Brief Story Line
Five friends that consisted of Sara (Kathryn Newton - Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come, Freaky etc) and her dominant best friend Max (Lana Condor - Pretty Lethal, Deadly Class TV series etc) with her boyfriend James (Nico Hiraga - Moxie, The Power TV series etc) together with Adrienne (Tommi Rose - Sweet Magnolias TV series etc) & her boyfriend Greg (Gavin Casalegno - The Summer I Turned Pretty TV series, Queen of the Ring etc) wanted to experience one last adventure before they went with life after college. They decided to go to Thailand and went on an under water tour in the remote caves called the Devil's Mouth with local tour guide named Wat (Tayme Thapthimthong - The White Lotus season 3 etc).
What started as an enjoyable trip suddenly became dangerous when the group encountered a shark that was running havoc. Now they had to find ways to escape from the caves to safety.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
Movies about sharks had been made so many times in the past to varying degree of success in term of critical and Box Office performance. This one though was not one of those that was well received as I noticed it has pretty low rating and audience comments were not positive. It was a bit surprising to me cause I myself found it not as bad as people's views and felt it was still interesting enough. Sure it will not win any awards but its intensity was quite consistent till almost the end which was exactly what I was hoping for in films with such premise.
After a rather boring first half hour, the film started to become suspenseful obviously when the shark appeared. One thing that I thought could have been better was the lighting cause a lot of times I could not really see clearly the shark. I understand it was set in the underwater caves but surely they could make it brighter to give a stronger impact. Perhaps watching it in the cinema would be better? In any case despite the not so clearly seen sharks at times, my wife caught a glimpse just when it appeared which gave her a bit of a shock and immediately turned her back on to her own Ipad to watch her favorite drama.
In term of story this one was very simple, just about a group of regular twenty something friends going on adventure who unexpectedly had to survive shark attack. The people were not exactly the brightest and likable but that's not the main point for me. The movie was written by Aja Gabel and Myung Joh Wesner back in 2019 and was one of those Black List. Ultimately some producers who were interested in making this movie finally did something and appointed Jeff Wadlow (The Curse of Bridge Hollow, Fantasy Island etc) to direct. Not sure though why it was not released in cinemas but went straight to streaming.
The cast did decent job to my opinion regardless of the way their characters were written. In fact their dedication should be applauded cause I read they did a lot of underwater scenes themselves and had some intensive training for this purpose. The movie itself had a duration of 104 minutes without any mid or post end credit scenes. During the closing credits, I noticed a lot of Thai names as part of the crew which was a step to be appreciated as they used a lot of locals in the production. In the end this is an enjoyable enough shark survival thriller movie in confined space. It might not have the best dramatic moment but the intensity was pretty well maintained till the end and I thought the ending was satisfying. Despite its sometimes too dark scenes, the sound effects were quite good and provided the necessary result. So if you are OK with such attributes, I think you would still find this film worth a try. But if your preference is high quality survival drama or nonstop shark action movie, then this would not be to your liking. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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