People seem to either love or hate this movie. If you want action, blood, and gore, watch something else. For me this was like listening to a really good blues singer. Cathartic, and it left me feeling like it said everything I couldn't bring myself to say.

Since the trailer tells you this anyway, a somewhat dysfunctional couple (Daniel and Susan, the actors real names also) go on vacation. After a night of not enough sleep they go scuba diving and are left behind in the ocean. That's the first third of the movie. Then some ungracious dinner guests swim over to visit, but that's only their most obvious problem.

The first time I saw it, I was on the edge of my chair for half the movie, which is impressive considering there is no action, violence, villians or monsters ( I guess the REAL sharks could be monsters) and not even all that much dialogue. The second time I caught a lot of pretty interesting nuances, and the 3rd time I still said WTF at the ending.

There are things that are hard to watch in this movie. The first time he's bitten Daniel lies to Susan and says it's a leg cramp. But the 2nd time she has to tie a tourniquet on his upper leg for a bite on the calf and suddenly their best case scenario involves his losing a leg. At this point he becomes not a grown man looking to his wife/girlfriend for help but a terrified 2 year old desperate for mommy. Not at all easy to watch, especially if you've seen people completely come apart like this in real life.

There's some good photography of the ocean. And a shot of an absolutely gorgeous tropical sunset that fills you with dread since the unfortunate couple are watching it in each other's arms-in the middle of the ocean. There are also a number of brief but very powerful moments of them caring for each other which left me wondering: if they survive will they marry each other the next day? Divorce each other the next day? (the movie is unclear about things like marital status) Never speak to each other again? Will one feel one way and the other feel differently?

There is a bedroom scene early on with what is probably unneccesary nudity, which no doubt serves the purpose of making half the watchers suddenly far more interested. It also contains what I thought was the only real flaw which is that Susan is just too gorgeous to be entirely believable. The wet suits dispose of that problem for most of the movie however,a little thought to making her appearance as imperfect as her character would have been in order. However the bedroom scene itself is a very touching portrait of a couple that's been together for a long time and know each other well, and I found it oddly moving.

Some folks found the lack of back story and the lack of really "deep" dialogue to find the characters hard to care about. However for me it allowed me to identify with them and I sure did-with in minutes there were two of me there on the screen and then in the water.

I think the key to this movie is accepting that the sharks are stand ins for things like hypothermia and dehydration which are slower, less dramatic, and far more deadly. Or better yet, stand ins for reality nibbling away at Daniel and Susan's self deception till only the truth remains. Which is enough to make a horror movie out of any situation......I was left thinking that this movie was more about a couple dealing with something like the loss of a child than it was about scuba and sharks, and a friend of mine compared it to a couple spending their last days together in a nursing home.

See it with someone you love.

Curt

Actually that would be giving this movie more honor than it deserves. There's no story, no plot, and the soundtrack sucks. (Irrelevant pop songs would make a better soundtrack.) It is compared to "The Perfect Storm," but their is some development of the story and the characters, and one of the best scores from James Horner. This one is like a paragraph written by a first-grader, except the material might be a bit disturbing for them. "Two people went on a vacation. They went scuba diving. They were left behind. They died."

When I saw the that the sequel was released, I showed it too my mother and we had a good hearty laugh.

The original review for this film was attached to a release that is now unavailable, so I thought I'd resurrect it for the Widescreen Edition, since I obviously really like this movie.
Open Water combines the "Blair Witch" knack for building from banal scenes to white-knuckled horror with the eternal movie trope of shark-fear quite well. The actors are convincingly normal, trapped in an increasingly horrifying situation. I love the water, especially the sea but this movie definitely convinces me to continue to maintain a healthy fear and respect.

The ending was unexpected and haunting; it is still in my head. If you come expecting constant shocks and surprises and bloodied shark frenzy, you will be disappointed. As for me, just knowing that those were real sharks was enough. Just knowing that sharks were circling below and around me, waiting for me to die would be enough to drive me insane. So I got it.

I'm not sure I get the complaints of those who think the film-makers misrepresented themselves by basing it on a true tale. It is clearly based on Tom and Eileen Lonergan's story although obviously the film-makers departed from the tale at some point. I have heard a lot of theories about their ultimate fate, but I thought the film-makers solution for their ending was rather elegant in its simplicity.

The nightmare that one can only imagine in their mind becomes reality for a vacationing couple on an island getaway in OPEN WATER. Daniel (Daniel Travis) and Susan (Blanchard Ryan) lead hectic lives and desperately need a vacation. Their vacation goes awry (sounds a lot like my vacations) while open-water scuba diving. After frolicking with all the underwater sea creatures, their fun abruptly ends when they surface to find that their guide boat has left them. Why did it leave? Is it coming back? Will they ever make it back to the island? Daniel and Susan are cold, alone, miles from land, and now adrift in shark-infested waters. Their only support now is with each other.

OPEN WATER is based loosely on the true events surrounding the disappearance of Thomas and Eileen Lonergan, an American couple who were left behind during a dive off of the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Queensland, Australia in 1998. The error was due to the Lonergans' dive details not being entered into the boat's divemaster's log book and a possible botched head count. Over 48 hours after the couple were left behind, the crew of the Outer Edge realized their error and a search was issued with 17 aircraft, helicopters, and boats. The Lonergans were never found and many rumors of their ultimate fate have surfaced since. Talks of marriage trouble provided the theory that that they committed suicide, or a murder-suicide took place. Another scenario has the Lonergans using the dive boat as part of an elaborate hoax to fake their deaths. Most diving experts, however, believe that they died on the reef. A few weeks after they'd gone missing, some of the couple's personal dive gear washed up on a beach 75 miles from the dive site. Six months later, a weathered dive slate - used to communicate underwater - with contact information for Eileen's father and the words, ""[Mo]nday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone [who] can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 98 3pm. Please help us [come] to rescue us before we die. Help!!!"

While nobody will ever know what truly happened to the Lonergans, OPEN WATER takes a stab at one possible scenario. This is not, however, meant to explain the story of the Lonergans. It is simply a fictional tale based "loosely" on their tragic story. The location is left intentionally ambiguous and no characters are based on real people. Shot completely on digital video, OPEN WATER may be a very new experience for many watching it on the big screen. The audio is simply horrendous in parts, and much of it looks like you're watching your in-law's boring vacation video. Though, I think it's akin to watching a film with subtitles. It's a bit distracting at first, but soon you won't even notice it. For a film such as this, combined with the real sharks, it has a much more "real" feel to it. It's believable, and for the most part, I was immersed in the story and their dilemma, and could ignore the shaky cam and technical shortcomings.

It must also be said that this is not a shark movie, though it's not surprising that many are buying tickets with that in mind, seeing that Lions Gate has marketed it that way. It will end up getting people into the theater, but ultimately may backfire as audiences will feel like they were mislead. The sharks are important to the story, but really, they take a back seat to the third main character of the film, the water itself. The ocean serves as the biggest antagonist in the film. They're stuck in it, they can't drink it, it houses innumerable dangers underneath (including sharks), and they're completely at its mercy. They're going to go where its currents want to take them.

I don't think everyone will like OPEN WATER. In fact, some people will hate it. Marketing it as a great shark movie may ultimately annoy audiences after it's all said and done. Whether Lions Gate actually cares or not, who knows. While not a great film, at least it's original and a little different. It does give off a certain amount of uneasiness and helplessness, which at times can have you on the edge of your seat. And afterwards, maybe you won't feel so bad having to go back to your crappy 9 to 5 job everyday. That everyday tedium and our unsteady relationships are often taken for granted, just keep telling yourself, "At least I'm not stuck in the middle of the ocean surrounded by sharks," and your day will go much better. Now let's hope I don't slip on some bait and fall overboard next time I go deep sea fishing!

Plot: A young married couple goes on vacation. When they arrive in the Bahamas they decide to go on a scuba-diving adventure. While off diving the crew forgets them. They end up getting left out in the ocean in shark infested waters. As they wait and try to struggle to live you get to see the interactions between the characters and what they do in a life or death situation. Imagine knowing you were most likely going to die or get eaten by sharks and not be able to do anything about it. Just float and wait, Hoping someone would come find you.

This movie Looks like someone took a regular video camera and just started recording. At first I did not like the way this was filmed and the sound quality wasn't that great. During the first 20 minutes I wasn't liking it but as the movie progressed it got better and better. It's a simple story with a deeper message. A message about life and the human spirit. Overall, It was an interesting movie. 3.5 stars.