<Review by: Sailesh Ghelani>

Directed by Johannes Roberts. Starring Sophie Nelisse, Corinne Fox, Sistine Stallone, Brianne Tju, John Corbett, Nia Long, Brec Bassinger, Davi Santos, Khylin Rhambo

Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes

I haven’t seen the first film, 47 Meters Down but I can tell you that Uncaged is a master piece compared to some other scary creature films like Crawl. 

Not expecting much from yet another shark film (remember the terrible The Meg?) I was amazed by how thrilling and well-made 47 Meters Down Uncaged is. It starts off just as you’d expect with ditzy girls and a loose plot about an underwater civilization that is being dusted off by a dorky diving dad (John Corbett) and his two cute flunkies (Davi Santos and Khylin Rhambo). Of course, the young girl protagonists of our film must strip down to their bikinis and discover a secret entrance to the caves, which they have to explore. Till we’re on land, it’s all pretty formula stuff. But once you dive into the deep, there’s a lot more to this movie than meets the eye.

Once you get past the ‘How on earth are they talking to each other underwater’ bit you’re immersed into a labyrinth of ancient caves that let loose their blind great white sharks who are hungry for humans. The girls must navigate through claustrophobia-inducing spaces and fend off the jaws of death as they try to find a way out of this maze. Music, direction and deft camerawork play lovely tricks on your eyes, sometimes startling you and at other times mesmerizing you. You can’t help but be invested in their plight as you imagine being down there yourself facing death by drowning or being eaten by a big ol’ shark. You’ll curse the stupidity of our humans and then applaud their ingenuity and courage.

Uncaged is unbelievably thrilling especially if you’re someone who’s afraid of sharks, the water or tight spaces. And it’s 1000 times better than that terrible alligator movie Crawl.

PS: Another good recent shark film that comes to mind is The Shallows.