YOU do this to US (hurried vacation)?
- Fear - Loss of control, the unknown (the sharks closing in)
- Panic - Loss of self (sharks attack)
- Grieving - (she holds him)
- Indifference - ("he" is gone, she releases "body")
- Hopelessness - She's alone (sees sharks pull body under)
- Acceptance - Knows she's next (tons of sharks)
- Peace - All fear is gone (her empty stare)
- Empowerment - takes back control (won't let sharks kill her)
- Release - Suicide (releases BC and sinks)
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Blackace — 13 years ago(March 28, 2013 05:51 PM)
Yeah, people were suckered in to going to see it. There was some advertising for it and they kept saying how tense and on the edge you'll be when you see this movie. It had gotta a few good reviews from a bunch of nobodies and this info was said over and over again in ads and TV trailers. I knew the movie was a bomb after the first trailer.
THE REEF is actually a better film over all. Not great, but better then both Open Water films. -
Der_Schnibbler — 12 years ago(June 10, 2013 07:18 PM)
I watched this movie and I can quite certainly say it is one of the worst movies I have seen.
I guess it is, if you're a 14-year-old imbecile or a 20-something American man-boy. Real human beings will appreciate it.
"Den Gleichen Gleiches, den Ungleichen Ungleiches."