The Dive Review

Plot: Two sisters go diving at a beautiful, remote location. One of the sisters is struck by a rock, leaving her trapped 28 meters below. With dangerously low levels of oxygen and cold temperatures, it is up to her sister to fight for her life.

Film: The Dive

Director: Maximilian Erlenwein

Writers: Maximilian Erlenwein, Joachim Hedén

Starring: Louise Krause, Sophie Lowe

When semi-estranged sisters, May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe), take a trip to go diving together in a remote location, neither expects that this trip will be anything unlike the diving trips they’ve taken before. When a landslide on the nearby cliffs causes May to become trapped underwater with limited oxygen, younger sister Drew must put her impulsiveness aside to save her sisters life in what is an incredibly stressful hour and half long film. 

The Dive is very reminiscent of the creature feature, 47 Metres Down, which is of course a shark film but in which one of the cage divers becomes trapped and the other must help them get air, while avoiding the man-eating fish hunting them. That added layer of danger is not present in The Dive, but the film on its own was still incredibly tense. What I did like about this film is that May and Drew were the only two characters, there was no one on a boat coming to help them, like in the aforementioned film, no one knew they were there or in any danger, and with May trapped, her survival rests solely on Drew, which is not a position I would ever want to be in. 

I didn’t love Drew. Her character was the least interesting of the two, being the younger sister who was obviously shielded from the childhood trauma that May is dealing with for the entirety of the film, it wasn’t Drew I was rooting for but she is the unlikely hero, no one would have doubted that older sister May would have gotten the job done, so I understand why Drew’s character was portrayed the way she was, though I think now is the time to address the most frustrating aspect of this film and that is the fact that the women seem to have all the gear but no idea what they’re doing when it comes to diving. 

To become trapped in the first place, May had to make the foolish decision to stay in open water when it became apparent there was a rockslide, when even Drew calls out to her to stick to the cliff wall. Ironic that Drew should try and tell May what to do when she herself was so incredibly reckless and unafraid of the bends that she multiple times rushes to the surface without taking time to decompress, despite being told to wait five minutes, which she shouldn’t have to be told as someone who has been diving since childhood. Every piece of media I have seen that features diving, references the bends at least once, so for her to need it explained to her is incredibly frustrating to watch.

The Dive is unfortunately a very average addition to the catalogue of open water thrillers and as someone who enjoys this type of film; I wouldn’t put The Dive in the list of anxiety-inducing films that I would rewatch to get my heart racing. This film might have benefited from a shark or two.