If you starred in the greatest shark movie of all time, the smart thing to do would be to never appear in another one. Richard Dreyfuss has a supporting role in the cheap-o new shark attack flick Into the Deep, and whenever he comes onscreen, you just want to go rewatch Steven Spielberg’s Jaws for the umpteenth time. The low quality here only serves to emphasize what a masterpiece that 1975 classic is.
The central figure is Cassidy (Scout Taylor Compton), an oceanographer who, as a little girl, saw her father get eaten by a shark. Her grandfather Seamus (Dreyfuss) is shown in flashbacks helping her overcome a subsequent fear of open water. She’s now on a boat with husband Gregg (Callum McGowan), getting ready to dive down to a sunken ship where treasure may be located. A group of pirates led by the immoral Jordan Devane (Jon Seda) intercepts their boat. They force Cassidy to dive to the ocean floor to retrieve packages of drugs that have been dropped there. It goes without saying that hungry sharks are circling the area.
Into the Deep wants to be a cross between 47 Meters Down and Captain Phillips, yet it lacks the visceral jolts of the former and the intelligent suspense of the latter. The two halves don’t even go together particularly well. Part of the movie is Jordan threatening to shoot everybody; the other part is substandard underwater footage that looks like it was shot in a giant tank (which, in fairness, it probably was). The two don’t have much connection. They’ve been haphazardly slapped together.
When the shark attacks come – and that’s on a very intermittent basis – they underwhelm, thanks to some truly atrocious visual effects. Cheesy FX are fine when a movie is taking a comedic approach like Sharknado did. We’re supposed to be excited by the shark mayhem here, though, so the shoddy work undermines whatever tension director Christian Sesma is trying to create.
The only saving graces in the film are the performances. They aren’t spectacular, but they’re certainly serviceable for the genre. Scout Taylor Compton is a likeable-enough heroine, Jon Seda makes a charismatic bad guy, and Richard Dreyfuss brings a seriousness to his performance that’s lacking everywhere else. Unfortunately, they’re all forced to play stock characters in a predictable story that contains huge gaps in logic.
Into the Deep portrays sharks as vicious creatures, then inexplicably ends with Dreyfuss making an onscreen plea for viewers to donate to shark conservation efforts. He’s clearly reading his 4-minute speech for the first time, leading to a halting delivery that makes comprehending the message virtually impossible. On top of failing on the level of a shark-attack thriller, the movie also fails as an environmental warning.
out of four
Into the Deep is rated R for bloody violence and language. The running time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
© 2025 Mike McGranaghan