I guess in August movie fans turn toward a shark infested film in which a hero arises to save the day for all those innocent folks along the beach and in this case not so innocent explorers in the deep water off the coast of China, which is probably in the Mariana Trench.
Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) who has become the savior with his heroics in many recent films is also the key guy in this rather cheesy deep water play about a mega-shark that lives beneath what is assumed to be the bottom of the sea. Morris (Rainn Wilson) has financed the deep water probe which is lead by Zhang (Winston Chao) and his daughter Suyin (Bingbing Li). Their immediate goal is to attempt to penetrate the bottom layer and determine what lives below.
No one is surprised when the experimental craft penetrates the bottom and finds a new layer of water below. Initially we are exposed to a beautiful world filled with new creatures and colorful plants as they lit by the lanterns dropped off by the crew. It all looks a little like Pandora at Disney World. Suddenly the explorers are hit by something big (surprise-a giant shark). When the vehicle is damaged Lori (Jessica McNamee) is wounded, she is the former wife of Statham’s Jonas Taylor. Taylor has sworn off dangerous adventures and will not accept an assignment even with exceptional amounts of money to help rescue the stranded explorer. But he quickly changes his mind when it’s his former wife that has need of his help.
From that point on there is little we haven’t seen before. Crowded beaches attacked by giant sharks, a mother who is reluctant to allow her son to go into the water but bends when he begs and then must scream and search for her child when the attack begins. Giant sharks that can eat a very large sea going vessel, unbelievable heroics by Statham who heads into the water at one point with only a spear gun which can quiet the giant vicious monster.
Toshi (Masi Oka) is the first victim in the group and Morris (Rainn Wilson) the greedy investor, there is always one of them in this type of picture, insists the crew continue and capture the giant rather than playing it safe. Page Kennedy plays DJ, he brings comic relief when it’s needed and Ruby Rose is Jaxx DJ’s partner in the technical aspects of the vehicles.
Young Shuya Sophias Cai plays Meiying the daughter of Suyin, she has the most interesting part, moving her mother and Taylor toward each other with her short statements and eye movement. She is not only cute by smart and very effective.
This is a Summer free wheeling action adventure in the water, it lacks the quality of it’s predecessors but it is what we expect in an August release.