Search - Open Water (Full Screen Edition) on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 1/17/2022...

Actually, this was a lot better than expect with the suspense but also necessitated hitting the 120X FF to get through it.

Candace S. from QUEENSTOWN, MD
Reviewed on 4/5/2011...

My husband liked the movie alot anything to do with sharks. A little slow in the begining put picked up fast.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Questions to ask yourself before you see this...

K. Corn | Indianapolis,, IN United States | 08/12/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You may already know the main story: a couple is accidentally left behind while diving in the ocean. I actually enjoyed this movie but most people either love it or hate it (2 other friends hated it, another loved it).
After talking to them, came up with some questions and additional info to help you make up your mind about whether to spend the bucks to see this in the theatre or wait for it to appear on cable, at your local video store, etc: :

1. Does it bother you if movies are filmed in the style of the Blair Witch Project, looking like they are home video? If so, stay away, because that is the way this movie was filmed, very similar. Choppy. Didn't bother me, might annoy the heck out of YOU.

2. Do you want constant suspense and tension? That isn't the case here. The tension builds but there are slower parts as well, including an exploration of the couple's relationship. You have to wait a LONG time to get to the climax. Again, didn't bother me, just don't expect this to be Jaws...or anything resembling it.

3. The ending is atypical. Some may find it a letdown (I didn't). I don't want to give anything away but I will aay it may not be what you expect. Woul;dn't call it exactly upbeat but will say that what you think may happen does not. Unpredictable ending.

4. Finally, do you want a story "based on true events" to reflect mostly the truth of that event? This one doesn't. In the real incident (not the movie), the couple disappeared and were never found again. It was never proven that they were eaten or attacked by sharks and, to make things even murkier, the husband had indicated that he planned to kill himself and his wife at some point. So who knows what really happened to them. I'd call this speculative fiction, not anything based on "true events".

Perhaps these are all small points to you; perhaps not. Hope this gives you more info to make a decision on whether to see this one.

"

First: you need lots of patience. Trust me.

wannabemoviecritic | California | 08/12/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Do you remember 'Jaws,' its haunting music swimming up beneath your legs? Do you remember how that shark just kept coming back to the same beach, over and over, killing? The wonder of that film was that the scares came from artificiality. Do sharks really think of humans as food? Do they hold grudges? No. But what that offers is fine cinema; under the hands of Spielberg, that concept became worthy of a best picture nomination. There was even refined characterization to top off the danger. However, in this year's 'Open Water,' you aren't just thrilled: you are worried for your own safety.

Director Chris Kentis' stripped-down, digital photography only furthers the film's visceral quality with its sense of humanity, as if it were no more than a home movie. 'Open Water' does not feel stylized, it does not feel fake, it does not feel like the sharks are being portrayed as creatures with a vendetta for human blood. When Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis) are accidentally left behind by their tour boat, their fear feels bone-chillingly real. You can credit that to the fact that the sharks they're left with were 100% authentic, -- not chubby studio creations-- to wonderful dialogue (the constant rationalizing, the impossible solutions) and to pitch-perfect performances full of desperation.

I tell you right now, I was scared to look at the screen at times. The sharks were so brilliantly filmed. They weren't shown sneaking up with an equally-frightening underscore and, worst of all, there certainly wasn't a single shark that had some unusual desire to eat the couple. Susan and Daniel were surrounded at times, alone at times. The camera cleverly remains above the surface, occasionally peaking under only when the couple check for landmarks or jellyfish. During some parts of the film, you think, "For all I know, they could be two feet away, there could be a frenzy fifty feet away, there could be nothing." That's when you begin to realize the underlying genius. You understand that terror is more effective when what you're seeing could easily happen to you...or is it happening to you right now? While you're watching 'Open Water,' the two choices perfectly blend into one, heart-pounding fear. And while 'Jaws' gained its credibility with a few scenes showing its crew comparing their battle scars from past oceanic explorations, 'Open Water' only increases its own with an ending of immediate power that lingers in your mind like the very scars on an unlucky surfer's leg."

The True Story It Was Based On

L&J | 08/20/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The True Story-

The movie is based on the following true story-


© Lions Gate Films
It has been six and a half years (January 25th, 1998 ) since the two American tourists (From Baton Rouge, Louisiana) disappeared diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. If one thing has become clear in this bizarre case it is that Tom and Eileen Lonergans' story will never fade and haunts many to this day.

Tom (33) and Eileen (29) Lonergan had just finished three years in the Peace Corps in the South Pacific and were on their way to Hawaii to re-enter college to obtain masters degrees. Diving some 40 miles offshore, the Lonergans were experienced divers enjoying a three-week vacation in Austraila before heading off to school. They had met and married at Louisiana State University, where Eileen had taken up scuba diving and persuaded Tom to join in her hobby. For two years they had taught for the Peace Corps in the Pacific island country of Tuvalu, before spending a further year in Fiji.

During a diving expedition near St. Crispin reef off Port Douglas, Tom and Eileen had been the last divers out of the water on the other dives that day, so it was not hard to assume they may have been a little tardy on the final dive.

The Lonergans advised a diving instructor employed on the Outer Edge, Ms. Katherine Traverso, that they would "go off and do their own thing" (quote from Mr. Richard Triggs of Cairns, a diver on the trip. This action by the Lonergans is nothing unusual as most experienced divers would know, but of which some media made adverse comments soon after the incident.

When they did surface after less than an hour underwater, they either saw the boat (Outer Edge) leaving or saw nothing but open seas.


© Lions Gate Films
Outer Edge Dive Co. did not report the couple missing until two days after they were left at sea. When the boat had docked, the crew apparently noticed that there was at least one bag left behind by the passengers but they do not appear to have investigated this further and simply moved the bag to another location on the boat. In fact, there were two bags. One was a plastic bag containing the Lonergans' dry clothes and Mr Lonergans' glasses. In addition, there was a nearly empty dive bag and the boat was missing two tanks and two weight belts!

It was two days later, when Jack Nairn (Skipper of the boat) claimed to have found a bag containing the Lonergans' wallet and passports on the boat, that the alarm was raised. He called the Police, 51 hours after the Lonergans disappeared. On January 28, 1998 a search by 17 aircraft, helicopters and boats, Police, Navy and civilian divers began.

A massive search ensued. Documentation of their fist night was evidenced by what fishermen 100 miles north of the site found: a dive slate which records their thoughts as dawn broke that morning. In a wobbly scrawl faded by months in the water, Tom Lonergans had written: "Monday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone who can help us: We have been abandoned on Agin court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 98 3pm. Please help us come to rescue us before we die. Help!!!"

Being experienced divers, the normal procedure would be to inflate the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device for diving) and dump the weight belts.

The day after the incident the Outer Edge brought another tour party to the area, and one diver found six dive weights resting on the bottom. Oblivious to what had happened the previous day, a crew member described the find as a bonus.

When the boat failed to return, the next course of action would be to discard the tanks. Exposure to the water and the heat from the sun rapidly accelerates dehydration.

One of the few criticisms of the movie was that it was hard to believe that the boat just left the couple, however it is true and this is what the official investigation of this incident discovered-

~ No proper head count was performed before the dive vessel left.
~ The Lonergans were not checked back on board by the crew.
~ The Lonergans' dive details were not recorded in the divemaster's log book
at the end of the dive.
~ No dedicated lookout was on duty at the time of the relevant dive.
~ The boat left at a time when it was reasonable to assume that divers could
still be under the water.

Former Skipper, Jack Nairn still lives in the area despite losing his business as a result of the publicity and debts surrounding his trial. He initially refused to talk about the case, and would only discuss how the fallout from the case had affected him. "The reality of it is that the thing creates emotional turmoil for all of the people involved," he said.

We will avoid providing more details on the true story at this point so as not to ruin the movie for those who wish to see it.

But What Is Amazing Is That It Happened Again-

After the Lonergans went missing in Queensland in 1998, you'd think it could never happen again. But it seems it has. An 80-year-old American woman went missing after an excursion to the Barrier Reef in 2000. Police in Port Douglas in far north Queensland once again had to search the coastline.

"