MovieChat Forums > The Reef (2011) Discussion > They abandoned a perfectly good capsized...

They abandoned a perfectly good capsized boat!


SPOILERS!

I just couldn't take this movie seriously after they abandoned the boat. It didn't appear to be sinking, and they didn't discuss it to much length. A scene where they establish that all the food and rations are ruined or gone and that there is no safety gear in the boat would have made the abandonment of the boat more believable to me, but as it stands, they just swam out into the middle of the ocean as if that were the better option.

Anyone who has spent much time on the water knows that it is virtually impossible to keep your bearings without a compass or a landmark. There was scene after scene of the 4 people treading water, turning around, looking underwater, and then continuing on in some specific direction as if they were following a trail. They would have been so lost and way off course. An amusing ending would have been if the survivors found the the sailboat, still floating, instead of the island!

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What happened was the capsized boat was getting pulled by the current further out to sea away from the supposed island. The problem wasn't sinking it was the drifting. Their logic was to try to swim now while they are still strong and hydrated. If they waited on the capsized boat for days to be rescued, the sun would of cooked them and dehydrated them quickly. They thought they would have a better chance of survival swimming for it. But you couldn't even see the island they were supposed to be swimming to. A Big Red Flag! Still, if it were me, I would of stayed on the capsized boat even if it was going out to sea, especially after Warren said he knows what could be (and ended up being) in the water. Sharks!
They never should of gone so far out to the reefs, that there are no shipping lanes. That was just stupid to begin with!

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Yeah, I understood the reasons for leaving the boat, but I felt that they didn't seem desperate enough yet. I would have scoured the entire boat for life jackets, food, water, etc, before setting out for an invisible island. The movie just needed one scene where they discuss in detail their options. They just up and left too quickly. Or, if they had been able to see the island 20 miles away, it would be more plausible. I would have stayed and hoped for a rescue.

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What about that little motor powered boat they had when the went to the reef? It had a small leak, but maybe they could of patched that up with something still left in the capsized boat? At least they could of gone alot faster to the island (if they could find it) - and kept out of the water! I think only 2 should of gone on the little boat the other 3 should of remained on the capsized boat and waited. In 15 minutes they made all these quick, dumb decisions to swim when they should of waited until the boat indeed started to sink or go out to sea. I guess the real stupidity is not being able to see this island at all. I would not get into the water if I can't see the target of where I am going! I think the guy that said there was a island out there really miscalculated where he thought they were.
I would rather drown and go out to sea on the boat than get eaten alive by a huge shark!

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it couldn't of been much of a current if they could easily swim against it. Even without sharks, leaving the boat was really really stupid.

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" it couldn't of been much of a current if they could easily swim against it."


That is an excellent point.

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"COULDN'T HAVE"!!!! Just because "couldn't've" SOUNDS like "couldn't OF" does not mean it's written this way. Are we regressing back to caveman times? What's next, we communicate by scrawling on a cave wall?

--
"Den Gleichen Gleiches, den Ungleichen Ungleiches."

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Hear, hear! That really grinds my grits. Should of, would of, could of. What???? Surely people understand that what they are actually saying is an abbreviated version of should have, would have and could have.

@Twitzkrieg - Glasgow's FOREMOST authority

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No they don't. Judging from the thousands of Imdb posts the following are all the same: there, their, they're, there's, your, you're, etc. Obviously, nobody passed elementary English in an English speaking country.

_______________________________________
"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED??!!"

Maximus Decimus Meridius

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When they get back on the boat you can see that the back of the dinghy is completely deflated. There was no fixing that.

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They had no life preservers? Duh? These should have been found easily, since they should have floated to the top.

And they couldn't find ANY useful gear (wet suits, knifes, flashlights, etc). Boy these people were clueless as well as shark bait...

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"SHOULD'VE," not "should of." Why is EVERYONE nowadays making this error, do schools not exist anymore or are they too busy making everyone "get along" instead of actually teaching? Jesus Christ.

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"Den Gleichen Gleiches, den Ungleichen Ungleiches."

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Is it correct to put a comma and/or a full stop inside the quotation marks?

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[deleted]

I totally agree. The notion that someone can swim about 10 miles to reach land in some vague direction is ABSOLUTELY ridiculous.

This movie is just setting a bad example on what NOT to do.

Show me the holes!

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I think its human nature to try and save yourself. You kick into survival mode. Sitting and waiting is the most logical choice, but imagine yourself actually on the boat in the middle of the ocean...instead of on your couch watching TV. As time passes you think no one is coming. The mind convinces you that you have to physically try and do something to save yourself. Just sitting there isn't going to get it done. Even if that involves swimming in shark infested waters.

Plus the main character guy gave a pretty good speech. He seemed to know what he was talking about. Your two options are go with the rest of the crew or stay behind with the creepy old guy. I'd probably jump in with the fearless leader to.

Sharks don't like the taste of humans. They may (keyword may) bite your leg off, but after they get that taste, they will probably leave you alone. Which I understand if they do that in this situation your might as well be dead but just saying. Secondly, if they would have stayed together the shark wouldn't have attacked them. Sharks don't like big prey.

All and all I don't think it was as bad of a decision as you guys are making it. The biggest flaw in the plan is keeping direction. I would watch where the sun rises/sets and at night try to pick a star and go that way. Not sure if that would work but that's what I would do.

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I've watched my share of Shark Week and I've heard them say too that they don't like the taste of humans but I just don't believe that. I think if a shark is hungry they're going to eat you. Secondly, if the shark things you taste nasty it doesn't do much good because you're still missing a leg or missing a chunk of your body. Hopefully, if you live you're lucky. I'm not trying to start anything I just have heard that for so long and it just doesn't sit right with me for some reason.

As far as the boat thing goes as a person who is afraid of sharks and of the ocean if I was in that situation I would have swam. He said the boat probably wouldn't stay afloat and all it could do would be to drift and drift and pray someone came along to find them. At least they knew land was back 10 miles they could at least swim to. It bothers me they didn't bring some sort of weapon though. If that was me I'd make that man hop back under that boat and grab a knife or a bat or a stick to break in half or something to stab a shark with. So when one or more came around they were getting stabbed.



Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son...

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"If that was me I'd make that man hop back under that boat and grab a knife or a bat or a stick to break in half or something to stab a shark with. So when one or more came around they were getting stabbed."


That made me LOL and smile, and definitely like your thinking lol

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Thanks! You got to be prepared you know? It's like going into the African Jungle, you're going to need a gun or something.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son...

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Exactly, I would hate to be in a situation like the people depicted in this film.

Capsized boat + wide open ocean + Sharks + No Gun = no not for me lol

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"If that was me I'd make that man hop back under that boat and grab a knife or a bat or a stick to break in half or something to stab a shark with. So when one or more came around they were getting stabbed."

White Tips attack from under the prey in an upward motion, not head-on like they did in the film, so trying to defend yourself would be pretty difficult if there was no way of seeing it coming at you.

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That is true. Heck, it'd be hard to know when any shark was coming, that's their territory. But I still wouldn't leave without some sort of weapon. Its better to be safe than sorry

Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son...

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dont think there are too many white tips in australia. the shark that killed the people in the true story the movie was based on was probably a tiger shark or bull shark, most likely tiger as they are known to stalk for a long time before attacking.

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My wife choosed to go in the water. I choosed to stay with the boat.


"Stalingrad. . . The fall of Stalingrad was the end of Europe. There's been a cataclysm."

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The bottom of the yacht had tears and was damaged. It would not be able to hold the air pocket inside and as it got water logged it would sink. And when it sank it would be farther from land than their present position... that was the logic. A ten mile swim in ocean currents to a little island that you cant see, with no real good way to navigate... impossible. But, I accept the logic... the boat would sink. And probably did since they never found it, or Warren (I think that's his name)

They chose the lesser of two evils

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And at the end it was what the real people did in the real story the movie uses as inspiration.

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Did you people even pay attention during the film?

"I just couldn't take this movie seriously after they abandoned the boat." - This was based on a TRUE STORY (so they DID abandon the boat, do you not take reality seriously??)

"It didn't appear to be sinking" - It DID SINK (no traces of Warren OR the boat were found)

"Anyone who has spent much time on the water knows that it is virtually impossible to keep your bearings without a compass or a landmark." - You obviously don't spend much time on the water then (or outdoors for that matter)- Luke CLEARLY used his watch, pointing 12 at the sun, splitting the angle between the 12 and the hour hand = THAT'S NORTH)

"they should of waited until the boat indeed started to sink or go out to sea" - If they waited until the boat sank, they would be too far out to swim anywhere, as the current was taking them out! Luke Knew where Turtle Island was!

"it couldn't of been much of a current if they could easily swim against it." - Luke said if they swam NORTH they would hit the island. Also you do know if you swim parallel to a current you can evade it? (might save your life some day if you ever leave your couches and get in the water)

"This movie is just setting a bad example on what NOT to do." - hmm well it seems the ONLY person to SURVIVE DID what you(the expert) say not to do!?

"I would have stayed and hoped for a rescue." - Your remains would never be found. nice choice.!

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Exactly what I was thinking while reading the other posts. The movie gives great detail about why they left. Personally, if I had to die, I would want to drown instead of being attacked by a shark.

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When you're in a situation like that, you don't think logicically about anything. You only think about surviving and staying alive. You don't have the time to sit and think about the logic way to do something.
These people were willing to take a risk to survive, and for one of them it did pay off...

And secondly, it is a true story. Have that in mind!

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I don't understand why the two guys didn't go with the goggles and BOTH the flippers and half a board each, leaving the girls and warren on the boat. One could of continually looked underwater while kicking silently to not alert the shark. Surely this would of been faster than having to wait for the slowest of all four of them?

Also I would of damn sure found a weapon of some sort. The paddle they saw floating off, why not grab that and use that?

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I want to know what happen to the life vest/life rings that all boats have? You would think they would be either flotting in the water nerby, or under the boat either flotting or maybe still in the storgage area.

In regards to swiming the 10+ miles in one direction north Luke used his watch through the movie to make sure they swam north

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I've never been more dissapointed with the nitpicky users of this site.

Look, this is based on a real life event. A similar situation actually happened. So in real life, they left the boat.

They can't just all stay on the boat, because thats not what happened, and also would have been a boring movie.

Also, it was a smart idea to leave the boast because one person eventually got to the damn island and survived...had they all stayed on the boat they all would have died.

Damn idiots is what you guys are, not all, but alot.

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"I've never been more dissapointed with the nitpicky users of this site."

disappointed

"They can't just all stay on the boat, because thats not what happened, and also would have been a boring movie."

that's

"Also, it was a smart idea to leave the boast because one person eventually got to the damn island and survived...had they all stayed on the boat they all would have died."

boat?

"Damn idiots is what you guys are, not all, but alot."

ARE what...and A lot.

I'm joking I'm joking I'll get a life :)



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I'm sorry. I saw it too many times to ignore it. What does "would of" mean?

"Nothing says "OBEY ME" like a severed head on a fence post."

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"I'm sorry. I saw it too many times to ignore it. What does "would of" mean?"

It's a product of today's public school system. They think of and have mean the same. It has reached epidemic proportion. These are the same idiots who watched the movie, based on a true event, and are asking why the people left the boat

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I was just about to make the same comment. Illiteracy is really annoying.

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Innit bruv

... Sanity and Happiness are an impossible combination ...

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Er, the guy did have a compass on his watch.

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Well the one guy who did stay on the boat was never seen again..so maybe that answers your question. I agree it's logical..but apparently that's not what happened. So what can we do?

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