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Open Water / Open Water 2: Adrift
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (20th November 2010). |
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The Film
 I don’t really get the scary shark thing. I saw "Jaws" (1975) and yeah, I jumped in my seat. It didn’t stop me swimming though. I imagine that if I was surrounded by sharks and, obviously, in the water I wouldn’t exactly feel comfortable. But still, as the opening credits for "Open Water" rolled, I suspected that my complete apathy towards the shark attack scenario would inhibit my ability to review this film in an empathetic way. I am glad to say, my fellow film buffs that nothing could be further from the truth. "Open Water" was the brainchild of director Chris Kentis and his wife Laura Lau, who produced the film. With a total production cost of US$130,000 this couple has managed to create a remarkably captivating low budget film. The filmmaking couple are both diving enthusiasts and I felt that this allowed them to provide an attention to detail that gave "Open Water" a more gritty and realistic edge. The film was shot over many weekends and holidays and completely financed by the husband and wife filmmaking team. In order to keep production costs low and turnover of footage high the crew really only consisted of Kentis and Lau. "Open Water" made its debut at the 2003 Hamptons International Film Festival but the buzz didn’t start until it was screened at the Sundance Film Festival the following year. The film created such a stir several studios were interested in picking it up and was eventually sold to Lionsgate for a cool $2.5 million and was the fastest sale for any film in the Festival’s history. The film begins with a well off American couple, Susan Watkins (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel Kintner (Daniel Travis), rushing from their white washed suburban home and busy on-the-go careers to an ill-fated get away in the Caribbean. One unfortunate boat trip later they find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean, huddling alone in the boundless blue. Also there are sharks. The true strength of this film lies not in the plot (because let’s face it, its fairly simple here folks) but, as in all good films, in the interactions between the characters. Ryan and Travis display a solid emotional range throughout their ordeal, their frustration, anger and terror is both evocative and when threaded with a sterling soundtrack creates a gripping atmosphere. Considering the film’s short runtime (just over 76 minutes) the majority of the film’s action is obviously spent in the water, hence the title with the two stars and I was pleased that there was hardly a dull moment. The film managed to keep a tight pace without boring or losing the viewer. A major flaw with the film was that the characters were too generic, this meant that while the couple were easy to relate to I came away feeling I had never really gotten to know them. I also found that some of the dialogue was at times well a little too juvenile to be coming out of grown adults, this was mainly limited to their arguments blaming each other for the predicament they’re in. The two stars where able to at least make it tolerable and pass quickly so as not to be cringe inducing. In the film’s first act there was a rather unnecessary scene in the hotel room which had Ryan nude, the scene feels like it only exits for the purpose of simply showing some T&A, this scene really adds nothing to film’s narrative or to the development of the characters at all, but I'm sure there won't be any complaints from horny viewers because...well Blanchard Ryan isn't exactly ugly. In summation, A few gripes aside "Open Water" is a thrilling piece of indie-cinema. It’s tension packed and solid on score and casting but weak on cinematography whilst the script was bland but certainly not lacking. It’ worth seeing perhaps more so if you dig scary fish movies. P.S: Those of you who got motion sickness while watching "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) should NOT watch this movie. Now... where do I begin with "Open Water 2: Adrift" aside from being a quick cash-in sequel, in many ways this sequel feels like the retarded cousin of the original film, shamed away because no one wanted it, it had to be packaged as a double feature with the first film just to push it to viewers. "Open Water 2: Adrift" tells the story of a group of high school friends that go on a weekend cruise, they travel on a luxurious yacht and things, inevitably go wrong. While swimming in the pristine water, one of the friends forgets to lower the ladder making it impossible for any of them to get back onto the boat. Also they left a baby on board the boat... by itself. A fine example of excellent parenting, and a stupid mistake that gets no sympathy from this viewer. This films should have been called "Open Water: Darwin's Revenge" because every one of the characters in this film are plain moronic and deserve being stuck in that situation. A total lack of sympathy is the biggest flaw this film suffers from, that and the rudimentary script, and lack of any real tension that the first film displayed in the bucket load. Once these guys start turning on each other is were it gets interesting, because you really just want each of them to drown. Now this might sound harsh, but if you had to sit through this film you'd feel the same way. The characters are all fairly stock standard types, the well off family Amy (Susan May Platt), and husband James (Richard Speight Jr.) and their baby daughter Sara (Mattea Gabarretta & Luca Gabaretta) and their old high school friends Dan (Eric Dane), Michelle (Cameron Richardson), Zach (Niklaus Lange) and Lauren (Ali Hills), whom all are as obnoxious as each other. While the production values are slightly improved, the final product is just a mess. "Open Water 2: Adrift" can easily be thrown aside without another thought... "Open Water" rating: B+ "Open Water 2: Adrift" rating: F
Video
"Open Water" is presented in the film’s original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, this high definition 1080p 24/fps transfer used AVC MPEG-4 compression and much like the former DVD release is far from perfect. The entire film was shot using standard definition DV cameras and on a shoestring budget so the results were always going to look average on DVD and even more so on Blu-ray as it gets a boost to a higher definition. The fact is there's nothing to boost and the image ends up looking terribly amateur at the end of the day. Shots lack the depth of field, the image is flat and there's some noise and occasional pixelation, for a digital image it’s not as sharp as I’d like it to be, there are a few of occasions were the image looses detail. All of these things combined really shows the limitations of the DV format when unconverted to HD. "Open Water 2: Adrift" is presented in a ration of 2.35:1 and also in 1080p 24/fps mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. Being more recent film than the original and having been shot on film (combination 16mm and 35mm), the result is much better here. Although there are soe problems present. The image is much more balanced here, with better depth of field and better use of color. However, noise is a problem, and macroblocking is a problem on occasion. A better image yes, but a decent one... no, not really. Both films suffer from problems and hold it back from receiving a decent grading here. "Open Water" video rating: C- "Open Water 2: Adrift" video rating: C
Audio
Both films include an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit. Both tracks sound solid, much better than how the image looks. Dialogue is clear and distortion free, but it's once we're in the water that these tracks (for both films) truly shine as the immersive nature of the track kicks in and you get a sense of really being out there with the character floating in the expanse of the ocean. The surrounds are put to subtle but excellent use, the score works well to build atmosphere and add layers to the mix. These tracks aren't going to blow anyone away or put your home theater through a work out, but they are perfectly suited for these films. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish. "Open Water" audio rating: B+ "Open Water 2: Adrift" audio rating: B+
Extras
Lionsgate has included a collection of extras that includes two audio commentaries, four featurettes (three for the first film and one for the second), a collection of "Open Water" includes the majority of the supplements on this disc, these are: The first of two audio commentaries features director Chris Kentis and his wife, producer Laura Lau. The screen-specific track covers a wide range of topics from the film’s origins having been based on a true story that Chris read about in a diving magazine and covering the film’s casting choices in Blanchard and Daniel. The commentary is very informative and quite entertaining to listen to, the two participants keep a steady pace throughout the film’s runtime without any sizeable gaps of silence and that’s always a good thing. The second audio commentary on this disc features the film’s stars Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis. Much like the filmmaker’s commentary Ryan and Travis manage to also keep their comments a screen-specific as possible, they discuss the challenges of making this film as well as having to get their diving certificates. Overall the two seem to have enjoyed making the film, despite Ryan being bit by a barracuda during filming and having to be in the water the whole time with real sharks swimming around them. The first featurette we have is the making of the film entitled "Calm Before The Storm" and runs for 15 minutes 50 seconds. This is your standard EPK style featurette with the principles discussing the process they went through making the film as well as its origins and the original article that inspired Kentis to write the script. Next up is "The Indies Essentials: A Filmmakers Guide to Gearing Up for a Profitable Movie" featurette runs for 5 minutes 3 seconds and features interviews with some executives from Lionsgate and discuss what they look for at Festivals and the process of releasing the film into the market. "Bonus On Location Footage" is a featurette that runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds, and is exactly as the title suggests, it's footage taken during the filming process as we see the filmmakers swimming with sharks. Also featured on the disc are six deleted scenes: - "Alternate Opening" (with Music), running at 2 minutes, and just as the title suggests this is an alternate opening showing the diving gear washing up onto shore at the beginning foreshadowing what would come later in the film. - "We Really Need A Vacation" runs at 1 minute 34 seconds and is a scene in the hotel room where Susan has been on the phone for an hour, they have a little argument that ends in laughter. - "Into The Sunset" runs for 1 minute 9 seconds and features the two walking along the beach discussing the possibility of an island wedding. - "Eye Contact" runs for 36 seconds and is a scene with Susan and Daniel in bed together. - "The Morning of the Dive" runs for 2 minutes 6 seconds and features the two packing their dive bags before the outing. - "Susan's Not Responding" runs for 21 seconds and features the two in the water as Susan passes out. The only extra we've got for "Open Water 2: Adrift" is the "Making-of Open Water 2" featurette that runs for 20 minutes 8 seconds and is EPK clip that features the usual amount of behind-the-scenes footage edited with some talking head interviews with the filmmakers and cast all talking about their role on the film and how thrilling it it... yawn... The disc starts up with a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Lionsgate Blu-ray" spot runs for 1 minute 1 second. - "Lionsgate Action Stars" spot runs for 1 minute 6 seconds.
Overall
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