Red Water (2003) by Charles Robert Carner

Director: Charles Robert Carner
Year: 2003
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks

Plot:

Brought back into an oil-drilling scheme, a fishing captain in the Louisiana swamps finds their trip interrupted by a group of criminals searching for lost lot and a released shark terrorizing the waters and work together to get away alive.

Review:

There's potential here for it to be a decent killer-shark film, but it descends into mediocrity far too often for it to rise above that level. One of its main strengths is its setting, with it transplanting the notions of a killer shark story into the rivers and bayous of Louisiana that lends a nice degree of unfamiliarity to the action. There is a lot of rather lovely location footage right throughout the film, which has the virtue of having being shot almost entirely on location. The fact that the action in the bayou helps its execution since the murky waters both add some suspense to the attack scenes and makes the shark look all the better in the brief attack scenes. Those brief attacks, from the early attacks on the swimmers around the fishing holes to the park ranger on the water-logged bridge and the first appearances around the rig where it takes out the remaining crew-members in some rather exciting and generally exciting scenes, let the shark loose in some decent action scenes.

The finale, an action-packed extravaganza with plenty of gunfire, kills, explosions and close-calls that it becomes the highlight of the film. That also includes the method of dispatching the shark, which is a classic B-movie moment that has to be seen to be believed. The one sequence where the shark traps a character inside a sunken vehicle is a really tense one and features a couple of attempted jumps. Another great aspect is that it features some other great action with the crime-thriller beginning as there's a lot of fine chases, shootouts, and brawls resulting in some really great explosions and excitement while waiting for the creature to appear. All of these, though, comprise just a little bit about the film.

There's not a whole lot to dislike, and most of what's wrong is that the shark is off-screen for so long. It really disappears for the middle of the movie and is replaced by a really slow and drawn-out crime-thriller plot. The middle section almost completely loses the shark to change angles, and that robs the film of being a killer shark movie with it absent for most of the film. It also lays on almost every kind of cliché with a disheartening enthusiasm, from the estranged couple reunited by danger, the hero-with-a-tragic-past, the evil business executive who gets his comeuppance, and the local people who turn on a colorful local festival at the drop of a hat.

The other factor here is that, once again, most of the shark scenes are pretty bad as even though it features a mechanical shark, it still looks off from the real shark and whenever it goes with an open mouth there's the sense that's simply just a mechanical shark. Whenever there's a CGI version of the shark, it loses the battle without much of a fight. There's hardly a scene where it looks real, and it's a lost fight. All of these make it just a mediocre shark film despite those other factors being involved.

Overview: ***/5
There's potential here for it to be a decent killer shark film, but it descends into mediocrity far too often for it to rise above that level for long periods leaving it firmly in that aspect overall. It is really only interesting for those who love killer shark films or have a taste for these kinds of films, while most others should heed caution.