# Where are/were the "Open Water" threads?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 11, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082 "2004-09-11T23:00:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MikeCollins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeCollins)
#### Post date: [September 11, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/1 "2004-09-11T23:00:00Z")
If there haven’t been any already, can we start one?
If there have been, please direct me to them (link) becoz I can’t actually use the SDMB search engine (not a member).
If there hasn’t been one - what did everyone think of the film? Was it as stylistic as some of my friends seem to think? Oh, and I absolutely don’t mind _ **SPOILERS** _\*, since I may not see the movie on DVD (wife doesn’t like sharks, and if not with her - for the horror-movie sex - then may not watch it). Honestly it depends on your reviews. You guys are an intelligent bunch.
So, what did you think?
Note: I may have joined too late so I didn’t see the original thread.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/2 "2004-09-12T01:40:26Z")
I haven’t seen a thread about _Open Water_, but as it happens I just got back from seeing that movie.
It’s not like _Jaws._ It’s a psychological thriller, not a monster movie. It’s a bit slow at first, but it gets moving soon enough. And there’s a bit of nudity to help us guys through the slow part 🙂
I thought the acting was good. It’s not going to be a major blockbuster, but it’s a nice little movie.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/3 "2004-09-12T03:34:26Z")
It is tense and moving but also an incredible downer–let’s just say things don’t resolve very nicely for the couple.
I know it’s been criticized for the motion-sickness aspect and praised as an allegory on marriage, but I’d disagree on both counts. What happens through the film is what you’d expect from a couple in crisis–alternations between anger, fear, blame, comfort, etc.–but I think it’s going too far to call it a metaphor. And the visual quality didn’t bother me (though it does have that raw, quasi-ugly DV look to it).
I think that’s why I enjoyed much of it (on a suspense level) but ultimately felt unsatisfied by the end, not because it didn’t end happy, but because there really wasn’t any dramatic catharsis. It just…ends. And not well.
YMMV. But it is well-acted, and Blanchard Ryan is incredibly hot in that early scene Diceman alludes to.
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### Author:  [@MikeCollins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeCollins)
#### Post date: [September 14, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/4 "2004-09-14T23:15:39Z")
So only two people from here saw the movie?
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/5 "2004-09-15T01:31:58Z")
The theater was rather sparsely populated when I saw the film. I guess that it isn’t going to be breaking any records.
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### Author:  [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/6 "2004-09-15T02:22:07Z")
I didn’t see it, but here’s two threads.
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270096&highlight=open+water](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270096&highlight=open+water)
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263268&highlight=open+water](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=263268&highlight=open+water)
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/7 "2004-09-19T16:45:03Z")
I just got back from seeing it. Very well acted; I really liked the naturalistic style.
It left me on edge and rather sad - effectively atmospheric.
I predict the image of the two people’s heads floating on endless ocean will become an iconic one.
On the ending, though:
[spoiler]Can someone who swims actually drown themselves like that? I would have thought that, no matter how great the desire to kill oneself, that instinct would kick in and you’d bob to the surface again.
That said, I am glad it ended in quiet despair, not some show of bravado or dramatic denoument.[/spoiler]
In other news, while at the cinema I ate too many nachos and peanut M&Ms, and now I feel sick.
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/8 "2004-09-19T17:39:25Z")
**jjimm,** about the ending…
[spoiler]You occasionally hear about people committing suicide by drowning themselves, so I guess that it’s possible. And considering the alternative (getting eaten), it might even seem like a reasonable thing to do.
It was a sad ending, but I kinda like how they didn’t pull a miraculous last-minute rescue on us.[/spoiler]
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### Author:  [@NewHeart\_Male](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NewHeart_Male)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/9 "2004-09-19T22:41:56Z")
Could someone please explain why it’s an allegory on marriage (or why it is _considered_ to be)?
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/10 "2005-02-19T04:22:59Z")
Just saw the DVD; I hope this thread isn’t too old to resuscitate…
Anyway, **jjimm** :
[spoiler]I got the impression that she drowned herself by taking off her gear, going under, and taking a deep breath of seawater. If you get enough water in your lungs, it really doesn’t matter how survival instinct you have.
I was disappointed with the ending, though. I don’t know how I would react in a such a situation, but I believe I would not voluntarily end things. It’s not over until it’s over, and all that.
In any event, I found the movie absolutely terrifying in its ordinariness. Such a simple bit of carelessness, and two lives are lost.[/spoiler]
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### Author:  [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/11 "2005-02-19T15:47:45Z")
Regarding the ending discussion:
I don’t think she drowned herself. It’s been awhile since I saw it, but wasn’t she surrounded by the sharks at that point? I got the impression that she was taking off her gear to prepare herself to be eaten by them. If she was going to drown herself, wouldn’t she have just taken her oxygen out, and kept the supplies on for the extra weight?
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### Author:  [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-were-the-open-water-threads/264082/12 "2005-02-21T05:52:18Z")
More ending stuff:
[spoiler]Her gear wasn’t giving her “extra weight,” it’s what was keeping her afloat. She had already dropped her weights, and her wetsuit and (presumably) mostly empty tank would both be positively buoyant. Just considering the wetsuit, a swimmer wearing a wetsuit with no weight belt simply can’t go underwater. It’s just too buoyant.
Also, the sharks, while terrifying, had not attacked her yet, and may never have (while she was still alive). In the DVD extra features, they showed how they actually filmed the movie: those were real sharks all around the actors and the director/camera man. They were shooting the film while shark wranglers were tossing chunks of meat in the water to attract sharks!
I just think the character in the movie simply couldn’t deal with the whole situation any more, and drowned herself. Then she presumably did get eaten, since only her wetsuit washed ashore. [/spoiler]