47 Meters Down

There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes than sitting in an air-conditioned theater watching 47 Meters Down, a predictable but competent underwater thriller that’s scarcely in the same league as Jaws (1975), but still provides a measure of terror for shark-movie fans.

Siblings Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt) are enjoying a vacation in Mexico when they decide to dive in a shark cage. This, as you might expect, is not a good idea. There’s the inevitable mechanical malfunction, which sends their cage plunging to the ocean floor, where an entire school of great white sharks begins circling and striking.

With time and air running out, things are bound to get hairy and scary, to say nothing of bloody (but always within the confines of the PG-13 rating).

Holt and Moore are attractive and plucky, then appropriately panicked when things go wrong. Waiting and worrying topside is Taylor (Matthew Modine), the captain of the boat that brought them to this predicament. The preternaturally youthful Modine isn’t particularly convincing as a grizzled sea salt, but he doesn’t embarrass himself either, and he adds a marquee name to the film.

Director Johannes Roberts keeps the action moving along, augmented by Mark Silk’s cinematography and music production company tomandandy’s highly effective score.

47 Meters Down was originally to be released direct to the DVD/Blu-ray market last summer (under the title In the Deep). The film never deviates from the routine, but it delivers sharks – and plenty of them.

47 METERS DOWN (2) Directed by Johannes Roberts • Starring Claire Holt, Mandy Moore, Matthew Modine • Rated PG-13 • 89 min. • At Maya Cinemas, Northridge Cinemas