Peter Sobczynski

This is a simple but strong document about the importance of art as a way to comment on the world, the artist’s resilience in the face of the controversies their work might inspire, and the determination not to let violence be the answer to everything. These may seem like obvious concepts, but as this film clearly shows, we need constant reminders.

This is about as generic an action-comedy hybrid as you can possibly get; while it won’t exactly make anyone forget the classics of that particular cinematic sub-genre, it has a certain weirdo charm that makes it far more watchable than it has any right to be.

For the most part, though, it’s an eminently forgettable product that is more interested in rehashing the first film’s familiar bits than in giving viewers any new ones of note.

Although made with a certain amount of style, it’s hard to sympathize with the plight of characters who seem to go out of their way to place themselves in danger.

If it lacks the operatic excesses of this particular subgenre, it does an interesting job of recasting those elements into something closer to an intimate chamber piece.

It has a reasonably solid, if not blazingly original, premise, a more-than-solid cast, made with enough style to make for a reasonably diverting 100 minutes, but it never quite manages to be anything more than that.

Passenger is a fairly solid bit of genre craftwork that is a lot more impressive than its desultory release might suggest.

The problem with “Deep Water” is not that it is a bad movie (which it is), but it’s a gratingly familiar one that doesn’t have a single point of interest to call its own. Instead, it prefers to spend two hours rehashing elements that even newbies to shark-based cinema will find devoid of any real inspiration.

I found it compelling for its depiction of the mechanics of the current athletic scene and the triumphs and tragedies that occur along the way. It may not leave you cheering in the end, but it will give you something to think about the next time the Olympics come around.

On a basic level, the film is entertaining enough, but anyone hoping for a particularly fresh or innovative take on the show or its creator is probably going to come away feeling a bit let down.