★★ (2 out of 4)
If there’s a shark movie, it must be summer. And “Deep Water,” the first “Jaws” ripoff of the season, speaks to the wisdom of the “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” school of filmmaking. That especially holds when the formula is still in profit mode and there’s no overspending on inessentials like plot and character.
In a tweet, “Deep Water” is about a jet with 257 passengers that crash lands in an ocean of circling sharks. Those reasonably uninterested in the rest, are free to stop reading.
OK, nice of you to stick around. Director Renny Harlin is basically riffing off “Deep Blue Sea,” his 1999 shark epic that efficiently delivered the thrashing goods. He delays the flesh noshing this time to introduce the characters about to become shark bait. Before you start bemoaning the dearth of originality in today’s movies, credit Harlin for not taking the lazy route with the Great White. In “Deep Water,” it’s dozens of mako sharks getting their closeups to show off their bleeding gums accessorized with chunks of human flesh.
Forget anything new. Director Renny Harlin is polishing up his same old bag of shark tricks. But the dude knows how to deliver assembly line product like nobody’s business.
Back to the characters. Sir Ben Kingsley, the 82-year-old Oscar winner for “Ghandi,” seems a more likely candidate for assisted living than his job here as captain of the jet flying from Los Angeles to Shanghai. The captain—his friends call him Rich—is introduced at a karaoke bar hitting on flight attendants by warbling "Fly Me to the Moon." His first officer Ben, a thankless role played by Aaron Eckhart, finds Rich annoying. You’re not alone, Ben.
The captain isn’t warbling for long as he’s soon strapped in for action and forced to make an emergency landing in the Pacific—something about an exploding red plastic suitcase in the cargo hold that none of the four writers credited with the script bothers to fully explain. Kudos to Harlin for carving a few nail-biting moments out of it anyway. The thing is the up-in-flames jet generates a lot more tension than the repetitive shark attacks.
And about Ben. He’s troubled. His son has cancer. He’s losing it and he needs a chance at redemption. Nothing like being heroic after a plane crash to supply it.
The upshot is that there are only 30 survivors of the crash to entice those makos out to snack. And those 30 bodies have stories all drawn from the cliché playbook—the usual asshole (Angus Sampson), the cute kids—Cora (Molly Belle Wright) and younger brother Finn (Elijah Tamati)—the wiseass grandma (Kate Fitzpatrick), the jerky jock (Lakota Johnson), and the oversexed couple (Ryan Bown and Kelly Gale) you just know will die for their sins. It’s a wonder the sharks want to dine on such slim, stale pickings.
And yet we as viewers sign up for it every time. Or nearly. I draw the line at 2010’s “Sharktopus.” Harlin isn’t giving us any new stuff with “Deep Water.” He’s polishing up his same old bag of shark tricks. But the dude knows how to deliver assembly line product like nobody’s business. Who’s biting?