I’m curious. Do you think this movie would have sold better with the title “154 Feet Down?” We Americans can be recalcitrant about such stupid things and the metric system is top ten. Suppose you call this film out in feet, not meters … presumably, American sales go up, but do world sales actually go down enough to offset? Made me wonder about some other titles:
Hedwig and the Angry 2.54 Centimeters
The Longest .91 Meter
3.18 Kilograms
The 30.5-Meter Journey
Tin .24 Liter
30.5 Centimetersloose
It’s been so long since Saved! that I forgot what Mandy Moore looked like, and as she spent most of this film wearing a scuba mask, I can’t say I left this film feeling any more confident about Ms. Moore’s appearance. I will try and power through all the same.
Lisa (Mandy Moore, or Claire Holt, not 100% sure here) has been dumped while on vacation. Perhaps being Mexico, we’ll call it “El Dumpo.” Her sister Kate (Claire Holt, or Mandy Moore) theorizes that booze will solve the problem, and it might have except for the side effect of guys getting’ in on that. Their new friends invite them to a second date of shark trolling. I’m puzzled as to how the women were awake on time for the fun; such, however, seems a lesser concern at this moment in the narrative. Lisa is tentative about getting in an underwater cage, but Kate assures her it will take her mind of being dumped. Kate is 100% correct when the cage lifeline snaps and the girls plummet from surface level 47 Meters Down to the seabed below.
Oh, and did I mention the sharks? Lots of them. They’re hungry, too. That happens when you toss chum in the water to attract sharks, of course. Can Matthew Modine (the boat pilot) save the day? Of course not; when has that ever been true? Looks like the girls are on their own … just you and me and a cage and limited supply of oxygen. Oh, and if you surface too fast, you get deadly nitrogen bubbles in your brain and die. This should be fun.
So whaddaya say? Decent horror/thriller premise, right? You don’t have to like either lead to feel for their predicament –which was good because I didn’t especially 
care for either woman. What their pickled shark sandwich might lack for in geographic isolation, it compensates in thrill … and that darned decompression factor. At one point, the bleeding women have to stop their ascent and wait five minutes exposed in the water which leads to the best scare in the film.
There are better demon shark films, including 2016’s The Shallows. But 47 Meters Down is useful for discouraging squeamish friends from scuba diving or thrill seeking. This film is probably best used as 1 a.m. fare for a slumber party – good enough to enjoy a small scream or two with your friends and yet weak enough to get some sleep if you’re that guy.
Surrounded by great whites, you ought-er
Circumvent an absentee spotter
Danger looms large
With Modine in charge
Maybe you’re better off in the water
Rated PG-13, 89 Minutes
D: Johannes Roberts
W: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Genre: Vacation down under (literally)
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Sharks
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Minnows
