...for a film that operated on a shoestring budget...Black Water pleasantly surprised me.
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One of the surprise hits at the box office in the summer of 2004 was the low-budget sleeper "Open Water." Based on actual events, the film tells the horrific story of how a vacationing couple find themselves bobbing up and down by themselves somewhere in the middle of the ocean after the boat of their scuba-diving expedition accidentally leaves them behind. The whole situation was certainly terrifying, and the fact that the incident could easily happen to just about anyone had a huge impact on the psyche.
"Black Water" from 2007 follows the same basic template as the aforementioned psychological thriller, but instead of being lost at sea and praying they'll be able to fend off the terrors of the deep, the protagonists end up in one hell of a bind when a rogue crocodile holds them hostage in one of the mangrove swamps of Australia.
Now I know what you're thinking, but in this particular case it isn't like the menacing reptile is holding out for safe passage by helicopter to Mexico and millions of dollars in ransom money. It's just an unfortunate case of a few unlucky travelers being in the wrong place at the wrong time and being a tasty part of the food chain, or maybe the crocodiles are just sick and tired of being skinned for fashionable boots and handbags.
The story begins when Grace (Diana Glenn), her boyfriend Adam (Andy Rodoreda), and her sister Lee (Maeve Dermody) pack up and head out for a short holiday in local Australia. It's slow going at first as character development builds, but the directors (David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki) take care to not drag things out for too long. The intent was to try to find enough of a balance between formulating a minimal connection to the characters, while not concentrating too much focus on them as specific individuals. This makes it much easier for the audience to subconsciously visualize that their friends or family members are the ones in the story.
The first stop on their itinerary happens to be a crocodile farm that foreshadows what's coming later on in the film. Much like a small zoo, it's the kind of place where the public can have their pictures taken with a variety animals and can see teased crocodiles do tricks for their meals, usually a raw chicken dangled from a safe and secure platform. I've been at Gatorland in Florida when I was younger, and it isn't hard to feel sorry for the creatures, especially those that are housed in compartment-like pens whose fate is becoming apparel or souvenirs.
The next day, however, is when the characters' lives would never be the same. Deciding to take things easy with a relaxing fishing trip, Grace, Adam, and Lee venture out to one of the fishing holes and end up hiring a guide named Jim to take them out on the river. They climb into a rickety four-seater motorboat and travel down the river, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery before finding the ideal spot to cast their lines.
Things seem to be going smoothly until a large saltwater crocodile suddenly surfaces out of nowhere and attacks the boat. Between the shifting weight of the sheer panic going on inside and the plowing lunges of the crocodile on the exterior, the tin boat inevitably flips over, sending the foursome plunging into the cool water. At first, I thought that this stunt might have been a bit of a stretch, but I suppose if the stars were aligned and everything happened just right a boat doing a complete 180° is at least plausible under ideal circumstances.
Grace and Adam are able to swim to the nearest large tree and hightail it up into the branches out of the water, while Lee isn't quite as fortunate and can only find safety by climbing onto the bottom of the overturned boat. As for their fishing guide, let's just say that our snaggletoothed villain "snapped into a Slim Jim."
Eventually, Lee musters up enough courage to cautiously wade into the danger zone and try to make a break for the tree to join her sister and Adam. It's a suspenseful moment, but she succeeds and this basically sets things up for the rest of the story. With no guide, no boat, and no nearby solid ground in sight, the trio are trapped and not only forced to deal with psychological tension but also to find enough will power to stay alive and find a way to get out of their nearly hopeless predicament.
One of the things I found respectable was that the filmmakers insisted on using real crocodiles instead of going today's usual CGI route. While other creature features like "Anaconda" and "Lake Placid" may have a flair of their digital eye candy, they tend to lose a sense of realism and some of their credibility when they fire logic out the window.
The actors themselves also deserve high props. None of them were familiar faces to me, and their performances definitely weren't Oscar caliber by any means, but they did a fine job at making their tragedy believable. The look of fear in their eyes and terror on their faces seemed genuine, and even the tears from when they were crying looked real.
The camera work was superb as the filmmakers made sure not to show very much of the crocodile until near the end, very similar in fashion to Spielberg revealing only glimpses of the Great White in the first half of "Jaws." This amplifies the suspense in the movie, as the viewer never can really pinpoint where the crocodile is or when it is going to strike next.
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