Calling the movie “Uncaged” is both a misnomer and a completely accurate description. While yes, the people in the movie are in fact outside of a cage, there was never a cage for them to be inside of in the first place. This movie might as well have been called 47 Meters Down: This Is Nothing Like the First Movie. Titles aside, here is a 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Movie Review courtesy of Things I Fear: Uncaged.
The cast of Mean Girls are at it again but his time they’re in shark invested waters! After a completely pointless character introduction and backstory (seriously. They could have cut 90% of this with no impact on the plot), we are underway with a couple of spelunking girls eager to avoid what would have been a pretty cool shark watching exhibition. As apparent first-time scuba experts, the girls grab their conveniently placed scuba gear and descend into an undiscovered cavern. The girls only know about the cave because one of them has an implied healthy relationship with a member of another girl’s father’s exploration team. Of course, this plot development only occurs after a gratuitous scene of slo-mo diving and splashing around in clear waters. Evidently, these movie writers learned something from watching Piranha DD. Must have been from all those Oscars they won.
The girls are now underwater and possess the ability to speak in crystal-clear English despite a breathing apparatus obstructing their mouths. They are also able to hear each other despite a breathing apparatus obstructing their ears. I assume the girls learned telepathy during their intensive scuba classes pre-movie and just added the words for our benefit during editing. The breaking and entering quickly devolves to destruction priceless property and ultimately ends in being eaten by sharks. More on that soon.
After a couple of minor characters are introduced literally only to be eaten seconds later, we are back down to the original cast. Those girls are then menaced by sharks until they too are eaten and/or attempted to be eaten. Have I mentioned the sharks are blind yet? What about how it makes no sense they could exist at all? Or how the sharks somehow see humans as a threat despite being born into isolation within the darkened depths of an undiscovered cave? Did I not mention that? Ah, don’t worry about it then. I’ll just hope you don’t notice or act like it would have no impact on the plot of this 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Movie Review.
The girls are using conveniently designed oxygen tanks which fly through the first 95% only to have the remaining 5% last an eternity. The movie is full of some close encounters of the shark-related kind, but it all works out in the end. The big plot twist at the end is equal parts gimmicky and ironic. It definitely could have played out differently. Then again, the whole movie could have been been different too. It could have been good. That’s one way the movie could have been different. The sequel steals a few of the iconic scenes from the first one but somehow does it much, much worse.
47 Meters Down: Uncaged Final Thoughts
In the first movie, there were a lot of “edge-of-your-seat” moments and a lot of “oh dang” scenes. There was also a lot of “plot”. In the second movie, there were a lot of “oh dang, this movie has no plot” while you sit on the edge of your seat ready to walk away. The entire movie had a real “straight to DVD” feel to it in an era where DVDs are completely irrelevant. It does that part really, really well.
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