FLORIDA (18 Sep 2004) -- One of the great lies about the human condition, and one often disproved in the great outdoors, is that adversity brings out the best in people. Wrong. All too often, bad times bring out the worst in people. Stress makes them petty and spiteful. They turn on each other. It gets ugly. Which brings us to "Open Water," a low-budget thriller about a young couple on a scuba diving trip that goes horribly wrong. For weeks now friends have been bugging me to catch this movie, but those darn hurricanes kept getting in the way. After finally seeing the film, my reaction was a little different. I wound up rooting for the sharks. Bait and switch "Open Water" is intense, with a few jolts that I could feel right down to my toes, but the couple in peril left me cold. I guess director Chris Kentis thought it'd be too obvious, too easy, to serve up sympathetic people as shark bait. So he went in the other direction. The main characters, Susan (Blanchard Ryan) and Daniel (Daniel Travis), sure seem like yuppie scum. As they pack their SUV for a Caribbean trip, he calls her from the driveway on his cell phone. She answers his call and then brushes him off to talk on her other cell phone. This relationship is clearly in trouble, as they snipe back and forth. It's uncomfortable to watch. On the night before they go scuba diving, the two of them bitch about the hotel air conditioning and then go to bed. Susan's naked, in gratuitous Hollywood fashion, but tells Daniel she doesn't know if she's in the mood to fool around. So they kiss a little bit while she makes up her mind. "Nope," Susan finally decides. "I'm not in the mood." | | After that remark, I couldn't wait for the sharks to take a bite out of her … attitude. Alone at sea There's a mix up on the dive boat the next morning. Daniel and Susan get left behind at the dive spot. When they surface, they're far from any other divers or any other boats. Soon they're all alone … except for the sharks that dart menacingly around them. For hours they float along, fighting off predators, before Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger swoop down in a helicopter to rescue them from the very jaws of death. No, no, no -- I made that up. But it would be a typical Hollywood ending to a movie like "Open Water." Once again, Kentis goes in the opposite direction. Power and originality His movie treads water for the final half-hour while watching this couple slowly go to pieces. That's the power and originality of "Open Water." Susan and Daniel may be unpleasant, but they're utterly convincing. They're every couple's worst nightmare. The two of them cling together at first, but are soon overcome by fear and anger. She blames him for leaving the dive group. He blames her for changing the dates on their trip. She's silent, then vindictive. He's furious, then resentful. As they struggle, with fins circling ever closer, the scariest thing is thinking those sharks might be doing them a favor. |
