Movie Review: ‘47 Meters Down’: Shallower Than ‘The Shallows’

Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
|Updated:

PG-13 | | Horror, Thriller | 16 June 2017 (USA)

What’s the key ingredient in most horror films? An undefined horribleness in the house. In shark horror movies? Man-eaters in the undefined, gloomy depths. Nobody captured this creeping dread better than Ian Fleming, creator of “James Bond”:

“A big barracuda, if it is 20 pounds or over, is the most fearsome fish in the seas. ... This one, moving parallel with Bond, 10 yards away just inside the wall of grey mist that was the edge of visibility, was showing its danger signals. The broad lateral stripes showed vividly—the angry hunting sign—the gold and black tiger’s eye was on him, watchful, incurious, and the long mouth was open half an inch so that the moonlight glittered on the sharpest row of teeth in the ocean ...”

Brrrrr. Except Fleming was wrong. The 6-foot giant barracuda, while horrific, is nowhere near as scary as ... the 20-foot Great. White. Shark. I mean, c’mon, “sharpest row of teeth in the ocean?” Are you kidding me? You know whereof I speak. “Jaws” and its many knock-offs, YouTube’s endless array of scary animal/insect videos, and “Shark Week” have been with us for decades now.

Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) get up close and personal with sharks while cage diving in Mexico in "47 Meters Down." (Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures)
Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) get up close and personal with sharks while cage diving in Mexico in "47 Meters Down." Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
Mark Jackson
Mark Jackson
Film Critic
Mark Jackson is the chief film critic for The Epoch Times. In addition to film, he enjoys martial arts, motorcycles, rock-climbing, qigong, and human rights activism. Jackson earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Williams College, followed by 20 years' experience as a New York professional actor. He narrated The Epoch Times audiobook "How the Specter of Communism is Ruling Our World," available on iTunes, Audible, and YouTube. Mark is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.