Billed as a terrifying shark film, Dark Tide is actually a talky and quite dull experience.
One complaint that I have about most shark-related movies is that they’re wildly exaggerated. Sharks don’t actively hunt people. Most shark attacks are accidents, with the shark not knowing that it is biting a human. Once a shark discovers what it’s bitten isn’t a seal or other prey item, it usually lets go and doesn’t come back.
Dark Tide, a 2012 adventure/drama movie, is commendable for not over-exaggerating shark behavior. In fact, the movie not only gets that right but the opening includes some of the best great white shark footage I’ve ever seen in a movie. Sadly, though, the rest of the movie doesn’t live up to its portrayal of the sharks. It’s a shame because the film starts out refreshingly strong.
Halle Berry plays Kate Mathieson, a free-diving shark expert. Through her understanding of shark behavior, she’s able to get extremely close to them. Her husband, Jeff (Olivier Martinez,) is filming a documentary about her. During one of the filmed dives, a great white shark attacks and kills one of their safety divers. Kate narrowly escapes with her life. She’s understandably traumatized.
Flash forward a year later and Kate, now estranged from Jeff, has stopped diving altogether. She now gives seal tours off the coast of South Africa. Because she refuses to take tourists to dive with sharks, her tour business lags behind her competitors. As a result, the bills aren’t getting paid and the bank is threatening to take her boat.
Jeff suddenly returns with the promise of a big payday. If Kate agrees to take Brady (Ralph Brown), a obnoxious and wealthy man out to dive with the great white sharks, she could make €100,000. The catch is that he doesn’t want to be in a cage. Of course, Kate reluctantly agrees. Otherwise, this would be a very short film.
Unfortunately for the viewer, director John Stockwell (Blue Crush) subverts any building of tension or suspense. Billed as a terrifying shark film, Dark Tide is actually a talky and quite dull experience. While the script intends Brady to be the obvious antagonist, no one in the movie — save Brady’s son, Luke (Luke Tyler) — is remotely likable. The supposed dynamic between Kate and Jeff is hampered by a lack of chemistry between the characters. (Which is hilarious because Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez became a real-life couple as a result of this movie.) By the time the inevitable happens and everyone ends up in the water with the sharks, it meant very little to me who lived or died. The actual climactic scenario feels contrived and haphazard editing managed to kill off what little enthusiasm I had left.
For everything Dark Tide gets right about sharks, it gets wrong about engaging storytelling four times over.
1.5 out of 5.0 stars
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