[.ca] Open Water 2: Adrift

A surprisingly intense and gripping film that more than exceeded my expectations:
After reading the premise of this movie, I just had to see it. Six friends jump off a yacht to take a swim in the ocean, only to realize that they are royally screwed because nobody thought to let the ladder down. In other words, they've jumped in and they can't get up. As one of the characters actually says, the circumstances would be funny if they weren't so serious. Honestly, I expected this to be some kind of B-movie I could laugh at. Instead, it's a polished production, and there's nothing funny about it. You won't be traumatized by any means, but this is one deadly serious film that almost forces you to imagine yourself in the same situation. For me, it was like having claustrophobia out in the middle of the ocean -- a weird concept, of course, but that's how it made me feel. I'm really surprised that the film gets so many lukewarm and negative reviews. I found it intense, and I was delighted that things didn't play out the way I expected. The director threw us a curveball at the end, with a pretty ambiguous ending, but after a little thought I can't even criticize that decision, as I believe it ties in with the real story that inspired the film. A group of old friends get together for a weekend on the high seas, and it looks like a good time will be had by all on board Dan's (Eric Dane) luxurious yacht. (Of course, to really enjoy the cruise, you sort of need to be on the yacht most of the time -- aye, that's the rub.) Three guys, three gals, and a baby whose mother has a major water phobia make up the passenger manifest. Some viewers don't seem to like some of these characters, but we really don't get to know any of them intimately before the real drama begins. They're basically just normal people, and that helps put you into the "what would I do in their situation?" mindset. Let's just look at some of the things we can learn from this movie. 1) If a childhood tragedy has given you a major water phobia, you might want to just pass on the private yacht vacation thing, especially if you have a baby to take care of. 2) Out of every six people, at least one of them is the kind of jerk who will try to cure a friend's fear of the water by picking her up and jumping into the ocean with her. 3) This one's really important -- don't forget to let the ladder down before you and everyone else on board go for a swim in the ocean because you cannot get back up on the yacht without said ladder. 4) In this kind of dangerous situation, don't fight over the very sharp knife. 5) When "nuding up" to make a rope out of your clothes, let the lightest person -- not the biggest guy -- try to climb up the "rope" first. 6) When desperately trying to get back to the surface after a dive, watch your freakin' head. 7) When facing such a "what a stupid way to die" situation such as this, you learn a whole lot about your friends. Open Water 2: Adrift (which is its own film and not a true sequel to Open Water) turned out to be really intense. Desperation comes quickly and only grows as the whole situation worsens. A full 2/3 of this film takes place in the ocean itself. I know you're probably expecting a shark attack to come along at some point -- I know I was -- but don't be disappointed by the complete absence of deadly oceanic predators in this film. I think a shark attack would have actually hurt the story, as it would have taken something away from the intensely personal tragedy these poor people have to face. With no outside threat to unite against, these characters quickly turn against one another, making their situation even direr in the process. Then you have the sounds of the baby crying every now and again, adding even more to the angst the characters are feeling and emoting, especially the child's mother Amy (Susan May Pratt). Some viewers are going to quibble and go into a "they should have done this or that" kind of mania as they watch the film, but I found it really quite realistic in terms of the situation. My first reaction to the film's ending was less than enthusiastic -- it's one of those "please don't end it like this --- aaaarrgghhh" types of ending. After reading one of the director's comments and taking a few moments to reflect on it, however, I find myself having no problem whatsoever with the ambiguity of that final minute. Not surprisingly, I think this is a great, underrated movie; it certainly exceeded my somewhat low expectations by leaps and bounds.

it was a bit different than the first one,but i didn't find it any better or worse:
after watching this sequel(which has nothing to do with the first) to the first Open Water,i'm not sure what to think.like the first one,this movie also has the 'based on true events'.and again i suppose the events could have happens as they did in the movie.either way,i liked some things about this movie but some things i didn't like.i liked the fact that we get into the meat of the story quicker this time.also,although this one also involves people being left adrift out at sea,the circumstances which lead up to things are different.there are also more people involved.to me,the acting didn't really stand out,with one exception.that would be Susan May Pratt.i found her very believable as someone who was distraught over what had happened.anyway,this time,there are six friends involved.this makes for an interesting dynamic and some genuine tension.you also don't know who,if anyone will survive.those are the good things about it.as for what i didn't like,i thought the movie dragged a bit at times.it is about 15 minutes longer,which i felt was too long.i'm gonna give Open water 2:Adrift the same rating as the first Open Water,which would be 2/5

This "sequel" does not maximize the potential of being adrift:
Sequels really are miss or hit propositions and the rule of thumb these days is that if the two film scores a star less than the original then they are way ahead of the came. Given all the sequels that are out there the number that are as least as good (e.g., "The Godfather 2," "Aliens") let alone better (e.g., "Spider-man 2"), are extremely rare. "Open Water 2" (a.k.a. "Adrift" in Europe), had a chance of being as good as the original "Open Water," but the ending is a bit too melodramatic for my taste. However, it is nice to see plot justified nudity, which might be an even greater cinematic rarity these days. The set up is that a group of high school friends get together for a getaway on the yacht of Dan (Eric Dane), who is already having fun with Michelle (Cameron Richardson), his girlfriend of a fortnight when the others get on board. Amy (Susan May Pratt) and James (Richard Speight Jr.) bring aboard their baby daughter Sarah, and then there are Lauren (Ali Hillis) and Zach (Niklaus Lange), who appear to finally be single at the same time. Getting Amy on board is a big deal because when she was a little girl her father had a heart attack and drowned while they were swimming, so she has an understandable case of aquaphobia and walks around on deck with a life preserver on. When Dan grabs her and jumps into the water she absolutely freaks and the next thing we know everybody else is in the water with her. Then somebody notices that the ladder on the yacht was never deployed and they have no way of getting back on board. The movie is one of those that is "based on actual events," although I think in this case it is just the basic idea of everybody on board being in the water and not being able to get back on the boat is the extent to which this story is based on actual events (to wit, this situation has happened more than once in the history of the world). Consequently, it is the basic situation that rings true and not the number of people in the water, what they had, the baby on board, or the rest of what the screenwriters came up with here. Maybe some of what they try to do to get back on board were things that have happened in real life or then again they might be the rest of creativity by the writers and actors. For me the key thing is that this is a plausible situation and for somebody who watches the first episode of "Survivor" each season and halfway through comes to the conclusion that I would be dead at this point long before I was ever voted off the island it is relatively easy to relate to the sheer terror it invokes. With a half-dozen people in the water instead of only two there are exponentially more opportunities for conflict between the characters, which this film goes out of its way to exploit. Several times I found myself thinking that these people would be in better shape if the right way would just die because addition by subtraction seemed like a reasonable response to the deteriorating situation. However, it really is the situation more than the characters that matters here because the whole idea of what would you (or could you) do in this situation is the entire hook of the movie. Unlike the first "Open Water" film, where the abandoned couple are floating in the ocean, dodging sharks and waiting for somebody on their charter to figure out they are missing, safety for these people treading water is so close they can touch it. They just have to find a way to get back on board. This is where "Open Water 2" finds itself treading water, because for every bright idea that these people come up with there seems to be a corresponding act of stupidity. Your enjoyment of this 2006 film will depend entirely on how much of this you can take before such things ruin the film for you. The cell phone scene just about did me in, but I remained interested in the pragmatics of the situation, trying to think what they could do to save their lives and knowing that it was not going to be soon enough to ever save them all (a larger casts insures more deaths). For me the ending is what caused me to round down instead of up on this film. It is a good thing I was watching it on DVD instead of a theater (not that it ever came any where near the Zenith City), because I had to stop when the credits rolled and go back to make sure I understood what I was seeing (I still am not sure how to read the final three shots). But the end game of "Open Water 2" wants to have its cake and eat it too, and opts for emphasizing the psychological problems of the characters over the practical considerations of staying alive, which is where melodrama swamps the decks of this film.