No Way Up Review: Plane Crash Survivors Face a Dual Crisis of Rising Water and Killer Sharks

Imagine this cinematic mashup: Snakes on a Plane meets The Meg. As outlandish as it sounds, that is essentially the premise of the new disaster thriller No Way Up. Director Claudio Fäh, known for action sequels like Hollow Man II, takes an admittedly silly concept and plays it surprisingly straight. The results may surprise you—for better or worse.

We follow a group of air travelers whose flight to Cabo San Lucas meets a catastrophic end when a bird strike cripples the aircraft midair. After a harrowing crash sequence that delivers some white-knuckle thrills, the survivors find themselves trapped in the flooded tail section of the plane, lodged precariously on an underwater cliff. And as if imminent drowning weren’t enough, they soon find they have some uninvited guests—a school of hungry great white sharks.

On paper, it’s the kind of bonkers B-movie premise that should lend itself well to some creature feature escapism. Yet Fäh and screenwriter Andy Mayson seem determined to sell us on the dead serious stakes. Backed by studio-level production values and a cast led by Colm Meaney and Sophie McIntosh, No Way Up reaches for loftier dramatic heights between bloody shark attacks. But does matching the sober tone fit the outlandish concept? We’re about to find out if this shark tale sinks or swims.

High-Flying Disaster Leads to Aquatic Peril

We’re introduced to a standard disaster movie mix of airborne travelers, including governor’s daughter Ava (Sophie McIntosh), her bodyguard Brandon (Colm Meaney), Ava’s dull boyfriend Jed (Jeremias Amoore) and his obnoxious BFF Kyle (Will Attenborough). There’s also “Nana” Mardy (Phyllis Logan), her granddaughter Rosa (Grace Nettle), and flight attendant Danilo (Manuel Pacific).

After some snappy banter establishing the dynamics, we settle in for what seems like a routine flight down Mexico way. But in true Airport 1975 fashion, disaster strikes when the aircraft hits a dense flock of birds, crippling the engine and sending the plane into a death spiral. In a harrowing sequence, as passengers scream and luggage flies, the aircraft tears apart and plunges tail-first into the ocean.

Through an improbable stroke of luck, the detached tail section becomes lodged on an underwater ravine, leaving our band of survivors in a rapidly flooding air pocket. They take stock of their grim surroundings – no communications, cascading water, minimal supplies – and start strategizing escape plans. ButMother Nature isn’t done with them yet.

Cue the Jaws theme (well, an imitation of it for legal reasons), as the first dorsal fin cuts through the plane’s tearaway hole. Trapped between rising tides and sharks treatin’ the plane like an all-you-can-eat buffet, our poor protagonists seem unable to catch a break. Can they beat the odds and make it topside before becoming chum? Or will the double-punch of watery disasters drown any hopes of rescue?

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Serious Approach Clashes with Sensational Concept

Given the outlandish B-movie promise of killer sharks attacking plane crash survivors, you might expect No Way Up to fully embrace some popcorn-crunching camp. Surprisingly, director Claudio Fäh plays it mostly straight – aiming for a grittier survival drama punctuated by horror beats. It’s clear this isn’t intended as just another Syfy original creature feature.

Backed by studio-level production values, Fäh delivers where it counts technically. The plane crash itself is terrifyingly realized, while Andrew Rodger’s widescreen cinematography captures the sunken claustrophobia. When sharks do make their gnashing appearances, both animatronics and CG, the attacks have a visceral bite, spraying the flooded cabin crimson. The effects won’t blow you away, but get the job done.

Yet the problem is that sober tone. Any gravitas felt from the life-and-death stakes is constantly undercut by the knowledge that this is, well…a movie about sharks attacking survivors stuck in a crashed airplane underwater. Played campy and self-aware, audiences might better roll with the absurdity. But the melodramatic character moments sit at odds with scenes of over-the-top carnage. It’s tough investing in teary backstories when there’s a CGI shark waiting to burst through the bathroom door.

No Way Up seems to want thrills without sacrificing emotional weight. But marrying a far-fetched creature feature premise with dead-serious disaster drama makes neither fully work. Still, while jarring, credit is due for the swing-for-fences attempt.

Logical Leaps and Undeveloped Characters Underwater

If No Way Up has you scratching your head wondering how an intact aircraft fuselage could possibly remain watertight post-crash at ocean depths, let alone keep a few square feet inexplicably dry, well…you aren’t alone. Plot-wise, from the inciting bird collision (what migration path was that?) to the conspicuously placed scuba gear stowed for escape use, logical leaps abound.

These contrivances might easily sail by amidst B-movie bombast. But paired with the po-faced tone, belief becomes harder to suspend with each new “Wait, really?” moment. While disaster movies inherently rely on luck and circumstance, the sheer stacking of improbabilities grows ever more glaring.

Developing this band of survivors might have helped ground things emotionally. But most characters receive little shading beyond archetypes and attitude. We learn tidbits about lead Ava’s trauma over her mother’s drowning death, coloring her fight for survival. But others amount to little more than shark food, despite hints dropped about backstories. Even Colm Meaney feels underutilized as gruff protector Brandon, quickly dispatched after demonstrating his capability.

Pacing also suffers from the confined setting, relying on rising water levels and random shark appearances to goose the tension. We essentially watch this group…well, watch each other as they wait out rescue. Conflicts flare up and tough choices arise, but momentum lags in what starts to feel like a play taking place in one flooded set.

While No Way Up offers the occasional crowd-pleasing gore, rooting interest in who lives or dies proves lacking. Ultimately, the film drowns crucial opportunities to develop its characters beyond disaster movie fodder while patching its own plot holes.

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Bloody Shark Mayhem Temporarily Thrills

You can’t have a movie called No Way Up without some toothy shark action, and on a purely visceral level, the attacks deliver on red-tinted thrills. While the CGI sharks themselves prove disappointingly fake-looking, almost styled after cinematic dinosaurs, we’re spared too much prolonged exposure. Quick shots capture gnashing jaws and powerful thrusts, unleashing spurting stump-stubs or severed body halves when they strike. The flooded crimson aftermath of each violent chomp leaves little to the imagination. Director Claudio Fäh embraces the R-rating, serving up the gore factor shamelessly, reminiscent of Deep Blue Sea.

These gorier indulgences lend must-see moments for creature feature fans, scattered amidst grim survivor pathos. If No Way Up disappoints as a serious dramatic endeavor given its far-fetched concept, then scenes of sharks tearing into screaming passengers almost justify things on a more primal level. Of course, integrating these grisly shark kills into an otherwise somber tone proves tricky, veering wildly between playful monster movie and harrowing disaster flick. We’re left unsure if we should whoop or look away.

Uneven integration aside, Fäh can deliver visually impressive carnage when given the excuse. As survivors cry and console one another after each muscle-rending kill, you almost wish the next ambush attack would interrupt the copious weeping. Which says everything about No Way Up’s clashing intentions – the sharks ironically provide needed release from dramatic elements the rest of the film takes far too seriously.

An Ambitious Misfire That Inadvertently Throws Its Lead Shark a Lifeline

It’s a premise that can’t help but draw interest – a downed aircraft serving as a massive lunch box for frenzied sharks. And if No Way Up merely embraced its inner B-movie to showcase hungry apex predators doing what they do best (namely, shredding hapless human survivors), perhaps it could satisfy creature feature cravings.

But far more intriguingly, director Claudio Fäh has loftier ambitions with his high-concept disaster drama. He genuinely seems to want us invested in the plight of governor’s daughter Ava, betrayed by faulty flight mechanics, now driven to beat out both rising tides and ravenous beasts in her fight for survival. Approaching its plane crash peril and visceral shark attacks with somber maturity could have better grounded the far-fetched story too.

Yet the admirably daring endeavor to mix serious and silly largely misses the intended mark. Keeping one foot planted in ominous drama while the other tries gently splashing in escapist shallows leaves No Way Up precariously stumbling between contrasting tones. The characters, when not distracted by random severed limbs, weep and stare forlornly while debating their next move – but how do we reconcile crisis tears with the spectacle of toothy sharks flooding a plane? Even the terrifying plane crash sequence feels stylistically divorced from subsequent melodramatics, emotionally anchored to nothing thereafter.

It’s finally those very sharks that win back interest whenever CGI calls them to grisly duty, offering bite-sized bursts of B-movie bliss amidst deadening human interactions. Their presence ends up accentuating that No Way Up simply can’t balance its bifurcated intentions with any success. Still, credit is deserved for Fäh’s daring swing …even if it’s one that sailed wildly high, and directly into those gaping shark jaws.