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Plot Summary
Independent filmmaker Chris Kentis directs the dramatic thriller Open Water, based on a true story. Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are a busy married couple on an island vacation. They board a vessel called the Reef Explorer with a group of other scuba divers, traveling 15 miles out to sea. Since they are certified to dive in open waters, the couple breaks off from the group to go exploring. The Reef Explorer accidentally leaves without a proper head count, leaving them stranded in shark-infested waters. Kentis and producer wife Laura Lau did all the filming themselves in the actual ocean without extraneous special effects, while the actors wore special steel-mesh under their wetsuits in the scenes where actual sharks were involved. Open Water was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum competition.
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
72%- Reviews Counted: 191
- Fresh: 138
- Rotten: 53
- Average Rating: 6.6/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: Becomes a slow and steady descent into pure fear.
Rotten: We, the audience, shuffle out of the theater, feeling drained and punished.
Fresh: The unforgiving power of nature are all on display to amazing, and frightening, effect.
Fresh: The nagging desire to help these people underscores the involvement of the audience in this superbly told story. You can almost taste the saltwater, and the fear.
Customer Reviews
Effective, Harrowing. An Intense Ride
Despite the general public's initial reaction to its release, "OPEN WATER" is a great film. Many people expected JAWS or something along those lines. But what many people missed is that this is very much a drama as it is a taut thriller. The acting is very decent, and the main couple easily pulls off a workaholic marriage. The filmaking aspect is very clean, and well done. The film was meant to "fry your nerves to a frazzle" as said in a critic review, and it does. It does not have gore, you do not see any chewed up bodies, but the filmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau use their style to a very effective point. Overall it is a great film and it achieves a sense of great intensity that is rare in independent thrillers today.
My backside Went Numb
I sure there is a lot of people that found this suspenseful, Not I. In most horrors you get to know the people for like 15-30 mins of the movie so you feel something for them and get to care about them and whether they Survive. Not in this movie, there is no background or depth to the two characters, Its jut 2 hours wacthing 2 people sit in the water, who you know nothing about. In the whole time there is 2 close enounters and even those encounters are pretty uneventful and are done in such away that you know exactly whats happening removing any suspense what so ever. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone that wants to watch it, but lets put it this way the end is the most pointless end of a movie I've seen, albeit it is slightly an unexpected end but leaves you feeling numb, bored and not scared once. My Backside even went numb for the first and only time in a Movie :D.
Don't waste your money
Saw this in the theater. This was the worst movie ever. Worst. Ever. I hated this movie so much. Boring. No action. None. You'd have more fun cutting off your own hand.
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