The Dive

The Dive is built on a simple premise which is for the most part executed effectively.

It follows two sisters who embark on a scuba diving adventure in a remote location only to have disaster strike, leading to a race against the clock to survive.

It's not an overly complicated film, with the tension coming purely from the scenario rather than any in depth character work or intricate plotting. The tension is well built, but the whole thing does feel a bit predictable.

The atmosphere of the film is good, with the setting creating a vast, eerie yet also claustrophobic feel to the whole thing.

I just think there isn't enough to this film to give it much more credit. Not enough character work and fairly basic plotting and direction make for an enjoyable but perhaps uninspiring film.

The sisters May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe) learned to dive since they were children taught by their father (David Scicluna). Presently May is working diving at an oil platform and Drew has just lost her job. They decide to go on vacation to a remote area to dive and explore caves. They do not pay attention in the warning that the area is subject to collapse of rocks and suddenly, there are many falling rocks and Amy is stuck by a rock thirty meters below sea level. The clumsy and nervous Drew has to bring air cylinders and the car jack to release her sister, but their plan fails. What will happen to Amy?

"The Dive" (2023) is a low-budget movie with a tense and short storyline that entertains. The clumsy Drew is the character that makes most of the plot happen, with her stupidity. Throwing the car off the cliff to open the trunk is probably the top of her bad decisions. But anyway, the film works and is worthwhile watching. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Sem Ar"" ("Without Air")

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.

"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.

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.