Never Has there been a shark movie so horrifically spectacular and heart wrenching in the opening scene of this gripping film. A much-in-love young, happy couple (Callum McGowan and Scout Taylor- Compton) are about to be terrified.
A much-in-love young, happy couple (Callum McGowan and Scout Taylor- Compton) are about to be terrified. A father is teaching his young daughter how to tread water. Both are having a fun time when the daughter tells dad that something is touching her feet; it’s a shark. Both swim furiously back to the boat, but her dad gets caught in the shark’s mouth. From the boat the daughter reaches out to him, held by her mother at her waist, but he is a tinge out of her reach. He just can’t get to her small hand in time. This segment of the film is exceptionally well directed.
Kudos to Christian Sesma
Fast forward many years later, and a scuba diving fest is about to happen with friends.
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Understandably, Cassidy, the mother (played by Compton) is nervous, but her recent beau reassures her.
Things are going well under water for the two women, but not for the other couple’s son. A shark appears and all swim furiously back to the boat, but the son gets badly bittn by the shark and is in need of immediate help.
Unfortunately, a drug smuggling nasty man (Jon Seda) with his small gang of thugs comes aboard under the pretext of helping the son. A liar he is! He’s there to get one of the gang to enter the shark cage that’s is on the boat. He orders her to retrieve the heroin packages waiting to be picked up deep under water. Since her fear of sharks comes from childhood, having to go down in a shark cage is her worst nightmare, yet she volunteers. Why?
There’s an epilogue with Richard Dreyfuss as himself talking about the need to preserve sharks and their value was out of place – in my opinion. It just didn’t fit with the film, considering the shark is the predator in the film.The grandfather Richard Dreyfuss) is teaching his young granddaughter how to tread water. Both are having a fun time when the daughter tells dad that something is touching her feet; it’s a shark. Both swim furiously back to the boat, but her dad gets caught in the shark’s mouth. From the boat the daughter reaches out to him, held by her mother at her waist, but he is a tinge out of her reach. He just can’t get to her small hand in time. This segment of the film is exceptionally well directed. Kudos to Christian Sesma.
The film flashes back to her when she is a little girl. She is being pushed by her grandfather (Richard Dreyfaus) to swim endlessly back and forth to conquer her fear. It is his stern teaching that ultimately pays off for her.
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| Richard Dreyfuss |
If you
think this is the standard scary shark movie made to frighten you out of your
seat, nothing could be farther from the truth. Though there is great suspense
in the film, there’s the rich plot that slowly builds tension fuled by an undercurrent
of fear from past memory. But soon the slow mounting tension snaps into a rapid
pace of fury and fear.
This is one
of the most sophisticated horror/thriller films I’ve ever seen.
There’s an epilogue
with Richard Dreyfuss as himself talking
about the need to preserve sharks and their value was out of place – in my
opinion. It just didn’t fit with the film, considering the shark is the
predator in this film.
