Open Water 2 is one of the best shark movies ever made! I'm serious. If you have any desire to see this movie then I recommend you do not continue to read my review because I won't be able to be completely spoiler free. The first
Open Water movie will probably never wind up on this blog because, frankly, it's boring.
Open Water 2 takes the premise of the first, triples the characters, quadruples the drama and then unfortunately removes one large element that leaves the movie exposed and vulnerable to critic attacks. By no means is this actually a "sequel"; it's just another movie with no connection to the first. Originally, it wasn't titled as a sequel, but due to its direct-to-DVD release they changed the name from, I believe, "Adrift" to "Open Water 2" in order to make more money. It was a very smart move that surprisingly I'm not upset over. I think it was ingenious. I am sure I am in the minority of viewers by saying this is a good shark movie. I completely understand why most people hate this movie for one very specific reason. But the difference between those people and myself is I immerse myself in these types of movies a lot more than they do. I live for survival type movies and I've seen every shark movie ever made. So when a movie like
Open Water 2 comes along and breaks the predictable pattern of these movies I applaud. I gave this movie a standing ovation for completely deceiving me! The greatness of this movie is only due to its after-the-fact title,
Open Water 2. It would not have succeeded with any other title in my opinion. If you have no idea what I'm talking about and wish to be completely spoiled then read on...
Synopsis: A weekend cruise aboard a luxury yacht goes horribly awry for a group of old high school friends who forget to lower the ladder before they jump into the ocean for a swim. The boat proves impossible to climb, leaving them adrift miles from shore. What started as a joyful reunion becomes a fight for survival!
People complain left and right that shark movies are all the same. So here you have a movie that is set up beautifully to be a standard shark movie. Six drunken hotties stranded in the water. Dozens of creepy underwater camera shots. Blood. Panic.
"Something just brushed my leg!" The movie keeps you on the edge of your seet waiting for the sharks to come and claim their first meal. Will it be the ditzy blonde? The minor male character whose name you never picked up on? The mother with the baby? Well...certainly not her...right?
So what makes this movie so different then? Revealing this would give away the entire movie so i'll save it for the spoiler section.
Cast:
Dan (Eric Dane) and Michelle (Cameron Richardson). Dan invites some old friends and their partners for a birthday bash on his own yacht. But it's actually not his yacht and he's playing up this millionaire persona to appear successful to his old friends. Michelle has been in his life for a whole two weeks.
Zach (Niklaus Lange) and Lauren (Ali Hillis). Zach is celebrating his 30th birthday. Lauren is an athlete and there appears to be some sort of past or present relationship between her and Zach.
Amy (Susan May Pratt) and James (Richard Speight Jr) have a baby girl named Sarah who is also on board the boat. Amy has a phobia of the water ever since her father drowned when she was a child. Bringing herself and her baby on board a yacht is terribly frightening for her.
Click here for Spoilers
First Victim: Michelle. When James hits his head and Zach gets stabbed with a knife lots of blood spreads throughout the water. Michelle gets scared of possible sharks and swims off only to drown from exhaustion.
Second Victim: Zach. He dies from a knife wound.
Third Victim: James. He dies from a serious bump on the head from hitting his head under the yacht. Possibly a skull fracture.
Presumed Victims: Lauren and Dan. Lauren decides to swim for shore and once she heads off she's never seen again. Dan may or may not be dead at the end after Amy rescues him.
Survivors: Amy and possibly Dan. (and of course Sarah the baby, who was left on the boat, survives).
The unintentional twist, which I highly appreciate and respect, is there are no sharks in this movie. The movie was marketed as a shark movie. It was partly edited as a shark movie. You expect sharks to attack and kill these people because it's like Jaws. Now it's this aspect alone which makes me love this movie. I'm not even weighing in things like acting or plot and all that jazz. As a fan of Survival movies, the unexpected twist (letdown?) of Open Water 2 is a nice breath of fresh air among all movies of the genre. That's why I like it as much as I do, and I wish people would get over the fact that there are no sharks, take a step back and appreciate the irony.
And let's face it, if there were sharks and they predictably ate people one by one wouldn't that get shot down by critics as being predictable and the same old shit again and again? This is finally something different so hats off to whoever decided to call this Open Water 2.
Dan (Eric Dane) and Michelle (Cameron Richardson). Dan invites some old friends and their partners for a birthday bash on his own yacht. But it's actually not his yacht and he's playing up this millionaire persona to appear successful to his old friends. Michelle has been in his life for a whole two weeks.
Zach (Niklaus Lange) and Lauren (Ali Hillis). Zach is celebrating his 30th birthday. Lauren is an athlete and there appears to be some sort of past or present relationship between her and Zach.
Amy (Susan May Pratt) and James (Richard Speight Jr) have a baby girl named Sarah who is also on board the boat. Amy has a phobia of the water ever since her father drowned when she was a child. Bringing herself and her baby on board a yacht is terribly frightening for her.
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