Written and Directed by Chris Kentis Running Time: 1:20 Rated R for language and some nudity. C+

Open Water was a decent low budget thriller, but not nearly as exciting as I would have hoped.

Daniel and Susan are a power couple, looking to take a vacation. They end up visiting a warm, tropical area and decide that a little scuba diving is in order. But an inept tour company screws up the head count, and Susan and Daniel are left alone in the ocean. What happens over the next 24 hours is something no person should ever have to go through.

The entire movie is basically two people in the ocean. So if you like introspective, monotonous films, you'll enjoy Open Water. They yell at each other, tell each other they love them, get sick, get bitten by a shark and generally contemplate life as we know it. There isn't really much else to the movie. Just a lot of time spent in the water. In some ways it was interesting, but I think the key to this movie is the realism.

There are no animitronic or CGI sharks. Everything you see is real. Two real people in the real ocean, being surrounded at times by jellyfish and sharks. So whether you like the movie or not really depends on your mindset going in. If you go in thinking you'll be treated to a good horror film like Jaws or some mindless slasher film, you'll be disappointed. If you go in thinking you're going to see a low budget flick that doesn't look very good but feels like someone's actual home video, you'll probably enjoy it. I knew what the movie was about before I saw it, and I knew it wasn't going to be a high gloss Hollywood film, but at the same time, the articles and advertising led me to believe it was going to be more thrilling than it was.

The actors were fine. Both seemed like everyday people on vacation. The look of the movie was poor, but I think that's part of the charm. It looks like someone followed them around with a video camera for the day and happened to be stranded with them. The thrills and chills weren't really there for me. Even when the sharks appeared, they didn't seem to do much more than float by. The terror would have come from the actors, and when it came to being scared, I never felt like they were. I felt like they knew that if they wanted to, they could hop on to the production boat. It was only at the very, very end that I felt the emotion that I should have felt throughout. I won't give away the ending, but suffice to say, I honestly didn't see it coming.

So overall, Open Water was a so-so film. It was good for what it was; a low budget movie that relies on charm over substance. But as far as being a good movie, it needed more than what it offered.