47 Meters Down: Uncaged [Review]

47 Meters Down: Uncaged answers that age old question. How many more young women can we feed to sharks?

Whether it’s Steven Spielberg or take your pick of Exploitation filmmaker, every generation loves watching sea life tear into slender young legs. After watching the first 47 Meters Down, I was left unimpressed. However, I am in love with the idea of a Jaws style anthology of films.

Watching 4 young women learn about a hidden network of caves isn’t that far-fetched. However, finding perfect diving equipment and the means to plunge deep into an underground cave of antiquities was too far. That’s right, dear old Pops is exploring Mayan ruins. So, the girls decide to pop their head in and check out what’s going on.

Some early reviewers want to make a comparison to The Descent. Honestly, I say fight that noise. The Descent was a compelling movie about older women bonding and working as a team. This is a film about step sisters trying to work through their differences and put up with the cool sister’s friends. That is until they meet the albino shark in the Mayan ruins.

The albino shark isn’t the threat the movie wants to make it out to be. I get that having a super shark up the ante from the first film is cool. However, it’s the shark equivalent of Stephen Lang in Don’t Breathe. The albino shark can find its way around anything because most of the underwater action is dark and the girls make more noise than Kim Cattrall in Porky’s.

By the time that we get to the twist ending, you’re left sighing. The first film had more bite in its twist reveal. Even then, it still felt tacked on to give a standard creature feature a bit of tension. That being said, the film is shot amazingly. Between the tight edits and clever use of CG, you will always find yourself on the edge of your seat.

Yet, like most rollercoasters…you’ll forget the bulk of the experience an hour or so after the ride ends. It’s not the worst film out this weekend, but it pales in comparison to similar styled film Crawl. While this movie is edited like a champ, it likes the overall genre appeal of a brutal creature movie. This suffers that same feel of the first movie. It’s an amazingly shot attempt to scare teenagers into a slight modicum of entertainment.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged is in theaters now!