Dark Tide (2012) Review
Halfway through Dark Tide Halle Berry’s Kate uses the phrase ‘I’m not the shark whisperer!’, but after watching this film you’ll kind of wish she was.
If only Berry did possess some sort of telepathic power, 
it may have tricked us all into believing this was something worthwhile.
The sad thing is like all shark movies, Dark Tide, had potential but is let down drastically by poor pacing and a lack weight behind its plot.
Things start of promising enough as Kate and her dive team swim amongst one of the world’s deadliest predators the great white shark, only for one of the crew to get chewed up when he ticks off the wrong porker (Jaws anecdote work with me here).
This forces Kate out of the water for a year, and the breakup of her marriage to fellow diver Jeff (Olivier Martinez).
Step forward Ralph Brown aka Del Preston from Waynes World 2, along with his son who pay big money to swim with sharks and only want one person to guide them, the shark whisperer of course… Oh sorry, she isn’t.
When it comes to underwater photography and filming, Dark Tide comes second to none using real footage of great whites, something one of its predecessors The Reef worked to its advantages.
Sadly this is not a documentary, and you have to remind yourself that after the hundredth shot of a great white gliding through the water effortlessly that we are to assume they are in this film for one reason, to feed.
‘Tide’ isn’t as bonkers as Bait 3D or as poor as Shark Night 3D, to one its recent rivals in what seems to be the resurrection of the shark movie, sadly none of them come to close the granddaddy of them all Jaws, or even Deep Blue Sea for that matter.
After the initial thrill of swimming with sharks is finished without disaster, Brady (Brown) wants to push the envelope further and venture into ‘shark alley’ to get a better look at some of the bigger whites.
Before you guessed it, disaster strikes with a tropical storm cap sizing the boat, and leaving the whole crew at the mercy of the sharks, in the dark.
Apparently it’s also mating season too, cue the massacre by horny sharks, alas not the pace continues to plod along and when the kills come they are poorly executed.
It seems Director John Stockwell was caught in two minds about what he wanted from this film, as it lacks the visceral edge to be a horror film, and borders on documentary.
So Dark Tide will take its place alongside Bait 3D and Shark Night 3D in the sub genre of pointless shark films.
I suppose there could always be Deep Blue Sea 2, nothing’s impossible right?
Movie Rating: 
Trailer:
