The Dive (2023) User Reviews

An Okay Film

[destiny_west · 5/10 · 12 December 2023]

The trailer to this film looked fantastic, so I was excited to see it. Two sisters go diving in a remote location, only for one to become victim from a rock slide that has her leg pinned at 100 ft. Battling low oxygen and the isolation, the sisters must find a way to free the one pinned and escape.

It was an okay film. All the under water stuff was pretty impressive and perhaps I would have enjoyed the film better if I had seen it in the cinema. I just found it dragged a bit for me and had my attention wavering at times. I stuck it through to the end and I am glad that I watched it. Would I bother again? No. But I'd say give it a go.

Watchable, but that script was shocking.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 5/10 · 21 August 2023]

Sisters May and Drew head for their annual dive, a rockfall causes May to get stuck, Drew has to do all she can to supply her sister with oxygen, and free her before it's too late.

I got to see an advance screening of this tonight, in a pretty packed cinema, I think my reviews reflected the general vibe in the screen.

A mix of good and bad, the bad, was very bad.

The good, the story and the visuals, if you can see the original, I'd recommend it, for my money, a cut above this one. So, visually, it looks great, some gorgeous shots, wonderful location work, and several scenes under the sea that looked terrifiic.

It did have some tension, it did have atmosphere, at times you the viewer are left feeling breathless, sadly you're equally left feeling frustrated.

The worst element, the dialogue, some of it was appalling, there were genuine groans throughout the cinema when the pair shared overly sentimental moments during the scenes where oxygen was a vital commodity, just ridiculous.

Also bad, Drew, now if you're familiar with a British sitcom called some mothers do 'ave 'em, you'll know who Frank Spencer was, if you don't, he was a well meaning chap, that always got it wrong, accidents and mishaps followed him, Drew is Frank Spencer underwater, dropping tanks, damaging cars etc, it's just a shame that Scary movie ceased to be, they would have had a riot with this one.

I'm not sure about you, but I simply couldn't connect to either May or Drew, and as such didn't really care much what happened to them.

5/10.

I love these sort of movies, but this one was flat

[redban02 · 5/10 · 25 August 2023]

I love these sort of trapped / survival movies, like Frozen and Open Water. But I found this movie to be flat. The setting didn't convey enough terror. The hallucination scenes were more annoying and confusing than interesting. I didn't quite get the backstory between the sisters.

Most of all, the main draw of these sort of movies involves creative thinking about what the characters could do. For instance, the viewer can have a lot of fun speculating about, "what if the protagonist does this or tries that to escape etc." Movies like Frozen and Open Water have that effect on viewer. This movie doesn't. More scenes should have focused on the characters' trying to get creative and find ways to stay alive.

Perfectly fine

[ethanbresnett · 6/10 · 17 September 2023]

The Dive is built on a simple premise which is for the most part executed effectively.

It follows two sisters who embark on a scuba diving adventure in a remote location only to have disaster strike, leading to a race against the clock to survive.

It's not an overly complicated film, with the tension coming purely from the scenario rather than any in depth character work or intricate plotting. The tension is well built, but the whole thing does feel a bit predictable.

The atmosphere of the film is good, with the setting creating a vast, eerie yet also claustrophobic feel to the whole thing.

I just think there isn't enough to this film to give it much more credit. Not enough character work and fairly basic plotting and direction make for an enjoyable but perhaps uninspiring film.

simple and limited thriller

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 27 October 2023]

May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe) are sisters going on a dive in the ocean off an isolated beach. Falling rocks cause May to be trapped under a heavy rock. Drew struggles to free her.

It's a simple two person action thriller. The premise is not that deep. It tries to give the story depth with some background with their father. It's not much. It doesn't have the same internal drama as 127 Hours or quite frankly the true story part. The diving gear does get in the way of the actors and I'm not that familiar with them. The problems can feel a little random. All in all, it's a simple and limited thriller.

Watch Breaking Surface instead!

[Togo-13 · 1/10 · 3 September 2023]

The original Norwegian movie Breaking Surface (directed by Joachim Hedén) from 2020 is way better as this. The Norwegian movies was published just a couple of years ago, so what is the reason of making another movie with almost the same script? Anyway, The Dive is somewhat a mediocre movie without real shining moments and not much suspense, and some too much emotional space filler scenes. Breaking Surface on the contrary got more suspense and better production. Anyway, if you watched Breaking Surface you can skip The Dive, and if you are interested in the story of two sisters fighting death, I would recommend to watch the Norwegian movie.

A decent film.

[jp_91 · 6/10 · 14 September 2023]

"The Dive" is a film with a simple story that feels like you've already seen it, but the script manages to interest you to a certain degree and the suspense is much better in the surface scenes than in the underwater ones. It is worth mentioning that the mix between drama and suspense provides a good touch, generating concern for both main characters. The performances of the protagonists are good, the sound design manages to be of quality and the cinematography is very good, achieving great aquatic shots. A decent film that, without being excellent, manages to tell a story that sometimes becomes suffocating.

Predictable, bland and monotonous...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 27 August 2023]

I will say that the synopsis for this 2023 thriller titled "The Dive" was interesting. And as I sat down to watch it, I had never actually heard about it. But the movie seemed like it was something worth watching, and so I did.

However, writers Maximilian Erlenwein and Joachim Hedén put together a script and storyline that had promise to it, but ultimately ended up being a very generic, bland, predictable and somewhat pointless movie experience. The storyline starts out fair enough, but it is never able to overcome the incredible predictability that there is to it. You know what will happen and how the movie will end long before it happens on the screen. And director Maximilian Erlenwein throws no curve balls at the audience, so there are no twists and turns to the storyline either.

The movie had two actresses on the cast list, and that was it. So you would think that actresses Louisa Krause and Sophie Lowe had a lot of pressure on them, no pun intended, but alas they did not. Why? Well, because the script and storyline was vague and thin, and gave them very little to work with, and thus there was no particular need to amp up the acting talents to participate in the movie.

Something that did work for the movie, was the way that it was filmed. A lot of great shots, and the underwater scenes, which was the vast majority of the movie, played out quite nicely.

I found "The Dive" to be a disappointing movie, and while I did manage to sit through the entire 91 minutes, I don't feel particularly entertained by what director Maximilian Erlenwein delivered here. This is definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I will recommend to fans of proper thrillers to sit down and watch.

My rating of "The Dive" lands on a very generous four out of ten stars.

Should've been a short film.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 4 September 2023]

This should've been a short film without the unnecessary and mostly pointless back-story. That way there would've been constant tension and suspense without the deflating sappy back-story, that ultimately was repetitive and bland and really had nothing to do with the dramatics. I felt the gals were well cast and performed great, and the underwater cinematography was done well. The Fix-a-flat canister product placement was entertaining, but they missed some opportune moments for humor with the can and after destroying the Toyota. Nevertheless, an ok one-time watch if there's nothing better to see.

This is always scary if you don't like water.

[tim-b-roberts · 2/10 · 21 August 2023]

Very disappointing preview of this film. If this film had finished within 20 minutes I would've been happy but sadly it went over for an hour and 30. The script was all over the place and the backstory didn't really give much to the full picture.

They had lingering shots in the water, and on people that didn't add to the suspense at all I think that's what they were trying to do.

I think they tried to make it a bit like the fall, but the acting was much worse and it didn't hold up to the type of genre that comes under. If you have a deep-seated fear of being trapped underwater, this would be a horrific view, but other than that I would avoid.

A Different Kind of Horror

[Poochface · 8/10 · 22 August 2023]

I really enjoyed The Dive. It was tense and held my attention throughout.

As for horror, it wasn't for the Paranormal Activity/banging doors brigade. It was a different kind of horror-real life horror. Sadly people do find themselves in situations like this and I'm damn sure they find it horrific. I empathised with the problem of fighting for breath as someone with severe asthma. It's no joke thinking you can't get enough oxygen into your lungs.

The only time my mind wandered was when I wondered if The Meg would put in an appearance and a short time later the trapped sister said she had seen something. Yep, I thought, she saw the Meg too.

All in all, I was a fan of this film.

Think twice about diving in the deep

[dweston-38669 · 16 September 2023]

I had a much similar reaction to this thriller as I did last year when Laura and I watched' The Fall', two young ladies climb a tall aerial for kicks- things happen they get stuck on the highest point- why would anyone do this in reality (except maybe the brazen, look at me showiness displayed by av young Johnjoe years ago)?

Whilst saying this internally or out loud, one still can't look away and is sweaty with the ramping tension sustained.

This is well directed, contains pulse pounding moments and I liked the chemistry between the two sisters.

It's short and lean and is a perfect Saturday night adrenaline fix- if you, ofcourse, want that!

Moving in parts but could have been better

[rcuttill · 7/10 · 21 August 2023]

I wasn't sure if I'd go and see this movie, then it turned up on a surprise Scream Unseen screening. It clearly centres around one of the sisters trapped underwater and having diminishing oxygen. I was unsure they could keep up the suspense for one and a half hours but they did.

Now the script could be better but the scenes where the two sisters interacted when things where getting desperate I thought were well done. Now there is a suggestion that the audience moaned during some of the dialogue and its unclear if the reviews done on the same date or next day, like this one, were from the same screening but they might have been. I'm sure the dialogue could have been better but it is still a watchable film.

There is a back story which I won't spoil for you but I think this is not as explored as much as it should be. We could have had the sisters redemption and reconciliation and to some extent we did but it could have been better.

So my conclusion is - it's not a horror story. It is a suspense story. They did fairly well and it's not perfect but I would recommend it.

Boring even at high speed

[bakerfieldall · 3/10 · 27 August 2023]

Watching this movie at 1.5x speed didn't save it from being a bore. Many scenes added little to the plot, needlessly stretching the film's length. I can't imagine anyone enduring it at normal speed. It felt like watching paint dry during a turtle parade. Characters engaged in lengthy, pointless conversations, and the plot wandered aimlessly. Visually impressive but lacking substance, it's like a gourmet meal on a paper plate. The characters were one-dimensional, making it hard to connect. This film is an acquired punishment, testing your patience more than your cinematic enjoyment. In conclusion, watching this movie at 1.5x speed did little to alleviate its tediousness.

We were misled

[sarahchauvidon · 6/10 · 21 August 2023]

We saw this tonight at an odeon showing of 'scream unseen'. So we were expecting a horror...which this isn't. Its a good film but it's a suspenseful thriller....not a film you scream at! It does carry alot of tension, so it is worth seeing. But due to what we thought we were going to see we were left disappointed...your bad Odeon!! Please don't be out off, it's clearly an independent film and people need to see those films are quite often they are good. The acting was good, small cast, and great scenery, although a little isolated. The ending was not what I thought it would be, which is a good thing as an element of the unexpected is good.

The sea tries to murder two womans

[taramcgivern-30365 · 6/10 · 26 December 2023]

Two womans, one car and a big sandwich.

Womans go on a dive, avalanche ensues mirroring the emotions of one woman after attempt at a deep conversation.

Other woman exhibits super human capabilities to save her sister woman. She doesn't afraid of anything.

After much stress and vandalism to a local church, the womans grow closer seeing what they will do for each other.

Serious questions arise, has the womans told anyone where they will adventure?

Why did the boat leave? Would a real human not contact the coast guard in this case?

Overall, fun watch. Hopefully counts as exercise since my heart beat was raised. Would not watch again.

Try making a credible drama with a helmet on your head for 90 minutes. NOT.

[imseeg · 4/10 · 26 August 2023]

I had my doubts going into this movie about HOW on earth they were going to be able to make a credible drama out of 2 women underwater with diver helmets on for 90 minutes long. They tried to make it something special. It's not a cheap B-movie, but they failed at creating a credible drama.

The good: there is some suspense: will the sister live or die? That's about the only really question that I wanted to see answered and which dragged me to the underwhelming final.

The photography and the soundscore are allright, but nohting out of the ordinary. If this would have been a filmstudent's first film, one would likely say that he/she did a decent job, but this is defnitely not a drama nor a movie I would recommend to anyone.

Not Scary, But Good

[vengeance20 · 6/10 · 25 August 2023]

So, I only heard of this through Social Media once & forgot about it until I saw it was on at my local Cinema. I went to book it in the hopes it would be good.

The film sees 2 sisters who go diving at a beautiful, remote location. They run into trouble quickly when 1 of the sisters gets struck by a rock, leaving her trapped 28 meters below. With dangerously low levels of oxygen & cold temperatures, it is up to her sister to fight for her life & save her before it's too late.

I found the film to be good, though the first 5-10 minutes is pretty flat & boring to be honest. The script is pretty week & the whole back story is pretty mundane & adds nothing to the main chunk of the story. The story itself feels like a ripoff/discount version of 47 Meters Down, minus the sharks.

The film wasn't bad by any means, but it does feel a bit out there. So much so, it makes me wonder why it wasn't a straight to DVD given the lack of marketing surrounding this flick. That being said, the film is short at 1 hour & 25 minutes & has not bad pacing once it gets going. Though to say this is a horror film, is pretty weird given there's nothing remotely scary about it, unless you have aqua phobia or submecha phobia.

The suspense & frantic fight for survival feel of the film was good & a plus for sure. The 2 actors done good with what they were given even though their paper thin characters & stories fell short. The underwater scenes were well shot & the cinematography was pretty good too despite some weird randomness in the film that needed some explanation.

Overall, it's not a bad film at all. It's more of a suspense thriller than a horror, so don't go in expecting a scary film like 47 Meters Down. It's a short, fast paced 85 minute suspense thriller you'll like & enjoy with well shot cinematography & not bad acting from the actors in here. Though I will say it's pretty flat character & back story wise & does feel somewhat out there & a bit ripoffish, you'll know what I mean if you've seen 47 Meters Down or even Fall. The film is good though, so I'd say give it a watch.

6/10.

"THE DIVE" REVIEW

[Mr-Topshotta · 5/10 · 14 September 2023]

Directed and written by Maximilian Erlenwein. A runtime of one hour and thirty-one minutes. Streaming to purchase on Prime Video.

Two sisters "Drew" played by Sophie Lowe and "May" played by Louisa Krause have a deep appreciation for the sea. They were raised in the ocean. Spending more time in the ocean than on land as children.

Now their once tight bond seems to be a distant memory. They come off as old acquaintances who need to get reacclimated to one another. Than sisters who were raised together.

After picking a beautiful remote location to dive at and hopefully get to know each other again. They get into a tragic accident while diving which causes "May" to get pinned down by rocks. With limited oxygen, "Drew" must figure out a way to keep her sister alive while she finds help to break her free. In this underwater thriller.

"The Dive" started with you not knowing what's going on. But there is an obvious tension between the two. They allude to something happening without ever divulging what happened.

It was kind of wild "May" kept booming (yelling) on "Drew" after she was pinned down. Like damn "Drew" is doing her best. This is a lot, both mentally and physically to handle.

There was one scene where "Drew" is trying so hard to get anything to help "May". "Drew" finally got to where she thought "Yes this is the help I need". Just for it to end up in failure. The film did that a lot. Build you up, getting your hopes up. Just to send you falling like a comet out of the sky.

There were a lot of flashbacks. Which is where you learned they were sisters. Because at first, I couldn't even tell that. Also, only sisters would be arguing while trapped underwater.

You never really understand why they had the tension they did. It just vaguely alludes to what could be the reason. These two were the only actors in the entire film. They did a decent job of holding it down. I give this film three mor fires 🔥🔥🔥.

#CosmoandtheMovieWithin #CosmoMovieBlog #CosmoLanier #TheDive.

The Dive

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 31 August 2023]

Siblings "May" (Louise Krause) and "Drew" (Sophie Lowe) appear to have rather an uneasy relationship as they drive along a dirt track to dive off a remote section of coastline. All goes fine, until a sudden rockfall traps the former underwater and leaves the latter tasked with finding ways to replenish her sister's dwindling oxygen supply and get the boulder off of her foot! There are times when this film is quite funny - I really hope they had insurance for their hire car - and the underwater photography helps to generate quite a sense of the perilously claustrophobic at times. Unfortunately, as the actual story develops, it just becomes more and more preposterous and I began to hope there were sharks in the water. There are some rather pointless familial flashbacks intercut with the main theme that bring in their dad to the equation - I suppose to give us some indication as to why their relationship with each other (and with the water) is not what it might be, but the repetitive nature of the narrative soon wears thin and the original promise that there is only 20 minutes worth of oxygen left in her tank started to suggest that this might have worked better were it just a short film rather than a full length feature. I am not sure I'd bother if I were you.

I had higher expectations - horrible acting

[kristen-34877 · 1/10 · 26 August 2023]

I did have high expectations for this film. Lowe's performance is really really bad. Krause's a bit better, but still...The film is extremely slow - the last 20 minutes, I really wanted to stop watching. The goofs are beyond any possible explanation or logic. The young sister throws the car of a cliff....after having so much nitrogen in her blood already, she still has so much physical strength left. Plus they're out of a vehicle now. At the end of the film, we are left with the question mark of how they would ever survive and leave off that spot in the middle of nowhere. Also, after two times of surfacing , the woman survived??? 👎🏼👎🏼👎🏼

A breath of fresh air!

[dlbx100-703-922396 · 8/10 · 21 August 2023]

Watched this tonight as one of the cinema's Scream Unseen - wasn't disappointed with the surprise of a film I that I only had limited awareness off. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and thought the acting and cinematography were excellent. The two main actors turned in a superb performance and in my view they made me both believe in the situation they were in and also care about the possible outcome - I certainly felt invested and absorbed as the plot unfolded. Often with a surprise/unknown film some of the audience leave in the first few minutes but not tonight indeed those I spoke to were all positive. My first thought at the end was that it had been a delight to watch something so enjoyable and also different from many I have seen recently. Films like this (a little gem) are why I love both movies and the cinema experience.

Simple, but effective.

[bombersflyup · 7/10 · 30 September 2023]

In The Dive, two sisters go diving at a remote location. One of the sisters is struck by a rock, leaving her trapped 28 meters below. With dangerously low levels of oxygen, it is up to her sister to fight for her life.

While very simple, other than the technical aspects, something you've seen before and straight to the point in terms of story and setup, effective and resonating though. I always ask why when people put themselves in these situations, but I guess the same can apply to driving a car, which isn't always necessary. The performances aren't outstanding or memorable by any means, but they're believable performances, which counts for a bit. Missing a humorous line about the car at the end I reckon.

I still live at home.

[nogodnomasters · 2/10 · 3 September 2023]

I hated this film. It was two sisters who go on an annual diving trip and this is the only time they interface during the year. They have no idea where the other lives or what they do. They go diving in a remote area. May (Louisa Krause) is quiet and melancholy. Drew (Sophie Lowe) is the princess who still lives at home. A rockslide traps May underwater. She instructs Drew to go to the surface and call for help, bring back the oxygen tanks in the trunk as well as the car jack to move the rocks. These become very difficult chores as Drew must use he smarts to get things done in a timely fashion to save the sister that does talk to her.

The trapped alone movies have never played too well to me, except the girl in the high tower film. Even Adrian Brody trapped in a car wasn't that great until we find out the ending. I could not get into this movie at all.

Breaking Surface English Remake

[charliek-52994 · 7/10 · 17 March 2024]

It's ridiculous that this movie is rated lower than 47 meters down. This film is a remake of the 2020 Norwegian film, Breaking Surface. It's exactly the same things happening, only in a warm weather environment. Unlike ridiculous movie like 47 meters down and its sequel, this movie follows legit diving issues that would be faced with being trapped at a deep depth for an extended period of time. Running out of air is not your only worry and decompression sickness can kill you. I think people who are actually certified scuba divers will enjoy this movie more than other people would, as we can better appreciate being given those real diving issues in the plot. The acting was decent and the time goes pretty quickly, keeping you pretty engaged through the second half of the movie. Definitely worth watching.