Pair it with 2022’s ‘Fall’ for a enjoyable double function.
It’s not straightforward being a fan of shark assault cinema today. The subgenre has its classics (Jaws, 1975), its mean-spirited leisure (Tintorera: Killer Shark, 1977), its huge B-movie blasts (Deep Blue Sea, 1999), and its surprising surprises (Deep Blue Sea 3, 2020), however most entries instantly sink to the underside. It’s particularly unhealthy today 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 more energizing than week-old fish, so it’s a pleasure when one thing outdoors of the field comes splashing into view. No Means Up is a catastrophe/survival thriller with a really particular, and really surprising risk — sharks on a airplane.
The early flight from Los Angeles to Cabo is a largely empty one with solely a pair dozen individuals between the passengers and crew, however it’s about to get an entire lot leaner. An engine explodes after a fowl strike, a big gap blows out the aspect of the airplane, and after a short respite floating atop the ocean, the airplane shortly submerges beneath the floor. Some are killed on affect, and others drown of their seats, however a handful of individuals take refuge behind the airplane the place an air bubble has fashioned. Watch for a potential rescue? Swim out the opening and hope to succeed in the floor? Higher resolve fast because the water is rising… and the sharks have come calling to this surprising buffet.
There’s no two methods about it. “Sharks on a airplane” is a dumb concept. The place 2006’s Samuel L. Jackson car Snakes on a Aircraft made a degree of leaning in to the silliness of its premise, No Means Up takes the other method. A critical thriller about sharks on a motherfucking airplane gained’t work for everybody, however bounce in with the suitable B-movie expectations, and also you’re prone to be pleasantly stunned by its character, thrills, and resourcefulness.
The movie correctly offers over solely a short time to introducing its characters earlier than plunging them into chaos, however it’s sufficient time to get accustomed to the ensemble. Ava (Sophie McIntosh) is the governor’s daughter, an insecure younger lady so nervous a couple of trip together with her boyfriend Jed (Jeremias Amoore) and their good friend Kyle (Will Attenborough) that she asks her bodyguard Brandon (Colm Meaney) to hitch them. Hank (James Caroll Jordan) and Mardy (Phyllis Logan) are heading to a tropical timeshare with their granddaughter Rosa (Grace Nettle) in tow. And eventually, Danilo (Manuel Pacific) is the flight attendant fortunate sufficient to be assigned the rear of the airplane. To make certain, whether or not because of performances or writing, none of them handle to actually 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 primary bunch, however as soon as they’re established, director Claudio Fäh and author Andy Mayson shift their focus in direction of conserving No Means Up transferring even after the airplane has come to a cease. The most effective catastrophe/survival thrillers know that the “huge” problem works greatest when preceded by a sequence of smaller, equally harmful threats. The final word 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 airplane, and oxygen is restricted. The airplane itself is on an underwater ledge and infrequently shifting nearer to the sting. Accidents complicate choices for among the survivors. And eventually, sharks have begun swimming via the opening and feasting on the lifeless. It’s not lengthy earlier than the predators set their sights on the residing too.
The sharks themselves are seen sufficient with out ever being so in your face that you may see the pixels, and they seem like a mixture of each the sensible and the digital (albeit extra of the latter than the previous). They’re efficient at the same time as Fäh makes use of them a bit too typically for bounce scares with loud stingers, and so they function enjoyable exclamation marks on the movie’s numerous suspense scenes. Mayson’s script does a great job conserving these sequences coming, and it’s not at all times clear which characters, if any, will dwell to breath recent air once more.
Price range prevents issues from ever feeling huge or grand, however cinematographer Andrew Rodger makes the a lot of the airplane’s claustrophobic inside. We are able to really feel the oxygen rising stale, sense the concern overcoming the rational, and the rising water continues to go away extra room for uninvited company. It’s a ticking clock thriller, of types, with hungry sharks representing the minute hand, and even when it by no means soars it strikes fairly slickly via the water.
Look, No Means Up is a low price range, direct-to-video catastrophe thriller, so when you “want” studio budgets and precision as a way to purchase on this isn’t the airplane experience for you. Gradual your beans, although, and settle in for an entertaining B-movie a couple of group of individuals going through a lethal however ridiculous predicament, and also you gained’t be disenchanted.
