Uncaged<\/em> \u2014 which is not narratively connected to its predecessor, nor is it nearly as smart as The Descent<\/em>, a film it clearly tries to ape \u2014 opens with a bit of inessential backstory on the stepsisters it\u2019s about to endanger. Canadian actress Sophie N\u00e9lisse plays Mia, a loner who is constantly being picked on by the resident mean girls at her private international school in the Yucatan, where she and her family have recently moved so her dad, Grant (John Corbett), can continue his archaeological research. Her stepsister, Sasha (Corinne Foxx \u2014 daughter of Jamie), doesn\u2019t want to be associated with her, and stands by in silence with her friends as Mia gets pushed into a pool on the last day of school. Their parents\u2019 solution to bringing the pair closer together? Forcing them to go on a shark tour aboard a glass-bottomed boat.<\/p>\n Sasha\u2019s friends, Alexa (Brianne Tju) and Nicole (Sistine Stallone \u2014 nope, no nepotism to see here, folks), have other plans, however: They intercept the girls and entice them with the promise of a less-touristy adventure. Their destination: a secret swimming hole that connects to a system of underground caves that house ancient ruins. Alexa \u2014 the most experienced scuba diver in the group \u2014 has explored the area before, and she\u2019s sure there\u2019s nothing to worry about: They\u2019ll simply swim one lap around the cave\u2019s first chamber and then head back to their starting point. Sure, nothing to worry about, especially when Nicole defies Alexa\u2019s instructions and swims deeper and deeper into the ruins, causing a rockslide that blocks them from turning back.<\/p>\n Not that any of the characters populating this suspiciously white-washed vision of the Yucatan (seriously, where are the Latinos?) are especially bright or distinguishable from one another, especially once they begin their Poseidon Adventure\u2013style quest to reach the surface. It\u2019s a wonder any of them make it more than halfway through the film, given the almost comical number of obstacles they\u2019re forced to contend with \u2014 their diminishing air supply, the deadly currents, the fact that they can\u2019t see more than a few feet in front of their flashlight in the pitch-black water, and the way they find themselves without a way to pull themselves out of the shark-infested water once they do reach the surface\u2026<\/p>\n Still, I can\u2019t say I don\u2019t at least slightly recommend 47 Meters Down: Uncaged<\/em>, and that\u2019s largely due to the contributions of cinematographer Mark Silk, a longtime specialist in underwater camerawork. Silk brings a distinctive visual flourish to the proceedings from the opening frames to the title sequence and beyond (even though some of the above-ground visual FX leave much to be desired). I\u2019ll be thinking about a particular sequence that effectively meshes eerie, murky shots of the submerged ruins with The Carpenters\u2019 \u201cWe\u2019ve Only Just Begun\u201d until at least next summer, and sticking to the swimming pool for the foreseeable future. Summer 2019\u2019s incredibly claustrophobic B-movie creature features are all about doubling \u2014 or even tripling \u2014 down on danger. First, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":12490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-movie-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/crookedc-01.svg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGrade: C+<\/span><\/h3>\n
1 hr., 29 min.; rated PG-13 for creature related violence and terror, some bloody images and brief rude gestures<\/h5>\n
\nJoin our mailing list<\/a>! Follow us on Twitter<\/a>! Write<\/a>\u00a0for us!<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"