The Reef

5 stupid things to say before you die in open water (ordered chronologically): 1.let's sail the great barrier reef! 2.forget about the tides, this is SO fun! 3.mobile phone? how do you mean "GPS"? 4.i think there's an island about 12 miles north of here. let's swim there! 5.is that a dolphin?

I think sequels should just add an e to the word reef, so that the next one will be The Reeef, followed by The Reeeef and of course, The Reeeeef: In Space. I worked on three or four approaches to this review and this was the best one. sigh

Thankfully doesn't go for "camp" at all. A serious, subdued, and simple movie that's good at building tension and dread. If the same movie was made in America (today) it would be loud, stupid and obnoxious.

Simple, but effective.

Surprisingly pretty decent shark movie. Subdued, not over the top, and utilizes real shark footage and not the usual campy CGI. It includes usual shark movie tropes, but overlays it with surprises and an unusual, grounded look at the fight for survival.

meh...as soon as they are in the water we get the exact same scene 3 times in a row.

Not that bad. It's respectably made and pretty tense, although it does suffer from slowdowns and some monotony and is ultimately kind of slight. I haven't seen a lot of shark movies, but I normally expect them to be full of shit or buffoonish, and "The Reef" has very little nonsense. If I ever see "Jaws" again (with its hokey melodrama about villainous profiteers refusing to evacuate vacationers), I'm probably going to think this is better.

Surprisingly well-made with two or three terrific moments.

A mixed bag; they wasted the opportunity for interesting group dynamics, settling for some crappy romance but the actual water and shark stuff was quite good.

Seriously, not bad for a shark movie. It's quite realistic (apart from some things, would've been more realisitic if the shark was a tiger shark, or bull shark) and has this claustraphobic feel, even if its out in the open sea. Like Kojiless said; better than Open Water, and the best character is the captain, who gets ditched quite early on.

* Casting, Acting : 4 * Script : 5 * Directing, Aura : 5 * Ease of Viewing : 5 * Naked Eye : 4

Hilarious but not intentionally.

Probably more realistic than Open Water, but realism doesn't always translate into goodness. There are multiple scenes where absolutely nothing happens, and several others that are simply repeats of former ones. Also, (other than the ship captain) the characters were utterly annoying. Yes, I suppose that's how my best friend's ditzy sister would react when she began to panic...but that doesn't mean I want to watch it for 90 minutes.

`open water` with 2 couples, more intense shark attack scenes that look real...

This could have been called "Open Water 2." Similar premise, except tension (and shark count) ratcheted WAY up. Great stuff.

A shark movie like every other shark movie. I haven't watched that many shark movies.

A slow opening and build up leads to some genuinely tense moments in the middle but it all ends too quickly with unresolved issues.