47 Meters Down Uncaged Movie Review: After 2017's sleeper hit, 47 Meters Down that sucked the audiences into the gripping story of two sisters stuck in a cage at the ocean floor being terrorised by sharks, it's sequel 47 Meters Down Uncaged is more like an unhinged rather than 'uncaged' survival thriller. The success of franchise films is never guaranteed and in this case, serving the old tropes as a dumbed-down version of the prequel surely doesn't work. 47 Meters Down Uncaged takes a weak start with some high-school drama that seems unnecessary. The setup before we reach the actual thrill of facing some sharks is far too lazy and delayed. Corinne Foxx Says Shooting Underwater for 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Was 'Very Uncomfortable'.

Just like its prequel, the film's plot is set around two sisters, only this time, its step-sisters who don't particularly get along. Sasha (Corinne Fox) and Mia (Sophie Nelisse) sign up for a hellish adventure when their friends Alexa (Brianne Tju) and Nicole (Sistine Stallone) plan an impromptu cave dive in a secret cave in the Yucatán. After stumbling upon some diving gear that for no reason at all has been left behind by some mariners, the girls decide to explore the Mayan city ruins laying underneath the waters. Even though this build-up is highly uninspiring, I simply couldn't get over the fact that the girls decide to go cave diving without fins! All hell breaks loose when one of the columns from the ancient city underneath comes thrashing down, sealing off the exit for the girls and soon enter the great white sharks.

While the protagonists of the film seem fairly uninteresting,  we await to see the monster, the man-eater, the great white sharks and unfortunately what we get is a type of shark that has evolved in the darkness without eyesight but with other heightened senses. Yes, that description fits for the Basilisk in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after the phoenix gouges its eyes. This comparison should be enough to tell you that our great white sharks are mellowed down to a level that is kid-friendly.

In the meantime, the banter between the four girls exploring the City of the Dead keeps getting worse as they talk about their perfect 'asses'. One of the most interesting thing in the script that stood out for me though is the fact that co-screenwriter Ernest Rieria and Johannes Roberts don't bother to make the male characters in the film as the 'damsel-saving' types. They are the first ones to get chewed off, thus leaving the girls to fight with their fate on their own for survival.  Then men in the film, Sasha and Mia's marine engineer father (John Corbett) and his research assistants are the first few shark baits. The shark attacks are too predictable and the CGI creatures look far too less beastly to scare the hell out of us. Luckily,  a chewed off floating head did manage to creep me out for a second. Director Johannes Roberts Says His Upcoming Film 47 Meters Down Uncaged is 'Means Girls With Sharks'.

There is a constant effort from director, Johannes Roberts to create a claustrophobic environment as his camera pans into tight spaces of the caves and it works but only in a few scenes. This becomes a problem mainly because, there's already a long wait before we see all the chomping and blood and till then, I would have been happy if  I had felt at least a little queasy with all the tension. That being said, I have to give credits to Roberts for mounting a film that is shot over 90% underwater at a low-budget and with a quality that is really impressive. Mark Silk’s abstract cinematography does manage to keep us in the zone despite the poor dialogue and helps the film from becoming a snooze-fest. David Sadler-Coppard's visual effects team too does a fine job with the haunted ruins and as the girls wander around these, the eerieness of it all does get to you combined with the background score. We certainly do wish though had the film maintained this supernatural vibe yet managed to make those sharks look menacing enough to make it into a slasher affair worth relishing.

It almost seems shocking to find out that two of the actresses in this film are daughters of world-famous actors Jamie Foxx and Sylvester Stallone, especially since there has been absolutely no talk about this. Compare that to India and by now, the two girls would have already been declared superstars and mind you, this film would have been a big-budget venture. The film rarely lets any of the four actresses shine and when they are underwater, it almost gets too confusing to even recognise them. Given her performance in the film's most dramatic and silliest climax though Sophie Nelisse may be the only one who stands out.

Final Thoughts

With a thin script and an even thinner innovation, Johannes Roberts' sequel in the 47 Meters Down series comes across as a sloppy shark affair that only manages to get a few jump scares right. There's not enough claustrophobia in this cave-diving experience to leave us short of breath. The film plays out in a highly predictable manner and you can almost tell the sequence of deaths that lie ahead. The survival thriller genre has been replete with films like this one but with a higher popcorn entertainment quality and Alexandre Aja's crocodile horror Crawl is proof of that. If you're looking for some slasher fun with sharks, this is not your pick. If you want to catch a permissible for children shark attack kind of film, 47 Meters Down Uncaged could leave less scared and more bored.

2 out of 5:

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 30, 2019 12:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).