RED ENVELOPES: Water Everywhere

The question of whether a movie is any good doesn't seem like it should be particularly difficult to answer. After all, you either like it or you don't. It's either well-made or shoddily constructed. It either leaves you satisfied or wanting. Sometimes it hovers near the line, whihc leaves you using terms like "sorta" and "kinda" and "a little bit." And of course, we reserve the right to change our minds on these things. But on the whole, it's a pretty straightforward question.

So you'd think I'd have an easier time coming up with an answer for Open Water.

When I sent it back to Netflix, I rated it four stars. In their confused parlance, that either means I "really liked" or "loved" the movie. They're not real consistent on the matter. Point being, I think it's a fair rating. For a low-budget, hi-def video creepshow, it's very well-made. The movie parcels out its shocks and thrills very effectively. It achieves a level of horror to which most blood-and-gore pictures can only aspire. It does it's job, and it does it well. Ergo, good movie.

But all I have to do is tell you the basic plot of the movie, and I think you'll start to see my problem. Open Water is the story of an on-the-go couple who take a vacation to the Caribbean to try to re-connect with each other. There, they go on a deep-sea diving trip -- and are accidentally left behind in the ocean, where they attempt to survive the elements, as well as packs of hungry sharks. Whoo hoo! Let's have some fun!

Much was made of Open Water's similarity to The Blair Witch Project, another quickly-made horror movie about people who fear for their lives while trapped in natural settings that prove to be unexpectedly treacherous. The comparisons are apt, in the sense that both are inexpensively shot on video, and use the apparent deficits in big-name stars and large special effects budgets as advantages, stripping away a layer of Hollywood artifice to make a terrifying moment seem real, and thus all the more terrifying. Of course, the comparison falls apart when you consider that Open Water is a superior film in almost every respect. Better acted, shot professionally, with an actual script to guide the proceedings, Open Water takes the gimmick of Blair Witch and gives it a much-needed polish.

Plus, it's not nearly as irritating. Credit for this has to go to writer-director Chris Kentis, who knows his characters have to seem real in order for you to have any identification with their situation, but also knows that realism must be tempered with some dramatic build, lest it be reduced to the hysterics of reality television. My favorite moments involve the couple trying to cope with their situation and reacting in all-too-believable ways, like trying to remember what they learned by watching "Shark Week", or furiously cursing at the heavens just to try and release some of the tension.

Kudos also go to the cast, which is essentially actors Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis. It's no secret that the scenes in which the characters are trapped in shark-infested waters were, in fact, shot in shark-infested waters. So everytime a shark's fin appears above the surface mere yards away from them, they're reacting to an actual danger. So the fact that Ryan and Travis create characters who you actually like and want to see get out of their predicament is quite an achievement.

But what I keep coming back to is the basic situation that makes up most of the movie: two people trapped, hoping they don't die, and waiting to see if they do. It is a major bummer. The word I would use to describe the general tone of the film was dread, and this movie does as good a job of capturing that feeling as any ever made. Even for a relatively short film such as this, the feeling starts to weigh heavily after a while. You may be rooting for our heroes, but they can't improve their lot, and you can't either, and so you're just waiting for fate to do whatever it will. It's a horror film made by Albert Camus.

So is it any good? Well-made, yes. Successful on its own terms, absolutely. But I'm not altogether sure it's good for you. It's a drag on the psyche, and while there is a place in art for the gamut of human emotion, it does make it very hard to pass along a recommendation. Because for most people, "Go see the well-crafted movie about the long wait for death" is not a selling point.