Deep Water (2026) – Review

Quick Thoughts:

1. It’s a really good time.
2. You know a Renny Harlin movie will be good when it features plane crashes (Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2), sharks (Deep Blue Sea), and exploding helicopters (The Long Kiss Goodnight, Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea).
3. Ben Kingsley and Aaron Eckhart are wonderful. They add pathos to the proceedings
4. SHARK GANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. Angus Sampson is wonderful.
6. Watch it in a theater. It plays well.
7. Listen to Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you’ve been reading Movies, Films and Flix for a while, you’ll know that the Renny Harlin-directed Deep Blue Sea (1999) is my favorite film (listen to Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast). It’s a perfect summer popcorn movie that features inventive set pieces, beautiful animatronics, and a wonderful kitchen fight. Words can’t express how much I love the film, and  that’s why it was exciting when news broke that Renny was headed back into the ocean with favorite lead actor Aaron Eckhart (The Bricklayer is a good time). It’s even more exciting to announce that Deep Water is a good time. The film was originally supposed to be a sequel to Bait 3D, but the screenplay’s similarities to the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 delayed the production for well over a decade. 

In a most random occurrence, KISS frontman Gene Simmons and Arclight Films chairman Gary Hamilton bought the rights to the screenplay and tapped Renny Harlin to direct the shark thriller. It was a wise decision because Harlin knows how to handle limited production budgets and international crews. After The Strangers trilogy (which was shot in 52 days – all three films), Refuge, The Misfits, and The Legend of Hercules, it’s nice knowing that Harlin was given a decent budget and a proper amount of prep time to craft the survival thriller. 

The plot of Deep Water revolves around a doomed flight that crashes in the ocean during its journey from Los Angeles to Shanghai. The passenger list is made up of a soon-to-be retired pilot (Ben Kingsley), a troubled middle-aged pilot (Aaron Eckhart), and a bunch of good-looking passengers and flight attendants (Lucy Barrett, Kelly Gale, Na Shi). There’s also a super jerk (Angus Sampson – wonderful), a sassy Shelley Winters-type (Kate Fitzpatrick), two kids (Molly Belle Wright, Elijah Tamati), and a group of e-gamers (Li Wenhan, Zhao Simei). 

When the plane reaches its mid-point in the middle of the ocean, a lithium battery explodes in the cargo hold forcing the pilots to land the plane in the water. It’s a thrilling sequence that is made better by the acting skills of Kingsley and Eckhart, who add a lot of pathos to the crash. While landing in the water, the plane hits a coral reef (problems on problems!), and it breaks apart into multiple pieces. From there, Harlin splits up the action between four groups as they are eaten by a gang of hungry sharks. 

The nice thing about Deep Water is that the location of the characters on the aquatic chessboard is easily comprehensible, and as they move around the board, you know where they are going. Harlin stages the various attack scenes with aplomb (he loves creative kills), and for a while, it appears that none of the characters are safe from the hungry sharks. There are definitely too many characters, which keeps characterization thin, but all the actors understood the assignment and did a fine job. At the movie’s center is a fine performance from the square-jawed Aaron Eckhart, who plays a grieving pilot with an overly complicated backstory (kicked out of the military, sick kid). He and Kingsley work well together and Eckhart is totally believable as a man who unites all the passengers. 

In an interview with Variety, Harlin credits his ability to direct “middle-ground” movies as one of the reasons for his decades-long career. It’s a good point because he’s proven himself to be an economical director who can operate with truncated pre-production schedules and limited shooting days. With Deep Water, he’s taken an international cast and crew and created a genuine crowd-pleaser that received massive reactions from the preview screening I attended. Harlin wanted to make his version of a 1970’s disaster film, and he succeeded. If you’re looking for a fun popcorn flick, Deep Water is worth a watch.