DEEP WATER (2026)

3 stars

Signature Entertainment. Digital. 20th July.

Recently airlines have been highlighting the dangers of power packs for charging things like phones – if you watch DEEP WATER then you will see what could happen!

At the airport, outside, a passenger Dan (Angus Sampson) is smoking and stuffs his various devices in his case – with the charging lead sparking as it is attached to an external battery. Disaster beckons…

Captain Rich (Ben Kingsley. Sir Ben to you) and his first officer/co pilot Ben (Aaron Eckhart) are heading for their next flight together. We start to be introduced to various passengers on the night flight to Shanghai — the usual cross section of society.

Of course it isn’t long before the power bank in the suitcase starts a fire in the hold and alarms go off in the cockpit. Ben calls it in but the closest airport is miles away. Into the hold to try and put out the flames but they are raging. Causing explosions which burst through the passenger cabin causing extensive damage. Masks drop as the Captain takes the aircraft down to a safe altitude.

Then total disaster as the plane is ripped apart. Lost engine. A hole in the hull. No power. They have no choice but to ditch in the ocean. The plane is in pieces in the sea – there are survivors but many are dead. Then, as the few that are left cling to the metallic wreckage, they realise there are deadly sharks in the water that want them for lunch – of course there are!

Finnish director Renny Harlin is best known for action movies like DIE HARD 2 (1990) and CLIFFHANGER (1993) and has also played with sharks before in DEEP BLUE SEA (1999). His career has been a bit hit and miss – more recently he gave us THE STRANGERS trilogy of horror movies.

He does manage to generate tension with the scenes of destruction well staged, though some of the action sequences do verge on the ridiculous. Eckhart makes for a stoic, no nonsense hero, but the cast are saddled with a wildly predictable script. Enjoyable in a throwaway, don’t think about it too much kind of way.

Steve Kirkham