Johannes Roberts’ 47 Meters Down

Johannes Roberts’ 47 Meters Down follows Mandy Moore and Claire Holt’s vacationing sisters Lisa and Kate as they embark on a shark-watching expedition aboard an exceedingly sketchy boat (captained by Matthew Modine’s Taylor), with problems ensuing after their cage sinks to the bottom of the ocean and they’re forced to fend for themselves. Though infused with impressive bursts of style, Johannes Roberts’ 47 Meters Down is, for the most part, a disappointingly generic offering that contains few elements designed to capture and sustain one’s interest – with the film’s less-than-captivating opening stretch, which establishes the somewhat one-dimensional protagonists, unable to cultivate the atmosphere of abject suspense that director Johannes Roberts is clearly striving for. The movie does improve, however, once the action shifts to the aforementioned sketchy boat, as Lisa and Kate’s initial descent within the rusty cage and the subsequent malfunction are handled quite well – with the improved atmosphere heightened by Kate’s thrilling first attempts at leaving the cage to communicate with crew above. Roberts slowly-but-surely proves entirely unable to sustain that level of tension, as the second half of Johannes Roberts’ 47 Meters Down suffers from a fairly hit-and-miss vibe that culminates in a laughably ludicrous third act – with the ineffectiveness of the finale negatively coloring everything that came before it and confirming the picture’s place as a palpable missed opportunity.

** out of ****