I really like shark films. I particularly love dangerous shark films. These toothy B-movies that minimize straight to the bone with bonkers gore and incredulously conceived sharks—ghost sharks and Christmas sharks galore! To not sound pessimistic, however in a post-Jaws world, now we have many years of proof to sufficiently show that nothing goes to prime Spielberg’s monumental achievement. Each different shark will merely be swimming in its wake. Modern filmmakers dabble in chum fairly usually, although the outcomes are hardly stunning. There’s an odd seriousness, a straight-faced play with many current killer shark flicks that deprive the subgenre of what must be some undersea enjoyable. Christian Sesma’s Into the Deep’s crimson bubbles are acquainted, and sadly too critical, although this one earns its earnestness greater than the remainder of the pack.
Unusual as it would sound, Into the Deep is the Texas Chainsaw 3D of killer shark flicks. In a prelude to the horrors to return, Cassidy (Scout Taylor-Compton, Halloween) watches as her father is viciously devoured by a killer nice white off the coast of Australia close to the oceanic Indonesian border. Common flashbacks account for Richard Dreyfuss’ (Jaws, naturally) temporary function as Cassidy’s maternal grandfather, a deep sea extraordinaire determined to assist Cassidy overcome her concern of the open ocean.
It’s all very Hallmark, saccharine oodles the place a shark swallowing a person complete must be. Into the Deep probes deeper into Cassidy’s shallow Soul Surfer psyche than it does the sunken treasure chests and pirates that account for the majority of its motion. When the flashbacks recede, Cassidy ventures off into the identical waters the place her father was killed alongside husband, Gregg (Callum McGowan) and a rotating solid of shark feed.
Into the Deep’s extra regressive moments feed the nice whites each, properly, non-white member of the solid. Indonesian pirates and non-English talking mates alongside for the experience are naturally the primary to chew it. Their deaths largely quantity to computer-generate gore and nebulous plumes of blood within the water, although it’s laborious to not zone in on the politics of feeding the nice whites largely minority bit gamers as Cassidy develops right into a form of shark whisperer.
If the sharks weren’t sufficient, Cassidy and crew are boarded by Jordan Devane’s (Jon Seda) ragtag band of drug smugglers. Their incentive for seizing the ship is rarely thoughtfully defined, but it surely does enable for some karmic, shark-maw justice. Moreover, Sesma frames the extra visceral, tactile motion properly. There are many shootouts and close-quarters knife fights amidst the peeking dorsal fins, and whereas the deaths won’t wow, the majority of the shark results do. Up shut, they’re digital sludge, however from a distance, their awe and majesty are appropriately conveyed. They are surely wonders.
Notably, Into the Deep’s closing credit function Richard Dreyfuss himself making an pressing plea for shark conservation. Shudder doc Sharksploitation briefly touched on the topic, although was principally involved with rumor and rumour. Into the Deep, for all its flaws, does successfully seize what makes sharks such exceptional creatures. Whereas Cassidy’s relationship with them is commonly incredulous, tethered extra to script calls for than what an actual individual must be doing, the sincerity isn’t any much less efficient. So, whereas Into the Deep might not be a terrific killer shark flick, it does emerge from the murky depths in the long run to be one thing much more necessary: a name to motion. Positive, it’s about as shallow a plea as Texas Chainsaw 3D’s Leatherface sympathy, but it surely’s nonetheless efficient. We’re the actual killers, and that message stays afloat even when Into the Deep threatens to sink.
Abstract
Into the Deep’s pathos stays above water at the same time as redundant killer shark motion sinks to the depth.
Categorized:Opinions
