Dark Tide (2012) Reminds Us to Stay Out of the Water
Two great white sharks swimming in the ocean spied survivors of a sunken ship. “Follow me, son,” the father shark said to the son shark and they swam to the mass of people. “First we swim around them a few times with just the tip of our fins showing.” And they did. “Well done, son! Now we swim around them a few times with our entire fins showing.” And they did. “Now we eat everybody.” And they did. When they were both gorged, the son asked, “Dad, why didn’t we just eat them all at first? Why did we swim around and around them?” His wise father replied, “Because they taste better once we scare the s*** out of them!” (Source: http://www.scubaradio.com)
It’s near impossible to discuss the shark-infested Dark Tide (available on home video from Lionsgate) without making comparisons to that universal favorite of shark films, Raging Sharks Jaws (1975). For instance, both feature water, men who make bad decisions, sharks, and blood. Jaws didn’t have Halle Berry, and Dark Tide didn’t have Steven Spielberg. That last thing there, the Steven Spielberg thing…that’s the big difference between the two films. While Jaws had our heart pumping, Dark Tide has us checking our pulses. No matter how many times you’ve seen Jaws, you still jump when they need a bigger boat (see ‘Jaws in 60 Seconds’ here); Dark Tide lacks those thrills.
Dark Tide may not make us jump out of our seats, but it is successful at filling us with a foreboding sense of dread. Since we know that the first scene is not going to end happily, we are filled with uncomfortable anticipation once Kate (Halle Berry) and her diving partner get in the water. When a shark attacks (and there are a lot of sharks in Dark Tide), we are nearly relieved that we’ve gotten that over with.
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