Red Water (2003)

Fresh and Exciting

A Major Disappointment

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Red Water is a made-for-TV movie about a shark terrorizing Louisiana waters, and eventually meeting up with a few locals, business people on a venture, and a pack of criminals. So the only sensible thing to do as the opening credits start to roll is to lower expectations and open a refreshing drink of your choice. Little did I know I was in for a positive late night surprise, as this film could have been so much worse.The main selling point of this film, the shark, is more than tolerable and rarely over-exposed. Considering the budget limitations they must've worked with it is actually quite impressive. The music and cinematography are fitting, and the professionalism exhibited here makes for a refreshing change for us foolish enough to sit through a B-grade film or two per weekend. The story is, surprisingly enough, that of a blood-thirsty shark going after some empty-headed college girls on vacation, another plus on a b-movie with a shark, and the way it softly meanders keeps the viewers invested even during the slower periods.But what really make this film stand out among the B's and made-for-TV's are the characters. The acting is, even with the risk of over-using an adjective, surprisingly good, and it does positively seem that the script has received more than just a passing thought during the writing process. The dialogue seems natural enough, not every technical word is explained among characters who should already know what they mean, and there are some actually nice touches that breathe life into these characters and the relationships between them.With all the b-movies of very varying levels of enjoyability flying around, Red Water is like a breath of fresh air. A living proof, that even little budget can produce films that are nice to pass some time with. A bargain bin movie with subtlety? A rare find indeed, considering that the track record of the director includes the screenplay for Gymkata, a notorious stinker, a true bore, and a box office bomb. Chapeau!Like it was mentioned before, the movie had every reason not to any good. Thankfully, instead of sneaking through with minimal effort, the makers of this film decided not to have any of the staples I was expecting. Like cheap effects over-staying their welcome, over-using a known-rapper-turned-actor, contemporary yet cheaply available pop music, and hyper-extending a story of 30 minutes to a feature length.Of course, in the end IT IS just a made-for-TV movie about a blood- thirsty shark, but everything else that goes on while and in between the said shark is making it's appearance makes this one worth the watch. Even if no refreshing drinks are readily available.

Channel 5 broadcast this immediately after showing the 2010 version of PIRANHA . This is very lazy transmission but you can see the thematic logic of this . What it does mean is that a film like RED WATER comes off second best compared to a in your face comedy horror spoof because this is a very conventional , flat movie featuring a killer shark RED WATER gets off to a fairly good start . You want to grab an audience's attention? Well what better way to grab every man's attention by having a couple of cuties swimming in a lake wearing very skimpy bikinis . Even better a couple of minutes later the action cuts to a bad guys swimming pool where some really hot women walk around in bikinis . The board on this page has a few comments noticing this somewhat cynical crowd pleasing scene and all state this is in fact the best part of the film . You got hot chicks in bikinis and it's the best part of the film ? Yes it says a lot about the movie you're watching No matter how many hot chicks you can cram in to a movie you'd better have a story to go with it and how many great films have you seen featuring sharks that weren't directed by Steven Spielberg ? You'd also do well to remember RED WATER is one of those made for television movies so goes out of its way not to offend the audience . Example ? Someone gets eaten by a shark and a verbal reaction to this scene of horror is " Damn "

In Louisiana, the fisherman John Sanders (Lou Diamond Phillips) is near to lose his boat to the bank when his ex-wife Kelli Raymond (Kristy Swanson) that works in environment research and the arrogant son of her boss Gene Bradley (Gideon Emery) offer an amount for him to help their company in a drilling operation in the river. Meanwhile a freshwater shark is attacking people in the area. When they arrive in the site, they see an anchored boat and they believe that belong to their competitors from the Global Oil Company. However they are dangerous criminals that are seeking a large amount of stolen money that is hidden in the bottom of the river. Gene confronts the mobsters and the group is threatened by the gangsters."Red Water" is a forgettable adventure with the usual flaws and clichés of B-movies of the genre. Kristy Swanson is very sexy and beautiful and I did not recognize her. The scene of a hiking group near a bridge is totally out of the context and ridiculous. My vote is four.Title (Brazil): "Rio Sangrento" ("Bloody River")

Red Water is the latest in a long line of straight to DVD shark movies to prop up the shelves at your local Blockbuster. And considering the multitudes of low-budget shark films out there, you'd have thought that producers might have figured out how to make a good one by now. Not so, because despite a refreshing premise, Red Water is destined to swim with the likes of Shark Attack, Megalodon, Shark Zone and legions of others in the realms of bottom shelf mediocrity.On the plus side, the premise is actually quite good. Instead of the usual scenario whereby a shark terrorises a holiday resort or an underwater submarine, we get one swimming up into the Louisiana bayou. The fish in question you see is a bull shark, an animal capable of surviving in fresh water. At first glance, this film's closest cousin appears to be Piranha, especially when a young girl gets devoured at a local swimming hole, but things soon continue in a different direction.This is down to the fact that there's a bunch of guys obsessed with drilling in the river. Cue Lou Diamond Philips (taking things way too seriously for this sort of movie), a boat owner with a troubled past who must give a lift to his ex-wife (Kristy Swanson) and a stereotypical rich bloke upriver to visit one of the platforms. Unfortunately for them, they've got to contend not only with the shark, but a trio of criminals (including Coolio believe it or not) on the hunt for a missing suitcase filled with cash.From this we get an hour and a half where the pace shifts dramatically. The shark all but disappears after the first five minutes, which is really a blessing considering how stupid it looks, then doesn't make a significant return until much later in the movie. The attacks are also a bit naff and only the incredibly silly scene where an opinionated nature lover gets eaten really stands out. The violent finale on the other hand is an absolute blast, with boats exploding, gun battles, people running around on fire and a shark eating everything that falls into the water, culminating in a highly original b-movie shark death. Sadly though, it doesn't make up for the the previous hour, where the film makers seem unsure of whether they're making a shark film or a hostage one and fail to balance the tension with any effectiveness to speak of.So yes, it's cheesy. It's stupid. It's packed to the rafters with stereotypes and bizarrely for a film like this, doesn't feature a huge number of women striding around in the smallest swim suits known to man. The last twenty minutes is terrific but everything else is utterly forgettable. You'd be better off watching Deep Blue Sea again but credit where credit's due, you can't fault them for trying something new.