Dark Tide

The plot of Dark Tide is not good. Character development is overacted to the point of parody while also completely underdeveloped. None of us care about any single one of these Characters, or their relationships. Halle Berry works with what she's been given, but she is miscast in this movie and she's about as good of an actor as Kristen Stewart. Sure, she is beautiful, but her acting has never been believable or diverse in anything I've ever seen her in. She's very much one flavor only, and I feel she only ever puts in "just" what's required of her and nothing more. Zero charisma.

All that said, this plot, the story, the characters, the conflicts and situations, the decisions, the choices, predicaments, dynamics of characters and their relationships, the proposals and screenplay are NOT believable. At all. Half of the movie is unnecessary entirely. We don't need, or care about, the arguments between a husband and wife, exes, a greedy and selfish father and son, and we don't, or even care to, understand what all of Halle's overacted anger and mood swings are about. There are WAY too many conflicts, one on top of the other, and a snowball of ridiculously dumb decisions.

But, when it comes to the sharks, that is all very believable. They are not dangerous, but when you tease them and provoke them, they tease back... it's worth a watch. Once.

Shouldn't there be some kind of protective Union to help prevent poor defenseless animals from appearing in stupid and embarrassing movies? I mean, actors and actress are supposed to be smart enough and decide for themselves whether or not a horrible scenario will negatively affect their careers (I'm looking at you, Halle Berry), but animals can't read clumsy scenarios! The sharks in "Dark Tide", for instance, are truly some of the most beautiful creatures Mother Nature brought forward, yet their astonishing appearance is criminally abused here in this dumb, exaggeratedly clichéd, dull and incompetent film. Amazing animals like these only belong in masterful documentaries or, as rare as they are, in qualitative adventure movies. Luckily enough – for my own personal anger management program, at least – I watched "Dark Tide" with the absolute lowest expectations imaginable, and that's all thanks to the fact I noticed the name of the director from beforehand. John Stockwell isn't a real filmmaker; he's a wannabe with an unhealthy fetish for famous actresses in colorful bikinis on the posters of his films! Kate Bosworth in "Blue Crush", Jessica Alba in "Into the Blue", half a dozen of sexy chicks in "Turistas" and now Halle Berry in "Dark Tide". The only recurring aspects that draw attention are the bikinis on the cover. I don't know John, but it's becoming rather difficult to convince us that you want to be seen as a serious director. The plot of "Dark Tide" features the dullest of stereotypes in the cast (traumatized heroes, obnoxious businessmen dying from cancer …) and immediately reverts to the worst clichés (troubled father-son relationships, heroine facing her demons…). The only thing worse than the dialogs are the miscast actors and actresses citing them. None of the cast members display any sort of conviction or emotion, and why should they? It's nothing but sheer nonsense anyway. If you do, however, make the mistake to watch "Dark Tide" you can at least enjoy the Cape Town filming locations and the shark footage.

If this would've been a documentary, I would've been full of praise. Beautiful pictures, even those without Halle Berry in them, and great environment. Unfortunately I cannot judge this just by those underwater shots. I have to also rate the dialog and the story. Both of which lack a lot, not only in comparison to the scenery.

Halle Berry and her love interest in this are annoying to the point they make the real bad guy look like the only sane person in this thing. And that is just because he has a clear goal, nothing will get him off that. But our heroes? Better not ask. Especially because their answer will bore and/or annoy you to death. I love Halle, but only watching this because of her or the sharks has to be a decision only you can make ... don't count on an intriguing story though!

I liked Darktide mainly because of it's camera work and portrayal of the Great White shark.

The underwater camera work appeared to be original and was impressive in terms of continuity, unlike most shark films where footage is borrowed from a documentary and pasted in.

The behaviour of the sharks is also more realistic, showing that people with experience can swim with them outside the cage and not be attacked.

The film is let down by a thin plot and bland characters.

I would rate this as the third best shark movie after Jaws(obviously) and The Reef(underrated).

i actually really enjoyed this,if you like the ocean you like great white sharks then this is perfect for you.The acting is pretty decent,the cinematography is really good i'm mean it looks absolutely real!o.k maybe these guys were asking for trouble,but then again there are people that do this everyday out in South Africa and i bet if you talked to every single one of them they could tell you of some seriously close calls,after all you are dealing with the oceans second top predator.(and even though sharks mistake us for food as we are not their usual prey,rogue sharks do exist and have to be killed it happens all over the world so anyone that says sharks don't blindly attach humans are misinformed...anyway)I though it was better than Open Water both one and two and if think there's been loads such as adrift etc etc.The action is great there is some emotional depth between the two main protagonists and to me it seemed like a very enjoyable film.I'd give it a 6.6 out of ten.i thoroughly enjoyed it.Check it out for yourself.