It is increasingly tough to craft a premise for a shark movie that can grab the attention of prospective viewers. Well, the folks at RLJE Films and director Claudio Fäh have outdone themselves with the upcoming No Way Up. The movie asks the question, “What if sharks could get on a plane somehow?” The answer to the question is not as silly as one might expect but the results are most definitely bananas. Check it out.
So yeah, there’s an awful lot going on here. We start with a real Final Destination vibe as a plane goes down taking quite a few passengers with it. The crash itself looks pretty good considering the obvious budget restraints. This is, decidedly, not a big studio production. Those who survive the crash are trapped far below the ocean’s surface on a plane where oxygen is running out and water is threatening to rush in. Why not just swim for the surface, you might ask? Because of sharks, of course! Chaos ensues. A brief synopsis for the film reads as follows:
“When a plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean and comes to rest on the edge of an underwater ravine, the survivors face a race against time to escape the airlocked galley they are trapped in.”
The poster (which you can check out below) is just as delightfully ridiculous as one might expect. It comes complete with the tagline, “The plane crash was just the beginning.” The cast for the film includes Sophie McIntosh (Brave New World), Will Attenborough (The Diplomat), Jeremias Amoore (Zero Chill), Manuel Pacific (Terminator: Dark Fate), Grace Nettle (War of the Worlds), Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey) and Colm Meaney (The Serpent Queen). Andy Mayson penned the screenplay.
Virtually every shark movie has to measure up to Steven Spielberg’s legendary classic Jaws, knowing that it can not be better than Jaws. And virtually every shark movie since has taken one of two paths, either trying to serve as an homage to that film or to go violently in the other direction with a wacky concept. Deep Blue Sea is arguably the best example of the latter. But we’ve had some other truly ridiculous shark movies as of late as well, with last year’s Deep Fear, which combined sharks and a drug deal gone wrong, coming to mind. Where will this movie find itself in the broader shark movie canon? We’ll find out soon enough.
No Way Up hits theaters and VOD on February 16.
