Open Water DVD Review:

Having seen Open Water in both theater and DVD I can honestly say that it isn’t as awful as I had originally thought. It is definitely an easier film to watch on a small screen, where every badly delivered line can be ignored easier. That fact still remains though, that I simply do not like this film.

Open Water is the supposedly true story of a couple that go on vacation to escape their hectic lives, and never come back. They are vacationing on a tropical island, so they decide to go scuba diving. There are all sorts of extenuating circumstances and they end up getting left at sea by the scuba boat. Once they surface and realize what has happened the audience is treated with about forty-five minutes of floating.

In all fairness, the film seems to be extremely realistic, aside from the acting, and there are some truly horrific moments. The fact that they only allow the audience to see what the two characters can see adds an extra element of suspense. Unfortunately I found much of that suspense to fall flat.

The film is shot on all digital and looks grainy for most of the film, which is beginning to be accepted in many circles, but may be hard on some viewers that aren’t used to this. The sound also seems a bit shaky at times, but like the past indie-hit, The Blair Witch Project, most of the dialogue is frightened whining anyways.

The DVD has a great deal of good features, including a making of featurette, and a featurette on marketing an independent film. There are also two commentary tracks, one with the actors, and one with the director and producer. They might be somewhat interesting to aspiring filmmakers or fans of the film.

It is difficult for me to recommend this film, disliking it as I do, but with the knowledge that it is slow at points and not entirely visually pleasing, despite the pointless nude scene by Blanchard Ryan, then proceed at your own risk. The couple in the film did and look at where it got them.

Ryan Izay

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