Open Water

Well, I'm left wondering how this can be a true story when there was no one to tell it. Who reported this and decided to make a film? The film in itself is very good, but I felt it became a bit stagnant in the middle. Never the less. It was good viewing. The end was not what I expected. I am not wanting to spoil this for anyone who wants to watch it. The photography was excellent with beautiful shots of the sea and sky in all it's various weather situations. I found it tough to watch but addictive. I would give it a 9 out of 10.

The storyline was good but don't watch if you are going diving on the cheap on holiday not the film for you. A reminder that nature is bigger than all of us.

I liked a lot this most excellent and incredibly shocking film, inspired by a true story. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.1. The true storyThomas Joseph Lonergan and Eileen Cassidy Lonergan were a married couple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who were mistakenly stranded in the Coral Sea on January 25, 1998, while scuba diving with a group of divers at St. Crispin's reef off Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The boat that had transported the group to the dive site departed from the location before the Lonergans returned from their dive, with none of the vessel's crew or passengers noticing that the two had not come back aboard. The couple was never found and they are presumed to have died at sea.2. The filmThis movie DOESN'T tell the tragic story of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan and quite a lot was changed here. The heroes names are Daniel Kintner (played by Daniel Travis) and Susan Watkins (played by Blanchard Ryan) and although they are a couple they don't seem to be married - also the whole story occurs in the Caribbean rather than in the Pacific. There are also some other changes, but I will not elaborate here as it would be revealing too much...This film was made on a (tiny) budget of 130 000 (yes, one hundred thirty thousand) USD and it went to earn 55 000 000 (fifty five million) USD - and I believe every single penny was well deserved! During most of the film we see only the two main actors and they stay mostly in the water, on the open sea, which removed most of needs for any kind of set... The biggest part of the budget was I believe devoted to the location of the boats and in obtaining good quality footage of REAL sharks...The acting approach the director and the scenarist selected was minimalistic - you should not expect here ony kind of hysteria or outbursts of frenzy - and dialogs were kept under strict discipline. Heroes are supposed to act as two people who find themselves completely unexpectedly in a life-threatening situation and try to cope with it - quite reasonably and logically.The great treasure of this film is to make us really feel what it means for a mere human to struggle, virtually barehanded, against all the majestic might of the ocean. It also shows quite well the experience which a US Marine, who in 1995 went over board of USS "America" and spend two days in a similar situation, described as "going in a second from the top to the bottom of the food chain"...)))I liked this film a lot, but I must loyally warn you, that it has some disturbing moments. I watched it with my wife, my mother-in-law and my chipmunks - and for the next 24 hours they all refused to talk to me, so shocked they were... So be warned, this is TOUGH stuff. Still, let's stress it again, I liked it A LOT and considering the huge and unexpected success at the box office, clearly I wasn't the only one... A recommended viewing - but be ready for some nightmares the next night...

I have just seen this film and read the reviews thinking there would be lots of positive comments.However, I was baffled by the so many negative comments towards this film; I really don't get what this people expected from this film.It was simply enthralling.The most terrifying moment is when the couple realized that they were left adrift in the middle of the sea and probably there was no way back.IMHO many people are misinterpreting this film; it has nothing to do with sharks, or how to put up a fist fight against them. It's all about survival in the middle of nowhere, in this instance in open sea water, when all hope of a rescue has vanished.This is certainly nothing like Jaws or any other typical Hollywood production, but a real life tragedy. If the shoe was in the other foot you would understand their plight and feeling of hopelessness.Given that this movie is based on a true story, and the two main protagonists never lived to tell the tale we will never know about the real circunstances surrounding their terrible ordeal; all we can do is speculate, and that's preciselly what the producers did. Perhaps sharks played no part whatsoever in their termination, then again we will never find out now, will we?We can only imagine that whichever way they died it was a very horrible, slow and terrifying way to go. Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine. This is not just an horror movie, it's terror.Trust me, this is really a good film.But if you expect this couple to do a Jaws, then this one is definitelly not for you!