Open Water
	Rated R
	Runtime: 1hr 19min
	Starring: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein, Estelle Lau, Jon-Damon Charles
	MFG Rating: 4/5

What we have here sports fans is the ultimate bad vacation experience. Susan and Daniel, our main characters, decide they need a break from their relentless careers and pack up for a weekend dive trip to Caribbean . After a night in the hotel with some primo female full frontal action they get up early and head out on a ‘cattle boat' dive trip with 18 other idiots into shark infested waters, buddy up and go in pairs to look at fish and stuff (why?). The captain tells them to stay together, stay close to the boat and don't be late. Do you see where this is going yet? Anyhoo, everyone finishes their little jaunt and climb back aboard ready to turn up a few, get back to dry land and party the night away. The check sheet matches, the number of divers that went in, came out so the boat cranks up and heads back to dock. Long story short; thanks to some A-wipe who forgot his mask and the poor mathematical skills of Junior the first mate, the count is off by 2 and the boat leaves none the wiser.

Dan and Sue after spending entirely too much time looking at an eel, surface to find the boat has left without them; and this is when the real movie begins. Shot primarily with a Sony HD camera we get some great sweeping shots of the horizon as they bob up and down with nothing around them but…….are you ready for this? Open Water. I can only assume that's where he got the title.

The film is highlighted with some fairly decent dialogue as the mood changes from moderate irritation at being abandoned to absolute terror with the realization of their collective fates. You get some great underwater shark shots and some pretty good acting from Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis but most of all you experience the abandonment and desolation right along with them due in part to both their performances and some top notch editing. This movie lets you feel the jellyfish stings and the tiny nibbles from our gilled brethren of the deep without having to show you anything; and that my friends is what I call fine film making.

So, without going into spoiler territory and ruining the outcome I will close with this. If you want to create an environment so terrifying you will never go in deeper than knee high water again and you only have $500,000.00 to do it with, call Chris Kentis because he is the man. He wrote, directed and edited and in the process created a film that leaves you wanting less because any more and you might actually go into sensory overload. This movie took me on a visceral ride into the unknown and although I won't go on it again, not because the film was bad but because all fears considered, this one manifested all of mine in just 80 short minutes.

Not everyone is going to dig on this picture because Open Water is the kind of film that you either love or hate. I loved it. It may not be JAWS (nothing is) but all in all it was a pretty good day at the picture show.

- J.C.