La Dernière Plongée

Every summer, as sure as there will be lazy days at the beach, there will undoubtedly be a shark movie. This year sees a couple, including The Last Breath. Every shark movie since 1975 owes a bucket of chum to Jaws. Whether intentional or not, every movie where a dorsal breaks the surface pays homage to the original fish tale. Jaws is sublime, and its effectiveness lies more in the interest of characterization than waiting for a mechanical monster to pop up. The flaw in most shark films post-Jaws is uninteresting characters and the emphasis on cheap thrills. The Last Breath rides this flaccid wave. The film merely treads water enough to remind audiences that they could instead watch Jaws.

Full Review at Geek Vibes Nation.

In the British Virgin Islands, Noah (Jack Parr) and Levi (Julian Sands) discover the wreck of USS Charlotte which sank during WWII. The wreck is pristine after being buried all those years. Noah's college friends, Sam (Kim Spearman), Brett (Alexander Arnold), Riley (Erin Mullen), and Logan (Arlo Carter), have come for a reunion. Arrogant Brett insists on diving the unexplored wreck despite cash-strapped Noah's warning.

This is an average B-movie for the first half, maybe even the first two thirds. It's nothing special. The dive suits restrict the performances. There is the standard annoying character and people being stupid. Then the movie starts piling on some bad writing. When they go back to the surface, the sharks look worst and worst. Finally, there are a couple of really stupid shark scenes. It tries for awhile but it can't escape its bad shark movie genes.

Another movie about dumb, smart people. At every turn, I turn into that black guy in the theater that's yelling "oh, come on!" Or "Get the f**k outta here!". Because one of these "geniuses" does something so stupid that it makes absolutely no sense. There's a couple people in this movie that from the beginning. I just kept thinking oh I hope they get eaten. Now. It's up to three. But, one down.

Personally, I think it's bad writing when somebody does absolutely everything right. Just as I believe it's bad writing when everybody does everything absolutely wrong. It's not realistic. I understand panicking under stressful situations but these characters did stupid stuff before they got into the situation. Which only complicated the situation it was just so predictively dumb.

It's a solid shark movie. The actors were good and the sharks look real. I don't get the low ratings, considering you go into this movie knowing what you're watching. My only critique would be that they say in the movie "there's never been any sharks in these waters." Dude, it's the Caribbean!!! Florida is the shark attack capital of the world....and it's part of the Caribbean. I live in South Florida and shark attacks are in the news all the time. I have actually almost been attacked by a shark on two occasions while in the Bahamas. One of which I caught on video. Sharks are literally everywhere in those waters, and everyone knows it. But overall, nice shark movie. And the boat captain is from Arachnophobia. I only remember that cause that movie scarred me for life as a kid. Look that one up if you want to be terrified.

A group of college friends reunite for a Caribbean scuba diving adventure, exploring a sunken WWII battleship. However, they become trapped in the rusted underwater maze, with great white sharks at every turn.

Joachim Heden delivers a watchable shark tale, but don't expect the likes of The Shallows, 47 Meters Down, The Reef, Open Water, or even Shark Bait, to name a few.

Andrew Prendergast and Nick Saltrese's script is talky for the first half hour, with the usual setup tropes: friends having a good time, water-shark-kill. It's drawn out, but Heden offers some tense moments in the third act, where the digital sharks look on form. The CGI is a mixed bag, at times very convincing. While not as well executed, the underwater settings are at times reminiscent of Mako (2021) and Deep Fear (2023).

There's a lot of reflection with the characters, and the melancholiness matches the odd whimsical soundtrack. Actress Kim Spearman is notable and does a great job with what she's given. Jack Parr has screen presence and is likable and memorable. The film is dedicated to the late Julian Sands, and it's a pity this is one of his posthumous films. Still, in his brief role, he acts the chops off it.

Overall, it's better than The Requin (2022) and countless other low-budget shark films out there.