Pair it with 2022’s ‘Fall’ for a enjoyable double function.
It’s not straightforward being a fan of shark assault cinema nowadays. The subgenre has its classics (Jaws, 1975), its mean-spirited leisure (Tintorera: Killer Shark, 1977), its large B-movie blasts (Deep Blue Sea, 1999), and its sudden surprises (Deep Blue Sea 3, 2020), however most entries instantly sink to the underside. It’s particularly dangerous nowadays as low cost, ugly CG sharks have turn out to be the norm. Too many filmmakers don’t appear to be making the hassle to ship something brisker than week-old fish, so it’s a pleasure when one thing outdoors of the field comes splashing into view. No Way Up is a catastrophe/survival thriller with a really particular, and really sudden risk — sharks on a aircraft.
The early flight from Los Angeles to Cabo is a largely empty one with solely a pair dozen individuals between the passengers and crew, but it surely’s about to get a complete lot leaner. An engine explodes after a fowl strike, a big gap blows out the aspect of the aircraft, and after a quick respite floating atop the ocean, the aircraft rapidly submerges beneath the floor. Some are killed on affect, and others drown of their seats, however a handful of individuals take refuge in the back of the aircraft the place an air bubble has shaped. Wait for a potential rescue? Swim out the opening and hope to succeed in the floor? Better determine fast because the water is rising… and the sharks have come calling to this sudden buffet.
There’s no two methods about it. “Sharks on a plane” is a dumb thought. Where 2006’s Samuel L. Jackson car Snakes on a Plane made some extent of leaning in to the silliness of its premise, No Way Up takes the alternative method. A severe thriller about sharks on a motherfucking aircraft received’t work for everybody, however soar in with the suitable B-movie expectations, and also you’re more likely to be pleasantly stunned by its character, thrills, and resourcefulness.
The movie correctly provides over solely a quick time to introducing its characters earlier than plunging them into chaos, but it surely’s sufficient time to get acquainted with the ensemble. Ava (Sophie McIntosh) is the governor’s daughter, an insecure younger girl so nervous a few trip along with her boyfriend Jed (Jeremias Amoore) and their good friend Kyle (Will Attenborough) that she asks her bodyguard Brandon (Colm Meaney) to affix them. Hank (James Caroll Jordan) and Mardy (Phyllis Logan) are heading to a tropical timeshare with their granddaughter Rosa (Grace Nettle) in tow. And lastly, Danilo (Manuel Pacific) is the flight attendant fortunate sufficient to be assigned the rear of the aircraft. To make certain, whether or not on account of performances or writing, none of them handle to really endear themselves to viewers. The plus aspect, although, is that none of them will instantly have you ever wishing they’d turn out to be shark meals both.
It’s a fundamental bunch, however as soon as they’re established, director Claudio Fäh and author Andy Mayson shift their focus in direction of maintaining No Way Up transferring even after the aircraft has come to a cease. The greatest catastrophe/survival thrillers know that the “big” problem works greatest when preceded by a sequence of smaller, equally harmful threats. The final objective for these characters is to succeed in the floor and security, however new prompts arrive on a steadily rising schedule. The water is rising contained in the aircraft, and oxygen is proscribed. The aircraft itself is on an underwater ledge and infrequently shifting nearer to the sting. Injuries complicate choices for a number of the survivors. And lastly, sharks have begun swimming via the opening and feasting on the useless. It’s not lengthy earlier than the predators set their sights on the dwelling too.
The sharks themselves are seen sufficient with out ever being so in your face that you could see the pixels, and they look like a mixture of each the sensible and the digital (albeit extra of the latter than the previous). They’re efficient whilst Fäh makes use of them a bit too usually for soar scares with loud stingers, they usually function enjoyable exclamation marks on the movie’s numerous suspense scenes. Mayson’s script does a very good job maintaining these sequences coming, and it’s not at all times clear which characters, if any, will stay to breath contemporary air once more.
Budget prevents issues from ever feeling large or grand, however cinematographer Andrew Rodger makes the many of the aircraft’s claustrophobic inside. We can really feel the oxygen rising stale, sense the worry overcoming the rational, and the rising water continues to go away extra room for uninvited friends. It’s a ticking clock thriller, of kinds, with hungry sharks representing the minute hand, and even when it by no means soars it strikes fairly slickly via the water.
Look, No Way Up is a low funds, direct-to-video catastrophe thriller, so in the event you “need” studio budgets and precision to be able to purchase on this isn’t the aircraft trip for you. Slow your beans, although, and settle in for an entertaining B-movie a few group of individuals going through a lethal however ridiculous predicament, and also you received’t be disenchanted.
