{"id":13518,"date":"2026-11-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/?p=13518"},"modified":"2026-11-08T13:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T13:53:21","slug":"sharks-arent-the-only-predators-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/ohmr\/sharks-arent-the-only-predators-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Aren’t the Only Predators Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>13 Minute, 13 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

MOVIE REVIEW
\nAbove & Below<\/strong>
\n –  <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Genre: <\/strong>Action, Thriller, Horror
\nYear Released:<\/strong> 2026
\nRuntime: <\/strong>1h 36m
\nDirector:<\/strong> Jesse V. Johnson
\nWriter: <\/strong>Anthony Steven Giordano
\nCast: <\/strong>Laura Marano, Antonio Banderas, Christina Ochoa, Louis Mandylor, Timothy V. Murphy, Jess Liaudin, Diego Llinás, Ryan Bertroche, Donncha Tynan, Mario Tardón
\nWhere to Watch: <\/strong>available November 17, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com<\/a> or www.amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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RAVING REVIEW: <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>ABOVE & BELOW has sharks, drug smugglers, a group of vacationing friends making questionable decisions, and Antonio Banderas playing a criminal who might be more dangerous than anything swimming beneath the boat. Director Jesse V. Johnson takes two familiar thriller concepts. He throws them together, turning what should have been a straightforward shark-cage diving excursion into a confrontation with some particularly unpleasant people. The result is a survival thriller that isn't especially concerned with reinventing the genre. It has an entertaining premise, recognizable actors, and enough competing dangers to keep the situation complicated. Whether those ingredients amount to something memorable is another question, especially when the screenplay starts asking its characters to behave in ways that make the sharks seem like the more reasonable participants.<\/p>\n

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The setup is simple enough. Five friends are vacationing in Mexico when they're offered a chance to go shark-cage diving. It's supposed to be an exciting addition to their holiday, allowing them to get close to one of the ocean's most feared predators without becoming lunch. Naturally, things don't go as planned. The boat they're traveling on is connected to a cocaine-smuggling operation, and the vacationers find themselves caught in a dangerous situation involving criminals who have considerably more to lose than a disappointing afternoon at sea. Before long, the people above the water become as threatening as the animals below.<\/p>\n

Laura Marano plays Tatiana, who emerges as the central figure among the vacationing friends. Her brother Kyle (Diego Llinás) brings the opportunity to the group, though his personal problems complicate what initially seems like a fortunate arrangement. Tatiana's boyfriend TJ (Donncha Tynan) joins the trip, along with Kayle (Christina Ochoa) and Danny (Ryan Bertroche). The characters represent a recognizable group of young adults whose vacation becomes far more dangerous because they take an opportunity without understanding what comes with it. It's a familiar foundation for a survival thriller, and one that doesn't require much explanation before the trouble begins.<\/p>\n

The decision to combine a shark movie with a crime thriller distinguishes ABOVE & BELOW from the countless other productions about people stranded in dangerous waters. Sharks are already effective antagonists because they don't require elaborate motivations or complicated backstories. They're predators responding to their environment, which means the audience understands the threat almost immediately. Introducing a criminal operation creates a different kind of conflict. Humans can negotiate, threaten, betray one another, and change their minds, creating opportunities that a conventional animal-attack film doesn't necessarily have.<\/p>\n

That combination also creates a potential problem because the two sources of danger are competing for attention. A shark thriller generally depends on the audience fearing what might be swimming just outside the characters' view. A crime thriller needs to establish its antagonists' motivations and the consequences of their decisions. ABOVE & BELOW attempts to accommodate both approaches within a relatively short running time. The challenge isn't simply finding enough dangerous situations to fill the movie. It's making those situations feel connected, rather than letting one threat interrupt the other whenever the screenplay needs something new.<\/p>\n

Antonio Banderas enters the picture as Burns, the ruthless criminal whose interests become entangled with the disastrous excursion. His involvement gives the production its most recognizable name, and casting an established actor in this kind of villainous role is an understandable choice. Banderas has enough screen presence to make a relatively straightforward criminal character interesting without requiring an elaborate personal history. Burns isn't the kind of antagonist who needs an extensive explanation for his behavior. He's accustomed to getting what he wants, and the people caught in his operation quickly discover that appealing to his better nature isn't a particularly reliable survival strategy.<\/p>\n

What's interesting about the character is the contrast between his authority and the more immediate threats surrounding the boat. Sharks don't care about status or intimidation, but Burns operates within a criminal hierarchy where maintaining control matters. His decisions have consequences for everyone involved, including people who had absolutely no intention of participating in a drug operation. Banderas gives the movie an antagonist whose presence adds a different kind of uncertainty to the proceedings. The audience understands that the animals are dangerous, but the human threat can become unpredictable for reasons unrelated to hunger.<\/p>\n

Louis Mandylor and Jess Liaudin contribute to the criminal side of the story as Martin and Garrison. Their involvement also connects ABOVE & BELOW to Johnson's established filmmaking relationships. The director has worked with both performers before, and their experience within action-oriented productions makes them appropriate choices for characters whose decisions drive much of the conflict. Timothy V. Murphy appears as Captain Logan, adding another experienced performer to an ensemble that otherwise concentrates heavily on the younger vacationers.<\/p>\n

Johnson's background is relevant because he's spent years directing films built around physical confrontation and survival under dangerous circumstances. Productions such as AVENGEMENT, SAVAGE DOG, and THE DEBT COLLECTOR demonstrate his familiarity with action filmmaking. Working with an ocean setting introduces complications that aren't necessarily present during a conventional fight sequence. The limitations of a boat and an underwater cage create a different environment for staging conflict. Characters can't simply run away when trouble starts, and the geography of their predicament determines their options.<\/p>\n

In interviews discussing ABOVE & BELOW, Johnson explained that he approached the project partly as an opportunity to work within the shark-thriller genre for the first time. His research included studying sharks and their behavior rather than relying entirely on familiar movie conventions. That interest makes sense, given how often animal-attack films present their creatures as unusually intelligent villains. Real sharks are dangerous animals, but they aren't plotting elaborate revenge against vacationers. The more interesting conflict comes from human decisions that place people in situations where the animals become a threat.<\/p>\n

Johnson also discussed the challenges of filming around water, which can complicate even seemingly straightforward production requirements. Weather conditions, changing seas, and the practical difficulties of coordinating action underwater can create problems that don't exist on a controlled soundstage. Laura Marano has spoken about the production's physical demands and the confidence required to perform in that environment. That background adds context to the film's underwater material, especially the difficulty of making a confined survival situation understandable to the audience.<\/p>\n

The underwater setting offers a different kind of suspense from the confrontations on the boat. Being trapped in a shark cage is already an uncomfortable proposition, but adding criminals who control what happens above the surface turns a supposedly protective structure into another form of confinement. The cage represents safety from one threat while simultaneously limiting the characters' ability to escape another. That contradiction works well for a thriller, especially when the people responsible have little interest in protecting the tourists.<\/p>\n

Limited oxygen introduces another recognizable element of underwater survival stories. Time becomes an immediate concern, and every attempt to resolve one problem can create additional complications. Those restrictions give the screenplay a practical way to establish urgency without requiring a shark attack every few minutes. A character doesn't need to be actively pursued by a predator to be in danger when remaining underwater is itself a problem. The film's survival mechanics provide a foundation for suspense that exists independently of the criminal activity above.<\/p>\n

Of course, the premise also depends on the audience accepting some questionable decisions. Survival thrillers frequently place characters in circumstances where they make mistakes, and those mistakes can be entirely believable when people are frightened or desperate. There is a distinction between understandable panic and behavior that seems designed primarily to create another dangerous situation. ABOVE & BELOW occasionally pushes against that distinction. The story requires its characters to keep finding new ways to complicate their circumstances, and the resulting decisions don't always carry the same credibility as the original predicament.<\/p>\n

Giordano's screenplay also has to establish a group of vacationers before focusing on their survival. That's a familiar challenge for ensemble thrillers, where the opening introduces several personalities who may not receive much individual development once the action begins. Tatiana's position as the central character gives the movie a clear perspective, but the remaining relationships don't all carry equal importance. Some characters are defined more by their connection to the immediate danger than by anything particularly distinctive about their personalities.<\/p>\n

Marano's role is especially important because the story needs someone the audience can follow through the increasingly complicated situation. Tatiana isn't simply another participant in a disastrous vacation. Her relationship with Kyle adds a personal connection to what brought everyone onto the boat, and her responsibility toward the other travelers becomes part of the survival narrative. The character also provides a contrast to the criminals, whose priorities are governed by control and the consequences of their illegal activities. Maintaining that contrast helps keep the film from becoming exclusively about the antagonists.<\/p>\n

Christina Ochoa's Kayle is another significant part of the underwater portion of the story. Placing multiple characters in the same confined situation creates opportunities for cooperation and disagreement, particularly when the available options become increasingly dangerous. The film doesn't need everyone to respond the same way to the threat. Different levels of fear and willingness to take risks can create tension among characters who share the same objective. Getting out alive! This element helps the story avoid focusing too heavily on the mechanics of escaping its elaborate predicament.<\/p>\n

The criminals present another problem because their behavior needs to remain threatening without becoming so exaggerated that the audience stops taking them seriously. Banderas provides Burns with recognizable authority, but that doesn't automatically make every development involving his operation convincing. The screenplay occasionally asks viewers to accept that an increasingly complicated situation can continue escalating without anyone finding a more practical solution. At some point, adding another problem doesn't necessarily increase suspense. Sometimes it simply makes the situation harder to believe.<\/p>\n

Shark movies have always struggled with the unavoidable comparison to JAWS, even when their intentions are considerably more modest. Steven Spielberg's film established an extraordinarily high standard for suspense, character development, and the use of an animal whose presence could be frightening even when it wasn't visible. Most subsequent shark thrillers have taken a more direct approach, concentrating on people trapped in dangerous situations where survival becomes the primary objective. ABOVE & BELOW fits more comfortably into that tradition, sharing similarities with films such as 47 METERS DOWN while adding a criminal element.<\/p>\n

The difference is that the human antagonists take up enough space that the sharks sometimes become secondary participants in their own supposed movie. That isn't automatically a flaw, especially when the human characters can create greater danger than the animals. It does affect the expectations the premise sets. Someone approaching ABOVE & BELOW specifically for an extended series of shark encounters may find the criminal storyline takes up more attention than expected. The movie leans more toward a combined action-and-survival thriller than a straightforward creature feature.<\/p>\n

The visual effects also carry considerable responsibility because an unconvincing digital shark can immediately undermine a scene intended to be frightening. Johnson has discussed how the production originally planned substantially more shark material before budget limitations required reductions during postproduction. Rather than including every intended effects sequence, the filmmakers concentrated on a smaller selection of moments. It's an interesting production decision because the absence of a creature can sometimes be more useful than another appearance. Suspense doesn't depend entirely on seeing what threatens the characters, especially when the setting already establishes their vulnerability.<\/p>\n

That production history also helps explain why the film's two sources of danger don't receive equal attention. Human antagonists offer opportunities for confrontations that don't require the same extensive visual-effects work as repeated animal attacks. It's a practical consideration, although the finished movie still needs to function as a cohesive thriller rather than an illustration of its production limitations. Budgetary restrictions may explain creative decisions, but they don't automatically establish whether those decisions were successful.<\/p>\n

At its core, ABOVE & BELOW is built around a straightforward question of survival. The characters find themselves in a situation where staying aboard the boat is dangerous, entering the water is dangerous, and trusting the people who control their circumstances may be the worst option. The premise provides enough immediate conflict to support a feature without requiring an elaborate mythology or an especially complicated criminal conspiracy. Its weaknesses come less from a shortage of ideas than from the difficulty of making every development feel like a natural consequence of what came before.<\/p>\n

The film also demonstrates why familiar genre material can remain entertaining without becoming especially original. There are only so many ways to put a group of characters in danger on the open ocean, and sharks carry expectations audiences have developed through decades of similar movies. A production can still find room for personality through its casting and specific approach to suspense. Johnson has enough experience with action filmmaking to understand the basic appeal of pitting capable, dangerous people against each other, even as the circumstances around them grow increasingly exaggerated.<\/p>\n

ABOVE & BELOW ultimately sits somewhere between a shark thriller and a crime movie, combining the pleasures and limitations of both. Antonio Banderas supplies a recognizable villain, Laura Marano provides a central character worth following, and the ocean setting offers an appropriately unforgiving environment for a survival story. The screenplay doesn't always make the most convincing choices, and the competing threats occasionally pull focus from the film. There's a reasonable amount of entertainment in watching an ordinary vacation deteriorate into something so spectacularly unpleasant. The sharks may have the sharper teeth, but the criminals give them a serious run for their money.<\/p>\n

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MOVIE REVIEW Above & Below  –      Genre: Action, Thriller, Horror Year Released: 2026 Runtime: 1h 36m Director: Jesse V. Johnson Writer: Anthony Steven Giordano Cast: Laura Marano, Antonio Banderas, Christina Ochoa, Louis Mandylor, Timothy V. Murphy, Jess Liaudin, Diego Llinás, Ryan Bertroche, Donncha Tynan, Mario Tardón Where to Watch: available November 17, 2026. Pre-order your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/mailnewsgroup.com\/img\/0368\/0368043.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t