47 Meters Down: Uncaged

"It's like riding a bike, right?"

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into an underwater cave that's been flooded for hundreds of years! Take blind subterranean blind creatures from The Descent toss in that ridiculous sequence from Jaws The Revenge where the MASSIVE shark follows Michael Brody into the tiny shipwreck - you basically have 47: Meters Down: Uncaged. Starring Sophie Nélisse and Corinne Foxx as half-sisters Mia and Sasha with Brianne Tju as Alexa with Sistine Stallone as Nicole. They're four attractive free-living friends who get in way over their heads (literally) when they go scuba-diving into a recently discovered underwater cave system - that just happens to be populated by gigantic blind albino great white sharks! When the entrance collapses the girls have no other choice but to go deeper into the caves to find another exit! 

No - 47 Meters Down: Uncaged isn't a good movie on the traditional Good/Bad scale - it's just a wildly entertaining flick. It's not a joke that this movie is basically The Descent with blind sharks - and that's what makes it so much fun! How do the sharks swim around tight chambers and hallways without constantly bumping into crap? How are the sharks able to stalk the girls through narrow corridors only to "spring-out" at them from the dark as soon as they enter a new room? If you're trying to answer those questions, you're thinking too hard. Kick back. Relax. Let the silliness wash over and entertain you. There's enough fun scares and well-executed terror sequences in this fishy flick to make it worth your time - so long as you don't hurt yourself thinking about it. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

47 Meters Down: Uncaged bites its way onto Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Entertainment in a two-disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital set. Pressed on a Region-A BD-25 disc, the disc is housed in a standard eco-friendly two-disc case with identical slipcover artwork. The disc loads to trailers for other Lionsgate releases before arriving at an animated main menu with traditional navigation options. 

Chomping away at a 2.40:1 1080p transfer, 47:Meters Down: Uncaged makes a fine visual splash on Blu-ray. Digitally shot, the image makes great use of light and dark playing up shadows with small underwater work lights or a few bursts of red from flares. The start of the show is above water in Mexico and the locations look amazing offering a well-detailed image with plenty of bold primaries. Once the show goes underwater, colors are naturally pulled back shifting mostly from shades of blue and green to complete black. Black levels are strong throughout and there is some great shadow separation to give the image some welcome depth (no pun intended). On the downside, when some of the more CGI-heavy elements - a whirlpool thing in particular - the image quality takes a hit as the effects look weightless and hover unnaturally within the screen. But that's the worst aspect of an otherwise solid image transfer. 

47 Meters Down: Uncaged enjoys an immersive and claustrophobic DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. The bubbles from the masks, the sound of the water moving, dialogue, the score, all of the elements are in play here creating an intense soundscape. I'll give the filmmakers credit for knowing when to keep things quiet and playing with silence to help push up some of the horror elements - even if they ultimately lead to expected jump scares. Dialogue is a little unique because 90% of the time these girls are talking to each other through radios in their masks. Whatever they say has a little extra punch too with an electric sizzle effect - but it's never overdone or too unnatural sounding. Levels are spot-on throughout surrounds get a nice kick when some of the action-heavy beats hit the screen.

Bonus features aren't plentiful but they're worth getting into - especially the commentary track. 

• Audio Commentary: Featuring Johannes Roberts, James Harris, Ernest Riera 

• Diving Deeper: Uncaging 47 Meters Down (HD 12:30)

I love that shark movies have become a summer staple of the theater-going season. They're not always amazing, they're usually quite ridiculous - but they're fun. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is not a great summer shark movie but it was a heck of a lot of fun. It knows what it is and aims to entertain and through one of the most gonzo plot setups - it succeeds. At least at a baseline level. 

Lionsgate issues a solid Blu-ray for this toothy movie with a solid A/V presentation. Bonus features aren't plentiful, but the Audio Commentary is well worth a listen. If you're a shark movie fan, you should have a fun swim with this one. Worth A Look.