The Dive Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Dive Blu-ray Movie Review

Deep, but shallow.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 31, 2023

A remake of the superior Swedish/Norwegian film Breaking Surface released allll the way back in 2020 (which, to be fair, did kinda feel like a lifetime ago), Max Erlenwein's The Dive is a German-financed, English-language underwater thriller co-written by the original film's writer/director, Joachim Hedén. If that bit of background info seems needlessly complicated, the good news is that The Dive's entire plot can be explained in just three sentences.

This one's essentially a two-woman show, as vaguely estranged adult sisters May (Louisa Krause) and Drew (Sophie Lowe) try to rekindle their relationship by scuba diving in a remote location off the coast of Malta. Fully equipped with the latest gear and extra oxygen tanks, the siblings nonetheless swim into major trouble when a rockslide pins older Drew under several boulders on the ocean floor. Unprepared for rescue duty, less experienced May now has to race against the clock to save her sister while both deal with childhood trauma bubbling to the surface.

This all sounds a workable recipe for a tight and claustrophobic short film, or even a well-executed feature-length production like 127 Hours with a fleshed-out backstory and the intrigue of a "true events" hook. Unfortunately, The Dive is and has none of those things. What it does have is a fairly acute ability to wring base-level suspense out of its modest premise, as portions of its 91-minute runtime do an excellent job of running first-time viewers through the wringer with stress-induced panic attacks, close calls, and sometimes even quiet dread. Some suspense films can't even do that without feeling like an unintentional comedy (here's looking at you, Frozen) so, within those narrow boundaries, The Dive might be a watch for die-hard fans of the "deep blue disaster" sub-genre.

Unfortunately, The Dive ends up in shallow waters during several padded detours and puzzling flashbacks, most of which offer brief flashes of childhood trauma and other explained events that are never really resolved -- or even explained -- by the film's eventual conclusion, which often cripples its otherwise steady flow of momentum. Other fundamental elements drag The Dive a little further down, such as its limited but mostly painful dialogue exchanges that, quite frankly, often sound like the equivalent of a rough English translation. Given its threadbare script and characters mostly speaking behind scuba masks, was an English-language remake even necessary?

Our own Brian Orndorf had a warmer take on The Dive in his theatrical review (he even says "viewers are treated to flashes of the past") so, as always, your mileage may vary. But considering that RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray features only a decent A/V presentation and zero extras, it's perhaps not the strongest blind buy in recent memory.

The Dive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's much to like about The Dive's overall, look, which effectively balances oppressively dark and well-framed underwater footage with contrastingly bright and attractive above-ground locations, some of which are supported further by terrific drone shots that sell the film's "middle of nowhere" vibe. Sadly, questionable disc compression rears its ugly head on several occasions, with banding and black crush turning many fine gradients into patchy splotches with limited shadow detail (which actually sells some of the dread, but accidentally so.). This is notoriously tough material for Blu-ray -- a movie-only disc or not -- and even on a small to medium-sized display, you can't miss it. The good news is that these issues certainly don't affect the whole movie, but it's prevalent enough during key sequences that The Dive can't help but fall a bit short in the video department despite a number of inarguable highlights.

The Dive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's better news in the audio department, as this DTS-HD 5.1 mix takes advantage of the surround channels to deliver an immersive sonic experience. Aside for a brief opening car ride where the soundtrack drowns out weak front-channel dialogue, it's a smooth and balanced mix with excellent discrete activity, a strong mid-range, and noticeable low end that supports background effects and the hit-or-miss original score. Elsewhere, stray dialogue is otherwise easy to understand with flashbacks understandably taking on more of a fractured, abstract role that plays nicely with the enveloping surround details. This is a fine mix to be sure, and easily The Dive's greatest strength.

Optional English subtitles are included during the film, as well as a descriptive audio track.

The Dive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with in-your-face cover artwork and no inserts. No extras, either.

The Dive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Max Erlenwein's The Dive is the English-language remake of a 2020 underwater thriller that, like most of its type, probably didn't need to be adapted for worldwide audiences. (Especially given the limited dialogue.) It has its moments, though, and delivers palpable tension at key moments, which might sporadically impress die-hard fans of this subgenre that can easily access it via streaming. Sadly, that's the recommended route for this inarguable "try before you buy" film, as RLJ Entertainment's movie-only Blu-ray really only impresses in the audio department.