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.

Oh, you may like your shark up North with all those bikini-clad girls cavorting on the beach, but there is nothing like a little Cajun music to liven up the party. This shark came down the river in Louisiana (yes, there is one shark that goes in freshwater) and snacked on some divers that were seeking buried loot.Lou Diamond Phillips leads a cast that includes the original Buffy, Kristy Swanson, who despite appearing totally naked in magazines, has never exposed herself on film. Our loss as she is one incredible beauty. The token rapper that seems to be a feature of today's B movies was Coolio.Lots of action as the bad guys and the oil people clash over a spot of water that holds rewards for both with the bull shark joining in to make it a party.

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.

What's with all these stupid but fancy looking made-for-TV shark movies these days? Only a couple weeks ago, I watched something awful called "Spring Break Shark Attack" in which a troop of sharks eat some college bikinis, and here's another one already, this time set in the swamps and revolving on a bull shark. Well, at least "Red Water" is slightly better than the aforementioned "Spring Break" but of course still a long way from being a good shark-thriller. Two crews of people navigate their boats down the extensive swamps of Louisiana. One crew (with Kirsty Swanson and Lou Diamond Philips on board) is on their way to drill oil, the other crew are villains (with rapper Coolio among them) looking for a lost treasure on the bottom of a lake, but all they encounter is an extremely hungry bull shark. It's rather dangerous to swim with him around, so the bad guys take the good guys (and girl) hostage and command them to dive for the money. "Red Water" features one or two well-staged action sequences and the bull shark is an interesting choice of water monster (finally something different than the Great White or Tiger Shark), but overall it's a forgettable thriller with weak performances from a washed up cast. There's no tension, a minimum of bloodshed and the underwater footage only shows brief images of a fake computer-engineered shark. The lovely Mrs. Swanson doesn't even wear on a colorful bikini, for Christ's sake, so why are we still talking about it?