REEF

Good movie. Very entertaining. I was glued to it, and terrified at the same time... 👍

I have watched this movie dozens of times because it makes me think that this could have happened to any one of us; in fact, there are probably millions of untold, true stories just like this one that we'll never know about. Yes, this is a sad story but it was based off of true events. And the actors in this movie did an outstanding job to say the least. I am amazed every time I watch it. The ocean is HUGE. It's a vast world that few of us has ever experienced before. Could you imagine being a human being that is stuck in the middle of the ocean in pitch, black waters not know when a huge shark is going to take you under and never to be seen again? Can you imagine the fear, pain, and horror that millions must have gone through? This is what I think about when watching this movie. Again, it is extremely "thought provoking."

Had lots of problems, but the acting from everyone except maybe Suzie was good. There was way too much stopping and looking around or stopping to look under the water when these people are supposed to be trying to get to land as fast as possible. When you do see the shark, the majority of the time it is just swimming around (I feel like those shots might've even been reused throughout the movie) and looks completely non-threatening. The moments where it charges them are scary though. The movie seems realistic to a point. The characters are freaking out like you probably would, aside from the main guy who is the most experienced and takes charge of everything, but their actions (mainly stopping every two seconds) contradict this. The shark starts off realistic, first checking them out in an attempt to figure out if they are food. *Start of spoilers* The first guy that it kills makes complete sense, because he swims off frantically by himself and has a flipper on, so looks like a seal. The next one feels random. Then the last one just made me wonder if it would really get hungry again that fast, but I'm sure that just happened so the movie could have a dramatic ending. I hated the ending, by the way. Man does all the work to save woman but of course he has to die in the end. Why would he expect her to be able to pull him up anyway? She needed help to get herself up there. At that point, why wouldn't you just try to punch the shark in the nose?

Okay, I feel like a heel for criticizing the sort of movie I've been waiting for for years. A normal-sized, real great white shark! Just as the many smaller REAL sharks in the film OPEN WATER were JUST AS SCARY if not more so and far more believable than some gargantuan special effect, this movie shows that any normal unarmed human being is going to be terrified and vulnerable floundering in the water with an approximately 10 foot long apex predator. I can't help but compare this to the team's previous film, BLACK WATER. The difference for me is, in BLACK WATER, I felt I was given enough time at the start to get to know and care about the characters AND it was difficult to predict who would be left alive, if any of them. In THE REEF, I felt the backstory for the two "main" protagonists was WAY too cliche'ed, as was their character development throughout the ordeal. Also, I almost hate to say it but the tension just went on and on and on and got to be too much. Sure, this was believable, but, the repeated shots of the actors gaping around looking shell-shocked started to become unintentionally comical after a while. Finally, I'm still undecided about the nature of the attacks. POSSIBLE SPOILERS HERE- I felt the whole being yanked under, coming up once and then being yanked under for good just didn't quite make sense, given that this was not a huge shark which could swallow someone in two bites. The movie is so realistic and yet the attacks don't seem to jive with all the research I've read about how great whites DO hunt. I guess it was a budgetary concern but not one person was assaulted with the shark speeding straight up from below. But, as I said, I'm still on the fence about this. And the end, while also realistic and not at all the usual cliche'ed final confrontation (which one could argue wasn't the case with BLACK WATER) the realism made the viewing experience rather anti-climactic and "is that it?" for me. OPEN WATER had a similar effect, but, that was so clearly a TRAGEDY and I could empathize with the character's final choice. Overall, though, this is such an admirable film, and it's so nice to see real-looking people and not wise-cracking waxed-chested young male models as the leads. And this film contains one of the most joltingly realistic-looking scenes of a shark suddenly surfacing RIGHT NEXT TO REAL PEOPLE. AHHHHH! This alone brought me back to the so-thrilled-to-be-terrified feeling of seeing the original JAWS in a crowded theater when it was first released. Very cool.

I have seen jaws 1-30 etc, sci fi shark movies, bu this movie was quick paced and hard to swallow from a humans standpoint, not the shark. Accidents can happen anywhere, however, while this can happen to anyone on a yacht they were not safety prepared with a proper distress signal, flares or even life jackets and a emergency life boat! Shame on them in my opinion! They worked the best they could to survive, however, if they were at least prepared they would ALL have survived fairly easily. This was just horrible in the way they became the buffet all you can eat! Thats why when i go yachting/boating i travel with twice what the life guards recommend at all times, ESPECIALLY, emergency beacons on every life jackets, a divers metal long knife sheathed, whistle, signaling mirror, life water, survival straw filter, flare gun with extra flares, emergency rations water proofed, a pick me up candy like gum etc, first aide pouch, extra batteries, and a GPS on EVERY life jacket! Thats not to mention the standard emergency life pod raft etc and standard requirements! Sharks OWN the waters NO question about that and they become the master of the waters when you are not prepared!Unfortunately, the sharks sensors like smell being 3 MILES away and it only being one drop-OMG! Remind me to carry an electric shark repellent pole in the raft too! What a terrible situation to be in for anyone. It appears this was based on a true story at the end! This movie was 5 stars!