I had quite a bit of anticipation for this movie since I'm a fan of these type of films but I didn't realise how much I'd like it. It's very well made, plausibly written and well acted. Yes the plot of a category 5 hurricane hitting where the main characters live while getting attacked by alligators in their basement is far fetched but it's fun and entertaining.
The star of this film though isn't any of the actors or the alligators but in fact director, Alexander Aja. I've seen and liked a lot of his films and like this one, you can see how well he's directed it. One thing I've noticed watching his films is he likes to develop his characters and this film is no exception. The two main characters are very well developed to the point you actually hope they make it out alive.
He also manages to avoid any cliches or any predictable scare moments. There are scenes you think the alligators are going to strike and instead they actually appear where you least expect it. There's one scene where one character swims through a pipedrain and you start to predict the worst case scenario but that doesn't happen either. I was very impressed how he avoided these moments.
The main actors of this film are also standouts. Even though you can imagine other actors in these roles, Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper give fantastic performances. Scodelario's character, Haley is very likable and she proves to be quite selfless and caring when she goes to extreme measures to check on her father. One key element in her character is she's a swimmer and she's able to use that to her advantage with some dangerous situations. I'm glad this element wasn't underused or forgotten.
Her father, Dave starts out as a jerk at first but as the film progresses, you start to see he does love his daughter even if he doesn't show it at times. As the film progresses, the dialogue between the two characters helps us care for them more and as I said before, makes us hope they make it out in one piece.
What is also great about the film is it has that tense feeling that the alligators could to strike when the characters are forced to venture into the water. There are also some clever set ups where Haley and Dave have to use the house to help avoid the alligators, the bathroom scene is my favourite. What's also entertaining is somehow things start to get worse and worse for them as the water rises constantly and it's fun to see them both get out of these situations.
Now my only criticism is even though it's revealed how the alligators haven't gotten into the basement, it's not exactly revealed how the alligators got into the area of where they live. What was also frustrating was the amount of people we saw the alligators kill and they couldn't even kill Haley or Dave. At least one of the side characters could have provided some help to the characters and instead they were killed within 5 minutes of appearing.
Despite these little criticisms, this is a very entertaining, tense and fun film that has a fantastic cast and a satisfying ending.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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