movie review 47 meters down

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Review of 47 Meters Down: Uncaged on RogerEbert.com

The original “ 47 Meters Down ”—which told the story of a pair of sisters ( Mandy Moore and Claire Holt ) on a boat tour promising close-up encounters with sharks who found themselves trapped at the bottom of the ocean floor inside a damaged cage with too little air in their tanks, too many meters to the surface to make a safe ascent and too many CGI sharks in the area who were feeling a bit snacky—was slated to go direct-to-video until it was picked up for theatrical release two summers ago. The resulting film was not particularly good—it squandered its intriguing premise and the appealing performances from Moore and Holt on a series of increasingly banal shock moments before culminating with one of the stupidest endings to grace any film in recent memory. For whatever reason, it went on to become a sleeper hit. And thus, like clockwork, “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” is upon us and it is no small irony that this one was always destined for a theatrical release because between its B-minus-level cast, tatty visual effects and a storyline that goes far beyond the long line of shark-related films preceding it to find elements to pilfer, it is the one that feels more like a direct-to-video item that inexplicably wound up in theaters in search of a few bucks from bored late-summer audiences.

Since the list of surviving characters from the first film was fairly short and it would be unrealistic to expect them to base a follow-up around the misadventures of Matthew Modine ’s hapless boat captain (though his tale might have inspired the late Oscar Wilde , were he alive and into junky shark movies, to muse “To lose one group of ninnies to sharks may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness”), “Uncaged” has no narrative connection to its predecessor. Set in Mexico, the film stars Sophie Nelisse as Mia, an American girl who has recently moved to Mexico with her undersea explorer father ( John Corbett ), his new wife ( Nia Long ) and stepsister Sasha ( Corinne Foxx , daughter of Jamie), who fails to protect her from the school mean girls who bully her for no evident reason. The next day, Dad tries to get the two to share some quality time together by getting them tickets for a glass-bottomed boat excursion but when Sasha’s friends, Alexa ( Brianne Tju ) and Nicole ( Sistine Stallone , niece of Frank), turn up with a better idea, she goes with them and brings Mia along for the ride.

The better idea turns out to be a remote lagoon adjacent to the entrance to a submerged Mayan city that Mia’s dad recently discovered. Luckily, his research team has left four sets of scuba gear around and the four decide to take a quick peek at the city’s first entry point. It is all fun and games for a bit but when one of them panics when a fish lunges at her, it inspires a chain reaction that sends much of the entrance crashing down and cutting them off from the surface. It’s only then that the promised shark makes its long-overdue appearance—in this case, it is a great white who is blind from having spent so long in the underwater depths without sunlight but whose other senses are heightened as a result. Now, with dwindling air supplies and a blind and cranky shark at their heels, the four are forced to negotiate the twisty, increasingly cramped surroundings in a desperate effort to save themselves from drowning and being digested. A couple of additional characters pop up from time to time, but their fates are so overtly preordained that they may as well be wearing red scuba suits.

Not even the most devoted of Mandy Moore fans would mistake “47 Meters Down” for a good movie by any means, but it at least played reasonably fair with viewers (until the appalling ending, that is)—it allowed the characters to do all the right things to combat their plight and still found ways to turn the screws on them. Apparently returning co-writers Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera used up all their borderline clever ideas to keep a story like this moving along and have instead elected to tell one that requires practically everyone to act like an absolute idiot at every moment to get from Point A to A-. Otherwise, the big innovation here seems to be that the two spend as much time ripping off “ The Descent ” as they do the usually litany of shark movies, though one of the latter pilferings is so blatant that it is almost breathtaking in its audacity. 

As for the characters, they are so devoid of actual personality that once they don their scuba helmets and dive underwater, it is all but impossible to tell them apart at any given moment. Like most films that are set almost entirely underwater, this is not a particularly appealing film from a visual perspective—it is way too dark and murky for its own good—and when Roberts does put together one decent water-based attack sequence involving an incongruous musical accompaniment, it only serves as an echo of a similar sequence that proved to be the only memorable moment of his previous film, “The Strangers: Prey At Night.” Beyond that, the only thing that works here, ironically enough, is the ending, which is just as nonsensical as the originals, but is nevertheless goofy enough to bring some sorely needed energy to the proceedings.

In recent years, I seem to have become this site’s go-to guy for movies focused on sharks gnawing on people. On the grand scale of such things, “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” is probably somewhere smack in the middle—it is no “ Jaws ” (or even “Jaws 2”) but it is slightly better than whatever shark-related nonsense is currently airing on SyFy as I am writing these words. Actually, if you are seized with some weird desire to see this, waiting for it to turn up on SyFy in a few months might actually be the smart bet—you won’t lose anything visually and the commercials might help break up the monotony. 

Peter Sobczynski

A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around  bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.

• Corinne Foxx as Sasha
• Sistine Stallone as Nicole
• Sophie Nélisse as Mia
• Brianne Tju as Alexa
• Nia Long as Jennifer
• John Corbett as Grant
• Davi Santos as Ben
• Khylin Rhambo as Carl
• Brec Bassinger as Catherine
• Ernest Riera
• Johannes Roberts

Director of Photography

• Martin Brinkler

Original Music Composer

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Film Review: ’47 Meters Down: Uncaged’

Four high-school scuba divers explore the underwater ruins of a Mayan city in a 'Jaws' knockoff that absorbs the fear aesthetics of TV shark porn.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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“Jaws,” a movie that shocked and jolted audiences the way “Psycho” did, was rooted in the primal fear that drove its famous opening scene: the terror of having your body shredded by razory teeth and engulfed in a great white gullet. In its limb-shearing way, it caught the fear of getting sucked into a tiny (sharp) abyss. Yet part of the power of “Jaws” is that it was also an adventure drama of thrillingly wide-open space. The anxiety was dark and concentrated, the seascape enticing and vast.

But the movies made in the shadow of “Jaws” have tended to be waterlogged chamber thrillers. “Open Water,” released in 2003, was easily the most ingenious of them. It was like the opening scene of “Jaws” extended to 90 minutes ­— and amazingly, the director, Chris Kentis, sustained the tension. (I’m not sure why he didn’t sustain his career.) No other “Jaws” knockoff has been half as good. And more often than not, the cramped-space aesthetic now rules. “Crawl” featured a face-off against Florida alligators set in an old dark basement (which just made me want to escape), and in “ 47 Meters Down: Uncaged ,” the worthy-for-what-it-is sequel to 2017’s “47 Meters Down” (which is to say, it’s just as lurid and flashy and one-dimensional and grade-Z okay), four high-school girls fend off a great white shark while scuba diving through the stone ruins of a Mayan city. These minimalist “Jaws” retreads intertwine the fear of being eaten alive with the fear of being enclosed. They’re claustrophobic flesh thrillers.

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Remember how the suspense films of the ’60s and ’70s (most famously “Thunderball”) would often have an underwater sequence, with bubbles and spear guns and elegant nautical chases in wet suits? The dialogue would always cut out, which is why the scenes never lasted for more than a few minutes. In “47 Meters Down: Uncaged,” the heart of the action is set underwater, though now there is dialogue. The girls talk to each other through radio mics, pinging their lines back and forth. But we don’t, for the most part, see them talking, so the effect is curiously disembodied and remote; it’s like watching a badly post-synched thriller. Once they get underwater, there’s little sense of who each character is. Even on a potboiler level, they’re just human chum in waiting.

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To the extent that “Uncaged” has a story, it’s about how Mia (Sophie Nélisse), who has been living with her marine-archaeologist father (John Corbett), her stepmother (Nia Long), and her stepsister, Sasha (Corinne Fox), on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, acts out the alienation she’s feeling by skipping out on a glass-bottom-boat tour and following Sasha and two friends (Sistine Stallone and Brianne Tju) ­— i.e., the only mean girls in school who don’t completely despise her — on an afternoon of playing hooky. They travel to a reservoir in the middle of a viny forest, knowing that the ruins of the Mayan city lie beneath that woodland pool. The slightly delinquent excitement of the day is that they’re going to explore the first section or two of it.

What they don’t count on is the decaying columns that come crashing down, the labyrinth of catacombs that disorient and entrap them, and the gigantic shark, with a scarred hide that bespeaks years of hungry slicing through the rough seas, that’s swimming around the premises. Its open mouth is fearsome, its body has the power of a torpedo, and it will shoot right at you if you’re directly in front of it; it not, it will move forward, oblivious. The director, Johannes Roberts, has fully absorbed the heightened documentary aesthetic of TV shark porn — all those shots of gaping triangle-tooth maws that show you what “Jaws” revealed only in teasing glimpses. The shark sequences in “Uncaged” are scarier than the ones in “The Meg,” and that’s partly because the movie delivers the horrifying payoff we on some level crave: to see people get chomped.

At times, this tale of four young women trying to rescue each other in an underwater maze — as opposed to the two caged vacation divers of “47 Meters Down” — suggests a variation on “The Descent,” the 2005 spelunking thriller. It takes a lot of chops to shoot the majority of a movie underwater, and Johannes Roberts is a skillful crafter of images; he sets one eerie sequence to the echoey sounds of “We’ve Only Just Begun.” But he’s a throw-what-he-can-at-the-audience director, and there’s little in “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” that really sticks. The shocks, however, are consistently well-timed, and for the audience that seeks out a movie like this one that’s probably enough. One character gets consumed right in the middle of giving an inspirational speech about how they’re all going to survive. That’s the difference between a decent “Jaws” knockoff and a lousy one. The one that cuts the mustard will use death, at least once, to make you grin.

Reviewed at Bryant Park Screening Room, New York, Aug. 7, 2019. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 89 MIN.

• Production: An Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures release of a Fyzz Facility production. Producers: James Harris, Mark Lane, Robert Jones. Executive producers: Byron Allen, Andrew Boucher, Chris Charalambous, Will Clarke, Mark DeVitre, Carolyn Folks, Jessica Freeborn, Eric Gould, Terence Hill, Jennifer Lucas, Andy Mayson, Joan Robbins, Mike Runagall.
• Crew: Director: Johannes Roberts. Screenplay: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera. Camera (color, widescreen): Mark Silk. Editor: Martin Brinkler. Music: tomandandy.
• With: Sophie Nélisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju, Sistine Stallone, John Corbett, Nia Long.

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’47 meters down’: film review.

Two sisters find themselves trapped in a cage at the bottom of the ocean in '47 Meters Down,' Johannes Roberts' shark-infested thriller.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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Just when you thought it was once again safe to go into the water comes 47 Meters Down , the latest big-screen shark thriller that will make you want to curl up into a fetal position on the beach. Last summer’s surprise hit The Shallows proved that, despite the seemingly monthly arrival of “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel, moviegoers’ appetite for the fearsome creatures remains unabated. Johannes Roberts’ effective thriller doubles down on its recent predecessor by placing not one but two attractive women in aquatic jeopardy.  

The central characters are Lisa ( Mandy Moore , whose career has gotten a boost thanks to the hit TV series This is Us ) and Kate (Claire Holt, The Vampire Diaries ), sisters vacationing together in Mexico. It turns out that Kate was a last-minute substitute for Lisa’s boyfriend, who dumped her just before the trip because he found her too boring. When the two women meet a pair of hunky locals who invite them to go shark-cage diving, Lisa initially resists. But Kate points out that the adventure is just the thing to prove to Lisa’s ex that she’s exciting after all. “Think of the photos!” Kate urges her terrified sister.

Release date: Jun 16, 2017

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Lisa has good reason to be scared. The boat skippered by the affable Captain Taylor (Matthew Modine ) resembles a bucket of bolts and the rusty cage in which they’ll be dropped into the water looks like it’s held together with duct tape. But they’re only descending five meters and, despite the operation’s seemingly ramshackle nature, the diving equipment, including full-face masks equipped with radio communication, looks state-of-the-art.

It isn’t hard to guess what happens next. The cable snaps, sending the cage to the bottom of the ocean floor even as great white sharks, attracted by the chum that had been generously ladled into the water, begin showing up in abundance. The women’s air is quickly running out, but if they try to make a break for it they run the risk of either getting eaten or dying from the bends if they rise to the surface too quickly. They’re only able to communicate with the captain by briefly leaving the cage and ascending a few feet. When the dangers of nitrogen narcosis are added to the mix, it almost seems like overkill.

The ingeniously simple scenario concocted by director Roberts and his co-screenwriter Ernest Riera (they previously collaborated on the horror film The Other Side of the Door ) provides the opportunity for genuine tension abetted by a series of jump scares that are no less effective for being predictable. And while the underwater setting inevitably means that the visuals are often murky and the sound unintelligible, the claustrophobic environment is conveyed in proficiently spooky fashion.

Matthew Modine Joins Mandy Moore in '47 Meters Down' (Exclusive)

Admittedly, the film’s dialogue and characterizations are not its strong suit, as evidenced by such moments as when Lisa and Kate take the opportunity to work out some sibling issues during their ordeal. And the endless series of near misses by the ravenous sharks certainly qualifies them as the most inept predators on the planet.

But on its own B-movie terms 47 Meters Down works just fine, not wearing out its welcome thanks to its quick set-up, rapid pacing and brief running time. The CGI-rendered sharks are surprisingly convincing, and Holt and Moore do an excellent job of looking terrified throughout. And the surprise twist at the conclusion, while not exactly convincing, provides a suitably nasty jolt.

Production: Tea Shop & Film Company Distributor: Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures Cast: Claire Holt, Mandy Moore, Chris Johnson, Yani Gellman , Santiago Segura, Matthew Modine Director: Johannes Roberts Screenwriters: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera Producers: Mark Lane, James Harris Executive producers: Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones, Will Clarke, Andy Mayson , Mike Runagall , Iain Abrahams , Simon Lewis, Christophe Lannic , Byron Allen, Carolyn Folks, Jennifer Lucas, Mark DeVitre , Chris Charalambous , Mark Borde Director of photography: Mark Silk Production designer: David Bryan Editor: Martin Brinkler Costume designer: Eleanor Baker Composer: Tomandandy \ Casting: Colin Jones

Rated PG-13, 89 minutes

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Parents' guide to, 47 meters down: uncaged.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 12 Reviews
• Kids Say 38 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Poorly made shark sequel has some gory moments.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is the sequel to 47 Meters Down. Expect shark-related violence: Characters are attacked, bitten, and killed, with gory wounds and blood swirling in the water. A gory human head is shown, and a character drowns, horrifyingly, on camera. A flare gun is…

Why Age 13+?

Shark-related violence. Sharks attack, scooping up victims in their mouths. Bloo

"Ass," "hell," "crap," "screw," "shut up," "oh my God," and "idiot." Middle-fing

Teens in skimpy bathing suits.

Any Positive Content?

The only real message here is that it's best to think twice before taking danger

During small moments -- especially near the end -- characters risk their own saf

Violence & Scariness

Shark-related violence. Sharks attack, scooping up victims in their mouths. Blood swirls in the water. Several jump scares. Characters die. Gory human head. A character drowns, horrifyingly. Bloody, gory wounds. Shark shot with a flare gun. Collapsing cave walls. General suspense, terror. Bullies shove a teen into a swimming pool.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Ass," "hell," "crap," "screw," "shut up," "oh my God," and "idiot." Middle-finger gestures.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

The only real message here is that it's best to think twice before taking dangerous risks.

Positive Role Models

During small moments -- especially near the end -- characters risk their own safety to try to help one another.

Parents need to know that 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is the sequel to 47 Meters Down . Expect shark-related violence: Characters are attacked, bitten, and killed, with gory wounds and blood swirling in the water. A gory human head is shown, and a character drowns, horrifyingly, on camera. A flare gun is fired at a shark, and bullies shove a character into a swimming pool. Language includes uses of "ass," and there are middle-finger gestures. Teen girls wear skimpy swimsuits. Unfortunately, this movie lacks everything that made the original worth seeing; this one has confusing visuals, underdeveloped characters, and weak jump scares. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (12)
• Kids say (38)

Based on 12 parent reviews

Don’t waste your time!

Fun kept me on my toes., what's the story.

In 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED, Mia ( Sophie Nelisse ) and Sasha (Corinne Foxx) are reluctant stepsisters, with Mia's father, Grant ( John Corbett ), married to Sasha's mother, Jennifer ( Nia Long ). Grant has found an underwater cavern and is busy mapping it out, so when Mia and Sasha are booked on a glass-bottom boat tour, Sasha convinces Mia to run off with her two best friends, Alexa (Brianne Tju) and Nicole (Sistine Rose Stallone), instead. Since Alexa is dating Grant's assistant, she knows where the cave is and brings the girls there to swim. Discovering a shipment of scuba-diving equipment, they decide to go exploring. Unfortunately, hungry sharks appear, and the girls find themselves trapped, with their air tanks running out.

Is It Any Good?

Unlike the tight, gripping original , this pointless shark-related sequel is meandering and unfocused, with interchangeable characters and confusing visuals. Writer-director Johannes Roberts and co-writer Ernest Riera follow up their crafty 2017 hit with entirely new characters and a new scenario and location. But while the first movie deftly developed its two characters and then kept them in one spot, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged has four characters who rove all around a disorienting cave. It's impossible to tell at any given moment where anyone is or who anyone is. (It's almost as bad as Open Water 3: Cage Dive .)

The four teen girls, covered in scuba gear, continually shout one another's names ("Mia!" "Alexa!" "Sasha!" "Nicole!" "You guys!") as if that will help clear up who's who. It doesn't. The swishy underwater photography and constantly swinging flashlights completely obscure the space of the action, rendering much of the attempted suspense inert. Instead, Roberts is reduced to turning his movie into a traditional slasher-type scenario, with cheap jump scares and sudden appearances; none of it makes much sense. The ancient cavern setting could have been quite spectacular, but instead 47 Meters Down: Uncaged only serves to taint the memory of its predecessor.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about 47 Meters Down: Uncaged 's violence . What's shown and not shown? How did it affect you?

What's the appeal of scary movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

Why do you think so many people (and movies) are fascinated with sharks?

How does the movie treat bullies ? What are other ways of handling them?

Have you ever taken a dangerous risk? How did it turn out? Were the rewards worth it? Was there a lesson learned?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 16, 2019
• On DVD or streaming : November 12, 2019
• Cast : Sophie Nelisse , Corinne Foxx , Brianne Tju
• Director : Johannes Roberts
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors, Asian actors
• Studio : Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
• Genre : Thriller
• Topics : Ocean Creatures
• Run time : 89 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : creature related violence and terror, some bloody images and brief rude gestures
• Last updated : June 6, 2024

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47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Two sisters diving in a ruined underwater city quickly learn they've entered the territory of the deadliest shark species in the claustrophobic labyrinth of submerged caves. Two sisters diving in a ruined underwater city quickly learn they've entered the territory of the deadliest shark species in the claustrophobic labyrinth of submerged caves. Two sisters diving in a ruined underwater city quickly learn they've entered the territory of the deadliest shark species in the claustrophobic labyrinth of submerged caves.

• Johannes Roberts
• Ernest Riera
• Sophie Nélisse
• Corinne Foxx
• Brianne Tju
• 526 User reviews
• 152 Critic reviews
• 43 Metascore

Top cast 10

• (as Sistine Stallone)

• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The high school is named "Modine High School" after Matthew Modine who appeared in the previous film, 47 Meters Down (2017) .
• Goofs As the girls are trying to reach the exit cavern they are fighting a massive current to reach it. The water is surging so fast they have to crawl slowly through it while debris is moving sideways rapidly, but all the time their exhale bubbles are rising calmly straight up in the water.

Alexa : It's not my fault that nobody likes her.

Grant : You know, that's a real nasty thing to say.

• Crazy credits No sharks were hurt in the making of this movie. Sharks kill less then ten people a year. Research estimates that humans kill up to 100 million sharks a year.
• Alternate versions German theatrical version was cut by approx. 2,5 minutes to secure a "Not under 12" rating.
• Connections Featured in Chris Stuckmann Movie Reviews: 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019)
• Soundtracks Wild Side of Life Performed by Status Quo Words and Music by Arlie A. Carter, William Warren Courtesy of Virgin EMI Records/Capitol Records Inc Under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd Published by EMI Unart Catalog Inc.

User reviews 526

• Aug 27, 2019
• How long is 47 Meters Down: Uncaged? Powered by Alexa
• August 16, 2019 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Official Instagram
• Official Site
• 47 Meters Down: The Next Chapter
• Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $12,000,000 (estimated)
• $22,260,900
• Aug 18, 2019
• $47,582,563

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 30 minutes

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‘47 Meters Down: Uncaged’ Review: A Sequel Unworthy of the Original

This silly film manages to make all the mistakes the first movie avoided.

• Share full article

By Bilge Ebiri

Saved from straight-to-DVD purgatory at the last minute and given a theatrical release, the 2017 sleeper hit “47 Meters Down” was an elegantly directed, well-acted, and surprisingly compelling thriller about two sisters stuck in a cage being terrorized by sharks. Its sequel, “47 Meters Down: Uncaged,” with its silly scenario, irritating characters, and garbled action, plays like a rebuke of the earlier film.

This time, it’s another set of sisters (played by Corinne Foxx and Sophie Nelisse) reluctantly joining two other girls from school (Brianne Tju and Sistine Stallone) for an impromptu cave dive in a secret cove in the Yucatán. They don state-of-the-art scuba gear and plunge in, only to get trapped in a long-buried city of the dead, where they come across a type of shark that has evolved in the darkness without eyesight but with other, highly attuned senses.

The director, Johannes Roberts, also helmed the earlier film, and while he created a palpable sense of claustrophobia in that effort — even in scenes set in the open sea — here he flounders in his attempts to build dread in tight spaces. The bickering girls are often stuck in underwater caves and corridors, but the action is unclear and the menace unconvincing. The tin-eared dialogue — of which there is a shocking amount, for a movie set largely underwater — doesn’t help either. It’s hard to care for characters when what they do and say rings so false. The result plays like the kind of sleazy exploitation movie that the first one so studiously avoided becoming.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

Rated PG-13 for some grisly shark attacks and poor teenage decision-making. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes.

47 meters down (2017)

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47 Meters Down

Young sisters Kate and Lisa and travel to Mexico for a vacation filled with sun, fun and adventure. Lisa needs some extra persuasion when Kate suggests that they go diving in shark-infested waters. Safe in their protective cage, the thrill-seeking siblings come face to face with a group of majestic great whites. Their worst fears soon become a reality when the cage breaks away from their boat, sending them plummeting to the ocean floor with a dwindling supply of oxygen.

The 47 Meters Down Franchise Is Getting a Third Entry With Patrick Lussier Directing

47 Meters Down: The Wreck will be written by creator Johannes Roberts, who promises the movie will be "the most-intense film of this franchise."

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47 Meters Down: Uncaged Digital, 4K Ultra HD Coming in October

47 Meters Down: Uncaged swims onto Digital, 4K UHD on October 29 and Blu-ray combo pack, DVD, and On Demand on November 12 from Lionsgate home entertainment.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged Final Trailer Brings Hungry Sharks to the Surface

The final trailer for Johannes Roberts' upcoming 47 Meters Down: Uncaged mixes cave diving and hungry sharks.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged Trailer Unleashes Terrifying Sharks from Hell

Entertainment Studios has released a new trailer for the sequel 47 Meters Down: Uncaged from director Johannes Roberts.

47 Meters Down 2 Gets a Couple of Famous Daughters, New Title & Release Date

Jamie Foxx's daughter, Corinne Foxx, and Sylvester Stallone's daughter, Sistine Stallone join the 47 Meters Down sequel.

47 Meters Down 2 Is Happening with Original Director & New Cast

The most successful independent movie of the year 47 Meters Down is officially getting a sequel with director Johannes Roberts returning.

47 Meters Down Review: A Shark Movie with Almost No Sharks

47 Meters Down is a tedious, 89-minute shark thriller with less than five minutes of shark action.

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Mandy Moore Joins Underwater Thriller 47 Meters Down

Mandy Moore will play one of two sisters trapped at the bottom of the ocean after a diving expedition goes wrong in 47 Meters Down.

Underwater Thriller 47 Meters Down Goes to Dimension Films

The story, which has been compared to Gravity, centers on two sisters battling sharks and injuries underwater as they try to make it to the surface.

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47 Meters Down: Uncaged Reviews

It doesn’t try to introduce compelling characters, the shark sequences fall flat for the most part, and the screenplay is filled with laughable plot points. For an 89-minute runtime, it astounds me how it can’t be slightly entertaining, to say the least.

Full Review | Original Score: D- | Jul 24, 2023

This is a fun movie in which fairly ropey CGI sharks tear chunks out of characters who repeatedly make terrible decisions in service of the narrative.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 16, 2020

It was kind of fun, it had some spooky stuff, it had a good setting.

Full Review | May 22, 2020

This is one of the better ones of these shark movies.

It isn't quite the Syfy-like catastrophe it could have been but there isn't a lot here to take away that you can't get from the far more appealing and satisfying double feature of The Descent and Jaws 2.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2020

[E]ven as [Roberts] still needs to work on creating more engaging victims, he knows exactly what to do once all hell breaks loose.

Full Review | Jan 20, 2020

The film is best viewed as an amusement park ride on which you can experience the underwater, haunted house of an ancient, shark-infested, Mayan maze.

Full Review | Original Score: Catch It On Cable | Jan 10, 2020

There's no real message here to "Uncaged" beyond watching some sharks eviscerate a young girl's entire life and livelihood.

Full Review | Dec 7, 2019

In trying to one-up the first film, Uncaged becomes more cartoonish and unrealistic (granted, not in the league of The Meg), but that also makes it more fun than the downer original.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 22, 2019

The film ups the ante on its predecessor, resulting in a pure, rather beautiful example of genre as ritual.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 30, 2019

There are better proposals, there are better movies, and of course there are better bad movies of sharks out there. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 22, 2019

A monotone and repetitive film. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 20, 2019

A work of entertainment that is disposable and predictable. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 18, 2019

How can the girls be heard screaming underwater? How can a human outswim a shark? If [only] the director had bothered to consider such basic questions...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2019

The action and terror scenes are the only achievement in this predictable story. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Oct 3, 2019

The movie was just bad, even the music was terrible...

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 19, 2019

At least everyone was beautiful...talented, but not in this movie...everyone phoned it in.

There's nothing here that justifies the need for this sequel and it's lackluster across the board.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Sep 11, 2019

Between a very disorganized format, poor storytelling choices swallowing up any potential, and one-note, novice performances, we condemn 47 Meters Down: Uncaged to the chum bucket.

Full Review | Sep 6, 2019

It's one-death-fits-all, and it gets enormously dull by the time the film finally arrives at its legitimately creative final sequence.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 3, 2019

Screen Rant

47 meters down ending explained: what happened to kate.

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Is 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Based On A True Story?

Salem's lot rotten tomatoes score debuts with lowest of the 3 stephen king adaptations, elevation trailer: 2 marvel stars fight against a new monster threat in post-apocalyptic thriller movie.

• The 47 Meters Down ending offers a dark twist after a dramatic escape from sharks.
• Director Johannes Roberts considered a bleaker ending but added hope.
• The movie's ending echoes the brutal twist of The Descent , leaving a lasting impact.

The 47 Meters Down ending featured a miraculous escape from deadly sharks, only for the salvation of its central characters to be dashed by a dark last-minute twist. The 2017 survival horror movie follows two sisters, Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt), stranded in a cage at the bottom of the ocean floor surrounded by hungry sharks. Right until its ending, 47 Meters Down is a taut, suspenseful thriller, and also features a number of great jump scares.

The shark movie was directed by Johannes Roberts and is notable for a surprise twist that reframes the ending after Lisa finds herself alone in the cage after Kate is seemingly killed by a shark. Lisa's leg is pinned, and she's breathing air from a new oxygen tank that Kate retrieved for her. When she hears Kate's voice over the radio, she summons the strength to free herself and find her wounded sister. The two sisters then make the desperate swim back to the boat. However, the final scene of 47 Meters Down reveals that was not what actually happened.

Johannes Roberts' 2019 thriller film 47 Meters Down: Uncaged reveals the dangers of deep sea diving, but is the film based on real events?

47 Meters Down Ending Explained

The happy ending is not as it seems.

An early scene set up the 47 Meters Down ending as Captain Taylor, (Matthew Modine) had previously informed the sisters that if they swam up to the surface, they needed to stop for five minutes halfway to avoid the bends. During this nail-biting escape sequence at 47 Meters Down's end, Lisa lights flares to ward off the prowling sharks. The sisters eventually reach the surface and race to the boat, only for Lisa to get bitten and dragged down by a shark, but she is able to scratch out the creature's eye and is pulled onto the boat.

The wounded sisters are being treated when Lisa notices the wound on her hand — which she cut in the cage — is bleeding into the air. It turns out Lisa had been hallucinating this entire escape and is still pinned to the bottom of the cage. Previously, Taylor had warned that switching tanks increased the danger of " nitrogen narcosis ," which led to Lisa's vivid hallucination of saving Kate . Lisa is eventually saved by divers and is taken back to the boat, and comes to accept her sister was killed by the shark.

Johannes Roberts had considered an even bleaker ending for 4 7 Meters Down where Lisa was left to die, but he realized the movie needed some hope. The director also returned for the 2019 sequel where 47 Meters Down: Uncaged 's new characters are endangered by sharks .

Is 47 Meters Down Based on a True Story?

The shark movie has been criticized for unrealistic aspects.

The impact of the 47 Meters Down ending inspired some to wonder if it was a true story. The basic premise of a diving excursion gone awry due to faulty equipment and overly trusting tourists looking to have a good time doesn't seem all that far-fetched. However, though the plot may very well be loosely based on similar stories when it comes to the specific story of Lisa and Kate fighting for their lives in Mexico's waters, the project isn't actually based on any true survival stories .

Sizeable chunks of 47 Meters Down are quite unrealistic. Naturally, these inaccuracies only further separate the plot from the concept of a true story. However, Johannes Roberts addressed these elements in a 2019 interview ( via : Bloody Disgusting ) where he himself called the two 47 Meters Down movies "preposterous." He went on to emphasize the importance of suspending one's disbelief while watching films and pointed out:

" [i]f you went down 47 meters in a cage to the bottom of the ocean, with a tank, and you were an inexperienced diver, you would probably last about three minutes before you died or ran out of air. So yeah, sure, it is ridiculous. [...] But it is a movie, you know? ”

The 47 Meters Down Ending Mirrors A Modern Horror Classic

Johanne roberts' 2017 survival horror echoes the end of the descent.

The 47 Meters Down ending draws parallels between the film's ending and the ending of The Descent , another dark horror movie about survival. The Descent, from director Neil Marshall, follows a group of women trapped in a cave and hunted by flesh-eating creatures. In the end, Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) seems to be the only survivor who makes it out of the cave. However, while escaping in her car, she suddenly wakes up from her hallucinations as she finds she is still in the cave with the creatures closing in on her.

The ending proved too bleak for American test audiences, so it was changed to one in which Sarah survives the ordeal, though she is clearly traumatized by it. Like 47 Meters Down 's ending, the original ending to The Descent leaves audiences with a brutal gut punch. It is not an ending that's designed to sit well with everyone as it's somewhat cruel to suggest an ending where Sarah lives only to take it away. However, sometimes such brutal horror movie endings can be more memorable than the safe and victorious endings usually seen in Hollywood movies.

Did 47 Meters Down: Uncaged Repeat The Ending Twist?

Which ending is better.

The sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged had a similar setup, but Jonannes Roberts had to be mindful of not simply repeating the 47 Meters Down ending. Having the same twist ending would never work a second time, so it would be interesting to see how the director went about bringing the action back to the deep water without retreading what the first movie did. In the sequel to 47 Meters Down , four friends go cave diving in Mexico and encounter killer sharks.

These include stepsisters Mia and Sasha and their friends Nicole and Alexa. There are also a pair of assistants working in the caves and the stepsisters' dad, Grant (John Corbett). In 48 Meters Down: Uncaged , everyone dies except the stepsisters. The biggest change to the 47 Meters Down ending is that director Johannes Roberts chooses not to go through with the fake-out this time .

Instead of the twist, which almost makes the end of that original movie seem meaningless, this one is a straightforward survival story. In the first movie, one sister saves the other, only for it to be a hallucination where one of them actually dies. Here, the two sisters also fight to save each other, and actually succeed. While not in the best headspace, they actually both survived thanks to their new bond, already making it a more satisfying ending than 47 Meters Down .

The Real Meaning Of 47 Meters Down

The movie has a little more to offer in terms of reasons to fear open waters.

Like most survival horror movies , 47 Meters Down doesn't bank itself much on hidden meanings or thematic depth. That's not to its detriment either, as director Johannes Roberts clearly understands the genre and how to squeeze every ounce of tension possible from Lisa and Kates' situation. However, thanks to the twist and the detail about nitrogen narcosis, the ending of 47 Meters Down does have a little more to offer than most other films in the subgenre.

Most shark movies, such as The Meg or Deep Blue Sea, rely solely on the terrifying aquatic predators as the sole source of danger and threat. However, 47 Meters Down takes a note from the 1975 Jaws in a key way that allows it to stand out from other survival horrors about shark attacks. In Jaws, it's clear that the real danger is more the apathy of the Mayor of Amity Island and his insistence that the beach has to open. Had the Mayor simply closed the beach, the shark would have had no more victims and simply moved on.

Of course, 47 Meters Down isn't quite as subversively deep as Jaws (though, again, this isn't to its detriment, as few shark movies have managed to be). However, it does show through Lisa's nitrogen narcosis that its sharks aren't the only danger when it comes to diving in open waters. The twist has more-or-less nothing to do with the sharks, and is arguably the most memorable part of the finale. It also mirrors the ending of 2022's Fall , which also features a character death fake-out.

Because of this, the meaning of 47 Meters Down manages to be a little more than simply "big sharks are scary". However, while it doesn't have much to offer beyond this when it comes to its themes and core message, it also doesn't need to, as the enduring cult success of the 2017 survival horror shows.

47 Meters Down

47 Meters Down is a thriller directed by Johannes Roberts. The film follows two sisters, played by Mandy Moore and Claire Holt, who become trapped in a shark cage at the bottom of the ocean during a vacation in Mexico. With limited oxygen and surrounded by great white sharks, they must find a way to escape before time runs out.

The 4:30 Movie Review

In another world, The 4:30 Movie might have been named ‘Movierats’. Kevin Smith has long told tales of New Jersey kids simply hanging out, be it at the local shop ( Clerks ), the local fast-food restaurant ( Clerks II ), or the local mall ( Mallrats ). Here, he takes that template and applies it to the local multiplex — what better love-letter to cinema than a film set almost entirely at the cinema? And more specifically, the cinema of Smith’s own youth, which he now owns and operates as Smodcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands, NJ? Disappointingly, for all the promise in the premise, it rarely projects in quite the way you’d hope.

In typical Smith style, this is very much a story from the heart, remixing personal experience in cinematic form — lead character Brian David (a charming and engaging Austin Zajur) is a clear Kevin Smith stand-in, a deeply nerdy kid with a passion for cinema, hoping to sneak into an R-rated movie with his crush Melody Barnegat (Siena Agudong), if his loudmouthed friends don’t get them banned first. It starts promisingly. The extended opening scene — a phone conversation between Brian David and Melody where they establish their date plans to attend “the 4:30[pm] movie” together — is sweetly handled, with endearing performances from the two young lovers, all doused in syrupy ’80s sax. That sincerity continues into the cinematography — simplistic, but drinking in all the small-town New Jersey scenery with genuine affection.

The central portion of the film underwhelms — all the more frustrating when the sweetness returns in the final 15 minutes.

It's a shame, then, that the film comes to a screeching halt once Brian David and co. make it to the movies. The aimless narrative never feels as scrappily charming as it did in Mallrats ; the observations of multiplex etiquette rarely as sharp as the customer-baiting in Clerks . Nicholas Cirillo overdoes it in asshole mode as brash pal Burny, while Reed Northrup’s underwritten Belly is little more than a ginger rat-tail hairdo in search of a character. And as with 2022’s Clerks III , the comedy largely falls flat: while Smith has fun delivering fake trailers (one casts his own daughter in a nunsploitation movie) and imagined blockbuster ‘Astro Blaster And The Beaver Men’ (yes, there are plenty of ‘beaver’ jokes), the results are thin. The comic potential of our heroes sneaking in and out of movies, evading the manager (a one-note Ken Jeong), and getting up to no good feels largely unfulfilled. When the regular Smith roster appears —Justin Long, Jason Lee, Brian O’Halloran, Rosario Dawson, Jeff Anderson, Jason Biggs, and of course Jason Mewes — their screentime feels like a distraction from time spent with our central trio.

As a result, the central portion of the film underwhelms — all the more frustrating when the sweetness returns in the final 15 minutes. Smith’s ode to cinemagoing transforms into a self-portrait of the artist as a young man, before going full circle into romcom mode again. Those moments are far more satisfying than the screen-hopping comedy that precedes it. This being a Kevin Smith film, there’s still a handful of funny lines (“Burny’s having sex during the movie. The guy has no respect for cinema!”). But even at a slight 77 minutes for the main feature, The 4:30 Movie still feels sluggish. Roll credits.