Red Water Reviews

This derivative made-for-TV movie is the result of crossing a treasure hunt adventure with a shark-attack movie. Insolvent Sanders (Lou Diamond Phillips) needs cash to meet the loan payments on his Louisiana charter-boat business and reluctantly accepts a job from his ex-wife, marine biologist Kelli (Kristy Swanson). No longer the idealist she once was, Kelli is less concerned with bayou eco-systems than the profit margins of her employer, oil-company executive Gene (Gideon Emery). While Sanders and his Cajun partner, Emery (Rob Boltin), escort the petroleum scouts on a diving mission to a wildlife refuge, less savory types are planning to drop anchor in the same Black Cove locale. Ice (Coolio) and Brett (Langley Kirkwood) are on the hunt for Jerry (Jaimz Woolvet), who ripped off their crime-lord boss and then fled. When they catch up to him, Jerry -- who's hidden the loot in a sunken car -- tries to stall for time. What neither the hoodlums nor Sanders' passengers realize is that there's another outsider in the water, a fresh-water shark whose home was disturbed by petroleum blasters. Kelli's routine exploration turns into a deadly standoff after Gene confronts the interlopers and gets shot. Then a drilling accident kills several rig workers who might otherwise have come to their aid. Ice and Brett muscle their way onto Sanders' craft and force Kelli and Sanders to do their dirty diving work, which takes them right into the shark's new territory. Who will survive, and what will be left of them. Although the characters' various confrontations lack bite, director Charles Robert Carner stages the shark attacks efficiently. But overall, the film is a slack water ride coasting on clichés.