Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go Underwater Spelunking!

Kaleidoscope's latest is on Entertainment Studios's production of "47 Meters Down: Uncaged".  Co-written & directed by Johannes Roberts, the movie stars John Corbett, Nia Long, Sofie Nelisse, Corinne Foxx, Sistine Rose Stallone, & Brianne Tju.  Rated 'PG-13', it has a running time of 1 hr., 30 min.

A group of mean girls 'accidentally' throws new girl Mia (Nelisse) into the pool at school.  She then travels back to her house with step sister Sasha (Foxx) where they eat lunch with Mia's dad Grant (Corbett) & Sasha's mom Jennifer (Long).  Grant has moved his family to this new location so that he can work on exploring & mapping a newly found underwater cave.  Although Sasha wants to spend the day with her 'mean girl' friends, Jennifer insists that she spend the day with Mia on a tourist-style, glass-bottomed boat.  When Mia & Sasha arrive at the dock, they are talked by friends Nicole (Stallone) & Alexa (Tju) into exploring the newly found cave.  Act I ends as the 4 dive down for what Alexa insists will only be for a few minutes.

Roberts directs this low-budget sequel to his 2017 effort, "47 Meters Down", with the same panache as he did with the 1st.  He creates suspense through the use of various angles, POV shots, & the creation of claustrophobia.  The film's problem is with the incredulity of the plot--such as it is.  Once the girls enter the cave, they need to get out--that is the plot.  The other incredulity is with the blind sharks that inhabit the realm--come on?!?  The blame, therefore, is on the script by Roberts & Ernest Riera.  While they have written suspenseful scenes that create tension at the moment, when the film is over, the viewer asks, what did I just view?  While veterans Corbett & Long hold their own in their 1 or 2 brief scenes, the rest of the cast is fairly amateurish.  While Nelisse has an extensive acting background & is somewhat believable as outcast Mia, Foxx & Stallone are exactly what one would expect from actresses in their 1st screen roles--they play types rather than flesh & blood people.  They both need much more seasoning if they are ever to go beyond just being daughters of Jamie Foxx & Sylvester Stallone.  Tju is bland & inconsequential as Alexa.  The cinematography by Mark Silk & the editing by Martin Brinkler achieve the suspense that is engendered in select scenes & help the audience to forget the actresses' shortcomings.  The score by tomandandy is shark movie generic.  The cues & themes have been recycled, it seems, from other genre films.

I give "47 Meters Down: Uncaged" 6 out of 10 nuggets.   While there are individual, suspenseful scenes, the film's dubiousness is difficult to overcome.  Wait for this effort to appear on HBO, FX, or TNT.