The Dive

May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe) are sisters going on a dive in the ocean off an isolated beach. Falling rocks cause May to be trapped under a heavy rock. Drew struggles to free her.

It's a simple two person action thriller. The premise is not that deep. It tries to give the story depth with some background with their father. It's not much. It doesn't have the same internal drama as 127 Hours or quite frankly the true story part. The diving gear does get in the way of the actors and I'm not that familiar with them. The problems can feel a little random. All in all, it's a simple and limited thriller.

Sisters May and Drew head for their annual dive, a rockfall causes May to get stuck, Drew has to do all she can to supply her sister with oxygen, and free her before it's too late.

I got to see an advance screening of this tonight, in a pretty packed cinema, I think my reviews reflected the general vibe in the screen.

A mix of good and bad, the bad, was very bad.

The good, the story and the visuals, if you can see the original, I'd recommend it, for my money, a cut above this one. So, visually, it looks great, some gorgeous shots, wonderful location work, and several scenes under the sea that looked terrifiic.

It did have some tension, it did have atmosphere, at times you the viewer are left feeling breathless, sadly you're equally left feeling frustrated.

The worst element, the dialogue, some of it was appalling, there were genuine groans throughout the cinema when the pair shared overly sentimental moments during the scenes where oxygen was a vital commodity, just ridiculous.

Also bad, Drew, now if you're familiar with a British sitcom called some mothers do 'ave 'em, you'll know who Frank Spencer was, if you don't, he was a well meaning chap, that always got it wrong, accidents and mishaps followed him, Drew is Frank Spencer underwater, dropping tanks, damaging cars etc, it's just a shame that Scary movie ceased to be, they would have had a riot with this one.

I'm not sure about you, but I simply couldn't connect to either May or Drew, and as such didn't really care much what happened to them.

5/10.

It's ridiculous that this movie is rated lower than 47 meters down. This film is a remake of the 2020 Norwegian film, Breaking Surface. It's exactly the same things happening, only in a warm weather environment. Unlike ridiculous movie like 47 meters down and its sequel, this movie follows legit diving issues that would be faced with being trapped at a deep depth for an extended period of time. Running out of air is not your only worry and decompression sickness can kill you. I think people who are actually certified scuba divers will enjoy this movie more than other people would, as we can better appreciate being given those real diving issues in the plot. The acting was decent and the time goes pretty quickly, keeping you pretty engaged through the second half of the movie. Definitely worth watching.

This should've been a short film without the unnecessary and mostly pointless back-story. That way there would've been constant tension and suspense without the deflating sappy back-story, that ultimately was repetitive and bland and really had nothing to do with the dramatics. I felt the gals were well cast and performed great, and the underwater cinematography was done well. The Fix-a-flat canister product placement was entertaining, but they missed some opportune moments for humor with the can and after destroying the Toyota. Nevertheless, an ok one-time watch if there's nothing better to see.

"The Dive" is a film with a simple story that feels like you've already seen it, but the script manages to interest you to a certain degree and the suspense is much better in the surface scenes than in the underwater ones. It is worth mentioning that the mix between drama and suspense provides a good touch, generating concern for both main characters. The performances of the protagonists are good, the sound design manages to be of quality and the cinematography is very good, achieving great aquatic shots. A decent film that, without being excellent, manages to tell a story that sometimes becomes suffocating.