The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Despite being weighed down by its own silly logic and overwhelming fondness of clunky exposition, 47 Meters Down – initially titled In the Deep – is not completely void of flavour or merit. Written and directed by Johannes Roberts – see The Other Side of the Door – the script has its limitations in terms of characterisation and dialogue. However, regardless of the shortcomings, the film still manages to extract a decent amount of tension and dread, delivering just enough thrills to keep it from sinking completely into oblivion.

Sisters, Lisa (Moore) and Kate (Holt), are on a vacation together in Mexico as Lisa tries to deal with her most recent break-up. They soon end up meeting Louis (Gellman) and Benjamin (Seguara), who take the girls on an aquatic adventure of shark-spotting.

Entering the cage, the sisters are soon lowered to a safe depth of five metres. However, the winch on the boat breaks and the girls soon find themselves sinking down to the bottom of the ocean floor; 47 metres down, to be exact.

The story is simple in structure and Roberts doesn’t waste much time on the introductions and back stories and instead propels his way to the big showdown with a relatively speedy and confident pace. However, as refreshing as that may sound, a bit more characterisation and knowledge of the lead characters – who the audiences are asked to invest in – couldn’t have hurt.  Both Moore and Holt are relatively solid in their roles, but they’re not given much to do except scream, cry and panic with their dynamic falling short of credibility and warmth.

On the other hand, the movie does manage to excel on the technical front with Roberts creating an immense amount of tension and dread as soon as the movie submerges its head underwater. The sharks are not the main focus of the story – although their presence is made known through several terrifying and unexpected close ups – with most of the story centred on Lisa and Kate, and the many survival challenges that gets thrown their way, including depleting oxygen levels and lost flashlights.

Offering a sense of claustrophobia and unpredictability, 47 Meters Down is a decent survival thriller and although it doesn’t always concern itself with logic – anyone who knows a thing or two about scuba diving will probably have a lot to say about the credibility of the picture – to tell its story, it’s still a relatively decent effort. It’s no Jaws but then again, what shark film is?