Into the Deep. 2025

Directed by Christian Sesma
Starring Scout Taylor-Compton, Richard Dreyfuss, Stuart Townsend, Jon Seda, AnnaMaria Demara, Tom O’Connell, Callum McGowan, Lorena Sarria, Ron Smoorenburg, Tofan Pirani, Quinn P Hensley, and Maverick Kang Jr.

SYNOPSIS:

Modern day pirates on the hunt for sunken drugs kidnap a boat of tourists and force them to dive into shark infested waters to retrieve the contraband.

Nothing about director Christian Sesma’s VOD budget shark attack/modern-day pirates thriller Into the Deep is particularly good. Let’s get that out of the way. The ending credits are far more baffling and intriguing than anything within the actual movie, where Richard Dreyfuss delivers a speech about shark conservation. Everything about the speech (from discussing cruelly hunting and murdering them to make soup out of their fins or how an alarming number of types are gradually going extinct) is well laid out and worth preaching about. The question is, what the hell is it doing here in a movie that has no traces whatsoever of that message?

Into the Deep is as generic as they come, with sharks standing in as childhood trauma and fear to face. Now, as an adult, Scout Taylor-Compton’s Cassidy is taking steps toward overcoming general ocean fright by boarding a boat with her boyfriend Gregg (Callum McGowan) on a quest for sunken treasure. Naturally, this is the same body of water where her father was teaching her how to swim before he was “viciously” murdered by a shark (quotations are necessary since nothing about this film is graphic or intense, and the actors mostly look like they are flailing to stay afloat whenever presented with the acting challenge of pretending a shark is dragging them down under.)

Sailing alongside another couple, plans quickly go sideways once some pirates storm the ship. Leader Jordan (Jon Seda, playing the character as a cross between sociopathic and 1980s bike-riding bad boy, mostly to unintentional comedic effect more than terror) and his criminal gang hold everyone hostage, demanding that Cassidy (the smallest of everyone here) uses the shark cage to reach the bottom of the ocean and bring back up several kilos of valuable drugs. Yes, there is more than one kind of treasure here.

While Cassidy attempts that, there are also flashbacks (some going as far back as her being a child) with her survivalist, ocean expert grandfather Seamus (a jittery Richard Dreyfuss who seems incapable of sitting still while delivering wooden dialogue) teaches her everything she needs to know to one day face her fear. Such flashbacks are visually ghastly, with unbelievably washed-out colors.

There isn’t much else to say other than that it is trite and entirely clichéd with questionable acting, aside from one or two displays of ferocity from Scout Taylor-Compton. Whether it’s director Christian Sesma or screenwriters Chad Law and Josh Ridgway, someone (or everyone) failed at ensuring anything about this formulaic genre exercise matched the intent spoonfed during the ending credits. There are no points for an actor showing up during the credits and giving an activist speech inside a film that has nothing to do with activism. That’s not deep; it renders Into the Deep shallow. And that’s without getting into what passes for special effects here.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd 

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Bob Dylan is one of the most important musicians of his time. He revolutionized the music landscape, pushing the boundaries of folk music with poetic lyricism that went against traditional songwriting. Many of his songs became anthems for civil rights and anti-war movements in the 60s and inspired other genres moving forward. This past holiday season, A Complete Unknown was released to theaters, a biopic covering Dylan’s initial rise to fame. 

Dylan is portrayed by Timothée Chalamet, who bears a resemblance to a younger Bob. Chalamet does an impressive job of being able to disappear into the role, as at some point in the movie I almost forgot it was him. He nails Dylan’s distinctive voice and his delivery really amplifies the line he’s reading. It is no secret that Chalamet is a talented actor, and in this movie, that is no different. 

What is interesting to note is that this biopic doesn’t cover Bob Dylan’s entire career – just his rise to fame, which spans from 1961 to 1965. We see him move to New York City with almost nothing except his guitar and dreams of becoming a successful musician. The movie sees how over the course of just a couple of years, Dylan solidifies himself as a cultural icon. So while the movie covers a small portion of his life, it is arguably the most pivotal part.  

Bob Dylan was known as someone who hated conforming to traditional music and always pushed himself to create something different than what was normal at the time. This is what the conflict centers around. We see Dylan face plenty of external pressure to do exactly what his fans and the record label want. They want him to stick with his folk roots that initially made him famous, and continue to perform his most popular songs during live performances. But Dylan has no desire to do any of the sort and would rather create music that challenges and redefines the folk genre, for which he faces an extreme amount of backlash. 

The 1965 Newport Folk Festival serves as the movie’s climax. This was a significant moment in music history, when Dylan shifted from acoustic folk to electric folk, combining the folk and rock genres for the first time. He performed three songs backed by electric instruments, which fans saw as a betrayal of traditional folk. This was my favorite scene, as it contextualized a lot of previous scenes that showcased Dylan’s rebellious nature and refusal to conform.  

I got a lot out of this moment, as I love and enjoy when artists experiment with their new material when they can easily stick with the music that they might be known for making. An artist can make an album that becomes a smash hit, though when it comes to the album that follows it, they are faced with a choice. Do they essentially make the same album again and confirm their success? Or do they branch out and create something that ventures into a new style, despite what their fans might be used to? 

I found this movie to be interesting. I went into it knowing close to nothing about Bob Dylan, and while it did only cover a small portion of his life and career, it meant that the movie was able to drill down into this short time period and give a lot of attention and care to everything that came with it. Bob Dylan’s entire career spans a very long time, he is still performing to this day. Perhaps a movie that tried to cover more of his career would’ve resulted in a lot of important context being cut for time’s sake. I’m glad the movie was set during a small period, as it allowed more focus on what was happening. I got a lot of enjoyment out of it, and I feel inspired to go check out some of his work. 

4/5 stars

An inner-city high school becomes the testing ground for an intrusive new security system in Happyend, the debut feature from Japanese-American filmmaker Neo Sora.

Through the prism of this institution, the film observes the strengthening grip of an authoritarian regime as anxiety builds over an impending earthquake and widespread malaise among the adolescent community is quashed with an iron fist.

Students Yuta (Hayato Kurihara) and Kou (Yukito Hidaka) are best friends and founders of the school music club. When caught sneaking into a nightclub, Yuta is let off with a slapped wrist, but as Kou is Korean, the police immediately give him grief, even questioning the legitimacy of his Japanese residency.

When the boys pull an elaborate prank on their corrupt principal (Shiro Sano), upending his luxury sports car in the school courtyard, the faculty fights back by installing state-of-the-art surveillance cameras around campus.

For Kou, this is the final straw. Sick of being incessantly discriminated against, he falls in with Fumi (Kilala Inori), a girl with ties to an activist group, and over time, he steadily becomes radicalised.