The Wasteland Reviewer

Deep Water (2026) Written Review

Plane crashes, sharks, and the worst of human nature…OH MY! Renny Harlin is coming off a rough patch after his trilogy for The Strangers fell incredibly flat and did not light the box office on fire. His filmography certainly has some fun thrillers thrown in there with the likes of Die Hard 2 and Deep Blue Sea (he must have a thing for or against sharks). Deep Blue Sea is one of those silly, tongue-in-cheek types of movies that are not great, but they are a great time. You would hope to get some of the same with Harlin’s Deep Water which is coming out the first weekend of May (the true start of summer movie season). This new effort is a hodgepodge of survival film that combines a plane crash story and taking on this wild CGI shark. 

What does Harlin bring to the table with this new survival thriller? Probably the biggest and most impressive takeaway is the actual plane crash. Send Help still takes the cake for best of the year regarding plane crashes but the detail and twisted execution give this sequence plenty of redeeming qualities. From a tonal standpoint, this film does quite get the right “feel”. The audience is dropped into a serious dramatic tone but as the film goes on, the sharks will do stuff that is so absurd that they begin to feel campy and satirical (which clashes poorly with the rest of the film). The pacing is a tad sluggish as well with the runtime (which is not large but does feel its lengths based on other factors. The film is a mixture of practical and computer effects which feels a bit awkward at points, especially as the ensemble from the plane is stuck on the wreckage. 

Does the screenplay do the film many favors? When six different writers had a run at this, that says a lot. The narrative is simple…plane crashes and the survivors need to weather sharks to survive and be rescued. There are a few moments when the film would have benefited (tonally and pacing-wise) to just wrap up but an increased number of illogical and absurd happenings occur that take you out of the film. The dialogue throughout the film is quite flat and clunky which doesn’t bring much life to the experience either. The biggest issue is the characters. There are a few elements of the ensemble that work, including the co-pilot stepping up to lead and get back to his family as well as the two child siblings trying to get back to each other. Outside of that, you have a bunch of one-dimensional stereotypes that feel so forced that it is quite annoying. The worst is the obligatory “bad person” character who is a ridiculously written jerk for shock’s sake and only makes you want to stop watching when they are on screen. 

Where does the cast factor into the experience? Similarly, there are a few standouts while the rest are just there for the ride. You have a big name like Ben Kingsley as the captain who is casually walking through most of his role but does deliver one powerful moment. Aaron Eckhart carries much of the film as the co-pilot turned captain who leads the group of survivors. Eckhart is a talented performer and brings presence and some solid emotion to the experience. Not many of the rest of the cast stand out except for a few character actors. Unfortunately, the ensemble does not feel like a memorable one. 

Is Deep Water the next fun genre flick in Harlin’s filmography? Not quite. This is certainly not a good film, but it also lacks the fun of something like Deep Blue Sea. The plane crash elements are much more effective and engaging than when it becomes a big dumb shark flick. Eckhart shows he can still carry a movie, but he just doesn’t have a strong foundation to work with in Deep Water.