Dark Tide

PLOT:

Kate Mathieson, once renowned for swimming with Great White Sharks, spends her days giving mundane wildlife tours after the tragic death of her mentor. The surprise arrival of her old partner and husband, Jeff (Olivier Martinez), convinces her to face her inner demons and get back in the water with the fiercest of predators.

REVIEW:

A film starring Halle Berry. Check. Halle Berry in a bikini? Check. Halle in something skin-tight? Check. How could this go wrong? Well, last time I saw a Halle flick with the intention of seeing a lot of her, it was the blasphemous Catwoman. Is Dark Tide any better?

What did I like?

Cinematography. This film is set in South Africa and the filmmaker really captures the countryside as well as some gorgeous shots of the beautiful blue water, and sunrise on the docks that will take your breath away!

Halle Berry. I love Halle Berry. Nothing more need be said.

What didn’t I like?

Halle Berry. As much as I love her, her performance her was horrible. On top of that, with her hair cut like that, I couldn’t help but think this should have gone to Jada Pinkett-Smith. It hurts me to say this, but she may have done a better job with it (though not look as good in a bikini). I think she was hired to either strut around in the bikini for the whole film, like she did, or she owed someone a favor, because even at her worst, she at least seem to be trying. Here she might as well have phoned it in!

Shark bait ooh ha ha! We’ve all seen sharks in films. Some of them look real, some of them are real, and some were just a bad idea from the get go. The sharks here aren’t totally horrible, but they don’t seem real, and definitely aren’t imposing. Hell, I think I was more scared of the sharks from Finding Nemo than these things!

Pulled in all directions. This story is horrible. It makes no sense! I couldn’t tell what was going on other than she got hired to swim with the sharks with this rich guy who wants to swim outside of the cage. Like I said…horrible!!!

Dark Tideis one of those films that few people saw (it got a limited release). Now that I’ve seen it, I wish I wasn’t one of those “lucky” few. The scenery (including Halle) is really the only thing worth seeing, and after about the halfway point, this thing shifts to nothing but night dives and wetsuits, so there really is no point. I won’t you should avoid this like the plague, but it definitely isn’t worth losing nearly 2 hours of your life watching!

1 3/4 out of 5 stars