Because the shark serves as more of a psychopomp figure than the actual villain of this piece. 'Trapped In The Bad Vibes Shipwreck' would have been a more apt title if they wanted to name this after the antagonist of the movie. The movie's premise does come from the haunting true story of the sinking of the Salem Express, and the persistent rumors that the shipwreck site is cursed. The beginning of the film introduces us to Rana, a documentary filmmaker who is up for a major award. It seems as if she won, but if you watched the 2017 Oscars you have a bad feeling what's coming when you see the emcee stumble over her name. She's in the middle of her acceptance speech when they take it back and reveal the real winner is... drumroll... Sharif, who also happens to be Rana's husband. I call shenanigans on that one, but this film glosses past it because the male characters in this movie are all either sacrificial saviors or irredeemable caricatures, no in-between, and Sharif is slated to become the former before the movie ends. So, spoiler I guess. Anyway, Rana becomes driven to win the next awards season and is willing to try any crazy idea to get the attention of the panel of judges, and in the interest of that she welcomes a crazy idea from a new member of her team, a mysterious woman named Gharam. You get the sense that Gharam has an ulterior motive throughout the vetting process to visit this shipwreck, and you'd be right. She has a tragic backstory directly connected to the shipwreck. The day the team sets sail to dive the wreck, a fishing boat is nearby chumming the water for sport fish and they attract sharks. Specifically, they attract the large, fast species called the Mako, and these are the sharks that begin to harass the divers as soon as they get near the wreck, which they subsequently have to hide within. The shark effects are quite good, and the claustrophobic underwater set is also well utilized, but unfortunately the members of the documentary dive team are all dressed nearly identically with masks that reveal only half of their faces, so it's hard to tell them apart from one another to keep track of what is happening to whom. Only Gharam is easily recognizable due to her tattooed fingers. Up on the boat, drama is also happening between one team member left behind due to sudden illness, and a criminal shipmate ready to use up his second chance. The film ends with a survivor lamenting the cost of getting the story and the award. As far as shark movies go, this is definitely not the worst I've ever seen, the shark just wasn't in enough of it.
