Open Water 3: Cage Dive is pretty awful not for being poorly shot but just downright of a bore of a film with characters who are hard to care for with a half-baked script.
Open Water: Cage Dive
(2017)
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Lionsgate | R – 81 min. – $21.99 | October 10, 2017
Date Published: 10/09/2017 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
THE MOVIE — 0.5/5 |
|
Note: This review does contain some MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS so reader’s beware! Sigh. That’s all I can really say. Well, and zzz. Open Water 3: Cage Dive is actually the second movie I’ve seen this week about the subject following 47 Meters Down, but this the cage part is literally only takes up maybe 2-minutes of the running time… Oh, and it’s yet another found footage movie, having never seen the first two Open Water movies, I don’t know if those two were, but I’ve already professed my hatred for the style.
The story, which basically tells you the outcome of the characters before we ever meet them, has a diver finding a damaged underwater camera and through some sort of mockumentary, we get to see the footage of what happened. So, the movie focuses on three friends from California — Josh (JOSH POTTHOFF), Jeff (JOEL HOGAN) and Megan (MEGAN PETA HILL) — traveling to the Australian coast for a cage-dive encounter with deadly great white sharks, filming their entire venture to be an audition tape for a reality TV program. The first 30-minutes is mind-numbingly dull but does set up their relationships with Josh and Jeff being the stereotypical dude-bros (and biological brothers as well) and Jeff and Megan being an item, with Jeff plans to propose to her; unbeknownst to him, however, Megan and Josh have been having an affair. Like I said, that’s the first 30-minutes before the trio even gets into the water. It was rather boring, not that the 47 other minutes were anything exciting anyway. In any case, they get a close-up view of some sharks but as they are pulled out, a freak tidal wave capsizes the boat killing nearly everyone and leaving these three adrift on their own, with only a flotation device keeping them afloat.
Several hours go by with no rescue in sight, they must avoid the deadly sharks and keeping their wits about. Good news is, a inflatable raft, once onboard their boat, comes nearby and they are able to stay out of the elements and get much needed supplies of drinkable water and food, as well as flares to signal rescuers… and to light the raft on fire. Yeah, that happens to hilarious results. Dark, but hilarious nevertheless and the only reason I have this turkey a half star. Open Water 3: Cage Dive, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Grindstone Entertainment bought the it as Cage Dive and attached Open Water to help sell it on home video, is just a bad and worse, dull movie with three characters I couldn’t care less about and the acting is at best only okay but I give a pass due to the environment they were filming in. Produced, written and directed by Gerald Rascionato, this is a movie easy to pass on.
In the end, I really wish the found footage style of filmmaking would just go away, but considering how these can be made on the cheap with inexperienced directors, it’s not going anywhere. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.25/5 |
|
This release comes with a glossy, title-embossed, slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Audio Commentary – Writer/Producer/Director Gerald Rascionato & Actors Joel Hogan and Josh Potthoff sit down for a pretty laid back track offering insights into the production and filming in the water. For whatever reason Megan Peta Hill wasn’t there. Behind the Scenes (5:04; HD) is a very basic featurette with some on-location interviews with the writer/director and the cast. Deleted Scenes (13:30; HD) – There are six scenes that failed to make the cut and I’m thankful. Outtakes (1:38; HD) with alternate footage. Trailer (1:47; HD) Previews – 47 Meters Down, First Kill, Black Butterfly, Extortion, Isolation |
VIDEO – 3.75/5 |
| Open Water 3: Cage Dive is presented with a 1.78 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. This is a bit tough to gauge as 90% of the movie, if not more, is handheld and a good portion is in the water where the camera bayous up and down so if you get sea sickness by these kind of things, might be tough to watch. Colors at least are bright like the blues in the ocean and skin tones do appear natural in appearance. There is, however, some minor banding but otherwise a clean transfer. |
AUDIO – 3.5/5 |
| The disc comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which I found serviceable enough but hardly robust. There is some modest depth early on when the LFE channel kicks on shaking the floor, but otherwise it’s a dialogue (and water) heavy lossless track coming mainly from the center speaker with only modest ambient noises, mostly the score, through the front and rear channels. |
OVERALL – 1.0/5 |
|
Open Water 3: Cage Dive is pretty awful not for being poorly shot but just downright of a bore of a film with characters who are hard to care for with a half-baked script. The Blu-ray itself is fine but okay video/audio transfers and some forgettable features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.