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Barracuda2

Contributor
Messages
1,484
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129
Location
Northwest Ohio
# of dives
I just don't log dives
I paid $5.50 (Senior price) to see one of the worse movies ever produced: "Open Water". Also, my opinion of Ebert & Roper's critical eye for movie production has gone into the basement. They both gave it a thumbs up! For those of you who will be sucked into seeing this movie, or for those of you who want a real laugh, I won't give away the dumb ending. What's wrong with this movie?:

1. The acting is terrible - to me, the actors looked and sounded like they were "acting" - kind of like watching a high school play. Some of the dialogue I'm sure was made up as they shot the scene.
2. Camera composition, scene composition was very amateur, kind of like watching someone's home movie. Also, the quality of resolution looked grainy to me. It didn't have that sharp resolution found in a high quality 70 mm film or digital production. (maybe because of the lighting)
3. In many places the sound was "muddy" - hard to understand and muffled - almost like they were using the on-board mic on the cam.
4. It was obvious that supplemental lighting was not used in either indoor or outdoor scenes. The picture had that "dull" muffled look to it.
5. In several places (maybe all) in the UW scenes, a red correction filter was not used, creating that "blue hazy" picture.
6. I did not know that Moon Jellyfish can inflict excruciating pain.
I've dove places where they were so thick, I had to push them out of the way. I've brushed up against many Moon Jellys without a problem.
7. I didn't know a diver could easily sink in a full wet suit without weights.
8. Shark behavior patterns were absurd. I'll let you be the judge.
9. Some of the cut-away scenes made no sense. I think the editor was trying to create a contrast between the distress of the lost divers and the safe land, but it didn't work; it only confused the viewer.
10 And last, some of the background music was melodramatic and even laughable at times. Kinda like listening to a Caribbean church choir.

Did I find Anything good about this movie?

1. The portrayal of a dive "cattle boat" operation was very real with the typical DM trying to be entertaining, and the ever-present macho jerk diver (ugly American) that seems to always be present on some of these day trippers.
2. The "night scene" was also very real and intense. The only time the viewer could see the divers is when the lightening flashed; other than that, the viewer was looking at a black screen with only the sounds of the divers, water, and thunder; that's the way it would really be in Open Water at night.

Well, unless you want to be entertained in a rather different way, I would not have an Open Wallet for Open Water if I were you. My $.02...er $5.50

Barracuda2
 
Well, I guess from a film maker's perspective the film wasn't such a block buster. However, I believe that it behooves us to find what we can learn from the story by watching Open Water, than it would be from being the divers in the movie, don't you think?
 
I enjoyed the film, but I'll agree that the last 15 minutes or so needed some work. And we won't talk about the sharks, now, will we? ;-)

BTW, have you seen the commercials? I guess folks will go there expecting Jaws2: The Search For Spock or some such and find themselves watching a nice little indie film about lost divers. It's a bit of bait-and-switch.
 
And I agree with ScubaGuy62 about using the film to generate some dialog concerning buddy separation, signaling devices etc. His family and mine saw the film together and had a very nice evening full of discussions about dive safety and what we think we would do if we were ever way the hell out in the ocean with a missing dive boat...
 
^^^^^

thats how you put it?!?!?!? "We had a lovely evening of discussions about dive safety"
:33: :wtf:
jeez, if thats how you explain how your night went, i'll have to remember not to party with you guys!!!! :laugh:
 
You know if the divers who this really happened to had a DIVE ALERT and a SMD then there wouldn't have been a movie just a thought sent out by the people at Dive Alert
 
i also seen it, i kind of thought that i got what i paid for, i paid to go sit in a theater and see a movie, and that is what i got, a movie, it wasn't really bad or really good, it is just a movie.
 
i went to see it thinking i would love it. my friends warned me i would never want to go on a boat dive again... turns out it was terrible. the preview made it seem like it was scary, but at no point in the acually movie did i twitch of jump in my seat.

however i had a few good laughs, ( the A**hole diver ho forgets his mask, and that odd scene in the hotel room where he is trying to kill the bug....(is that what he was doing???))

i left feeling cheated, mostly becuase i paid 9 dollers and that i read artical after artical telling how original and amazing it was. it may be original (kinda) but original doesent always mean good.
 
One thing *I* didn't know....during a dive, the pressure can apparently cause an 80cu ft tank to become a 67 or 63! (I'm not going to pay $5 matinee price to go see the movie again, but I'm pretty sure the woman's tank was not always the same size, on her one & only dive.) I kind of liked that ability to descend in a full wetsuit without weights, though!
 

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