47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)

Directed by: Johannes Roberts | 90 minutes | adventure, drama, horror | Actors: Sophie Nélisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju, Sistine Rose Stallone, Brec Bassinger, John Corbett, Nia Long, Axel Mansilla, Khylin Rhambo, Davi Santos

’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ is the follow-up to ’47 Meters Down’, a modest budget shark film that became an unexpected commercial success in 2017, grossing more than $60 million worldwide. In ’47 Meters Down’, a Mexican white shark cage diving expedition went horribly wrong after the cage containing two sisters became detached from the boat and sank (47 meters) into the depths. ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ has a direct connection with its predecessor only in name (presumably for commercial reasons) and as far as the director is concerned. The story stands on its own, while no reference is made to the events of the first film.

In ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’, a quartet of girls decide not to go on a regular shark-spotting tourist trip, in part because one of the girls is a favorite target of a bunch of bullies who also participate in the excursion. . Instead, they opt for an alternative adventure: an exciting dive to a sunken Mayan city. When one of the divers is startled by an innocent fish that feels threatened by the strange creatures that suddenly appear in his environment, the panicked girl knocks over a large pillar that causes the place to collapse and closes the way to the entrance of the cave system. To make matters worse, the four friends discover that the underground ruins in which they are now trapped are the hunting grounds of a number of bloodthirsty white sharks. As their oxygen supplies slowly run out, the girls must navigate an underwater labyrinth of narrow caves and tunnels in search of a way out…

Whether a film like ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ is worth watching largely depends on the extent to which you as a viewer are able to temporarily sideline your skepticism and knowledge of the real world (suspension or disbelief). After all, how is it possible, for example, that a large predatory fish such as the great white shark, an animal that needs considerable amounts of high-calorie food to fuel its massive body, can survive for years in a light-deprived environment where there are hardly any prey? Why do relative novices spontaneously dive in a place that would pose serious challenges to even experienced divers? And how do frail girls’ bodies survive a stay in the powerful jaws of an above-average great white shark without sustaining extremely serious injuries?

And yet there is quite a bit to enjoy in ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ if you can put your higher cognitive functions on the back burner for an hour and a half. The story and the dialogues are not much, but the underground, flooded cave system is quite a nice setting for a film of this type. The evocative shots of the inky water amplify the threat of the usually invisible, but indeed present sharks and make you part of the constant fear that consumes the main characters. In addition, the film contains a few surprising and well-constructed scenes that actually direct the viewer towards the edge of his seat.

One hallucinatory fragment, in which the abyssal black depth changes into a blood-red underwater hell during a shark attack, is even filmed very strongly. The ancient Mayan statues in the underwater city act as speechless witnesses, silent figures who silently watch the slaughter that takes place before their petrified eyes. It’s a pity that director Johannes Roberts sometimes garishly borrows a (better) film like ‘The Descent’ in order to effectively convey to the viewer the desperation and claustrophobic fear that the main characters feel.

What is striking is that the sharks in ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ look a bit better, more menacing and more realistic than the predatory fish that populated the first part of this franchise. They are also no ordinary white sharks, but specimens that have developed special characteristics through a secluded existence in a dark cave system. For example, the sharks are virtually blind, which is reflected in the gray, lifeless and watery eyes of the animals, but equipped with a superior sense of smell and touch. Such adaptations often occur in the real world in cave-dwelling animals that rarely, if ever, see the light of day. The eyes then become largely superfluous and become rudimentary organs with no practical function. The ending of the film is better and more original than the abominable ending of ’47 Meters Down’, but sometimes a bit too much of a good thing in terms of sillyness.

’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ is certainly not a world film. But as entertaining popcorn nonsense with a high thriller and horror content, the film is just enough. Moreover, this shark print is scarier and somewhat less nonsensical than most of its modern genre contemporaries.