Rating: B-
Dir: Renny Harlin
Star: Aaron Eckhart, Molly Belle Wright, Angus Sampson, Ben Kingsley
Harlin returns to the water, arguably the scene of his greatest cinematic triumph. Amazing to think Deep Blue Sea was twenty-seven years ago. Since then, audiences have largely not been kind to Harlin, with bombs both here (The Legend of Hercules) and in China (Legend of the Ancient Sword). While this wasn’t a hit either, it has its moments. Though looking at some elements, it feels weirdly unsure whether the movie is aimed at the Western or Chinese market. The film’s concept has also been around for more than a decade. It was initially shelved due to having similarities viewed as too uncomfortable, to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014.
For it merits the disaster porn label due to its extended opening. This depicts the events leading up to the crash of an airliner, under Captain Rich (Kingsley) and First Officer Ben (Eckhart), into the Pacific Ocean near Guam. This is very well-staged, the resulting carnage being depicted at considerable length, as people die in a variety of unpleasant ways. Safe to say, this will not be showing up as an inflight movie, any time soon. Ninety percent of the passengers and crew are killed on impact with the ocean (those cushions did not, in fact, act as flotation devices). The survivors, floating precariously on the wreckage and life-rafts, then have to deal with a pack of hungry sharks, drawn to the area by the commotion and the blood in the water.
There are parts where it does genuinely feel like anyone could die at any time. After the crash, the fuselage is split in two, setting up some new perils (top) and rather savage departures. On the other hand, with around thirty survivors, I would like to have seen… oh, I dunno, around twenty-five additional deaths. We never do get the feeding frenzy for which I was hoping. Eventually you realize some characters might as well be clad in chain mail. And sitting inside a shark-cage. Somewhere in Iowa. They will not be dying. On the other hand, credit goes to Sampson for playing perhaps the most deliberately annoying person in the history of shark movies. For him, it’s only a matter of time.
Things go a bit weird at the end, when a Chinese trawler shows up, and almost becomes the hero of the whole endeavour. This, and a couple of characters who exclusively speak Chinese throughout, are what made me wonder about the target market. It seems fairly cynical pandering on a Meg 2: The Trench level. In general though, this is better than most in the genre, with Eckhart doing solid work as the heroic co-pilot. Also highly amused to note that one of the kids on the flight is explicitly called “Fin”, the name of the hero in the Sharknado franchise. In my head canon, this is now his origin story.
This review is part of our feature, Shark Week 2026: Gill-ty as charged.