‘Above & Below’ Trailer Sends Antonio Banderas Into Shark-Infested Cartel Chaos
Shark movies have become something of a summer tradition, with a new toothy thriller seemingly hitting theaters every few months. Most of these films blend into one another, relying on familiar beats of stranded swimmers and lurking predators to fill out a quick runtime. That formula is getting a fresh twist this year, and it comes with a genuinely surprising name attached.
Director Jesse V. Johnson, known for genre efforts like ‘Triple Threat’ and ‘Chief of Station,’ is the filmmaker behind the project, working from a screenplay written by Tony Giordano. Johnson has built a career on lean, hard hitting action films, and this new production folds that sensibility into the shark survival genre rather than sticking to a straightforward creature feature.
The film in question is ‘Above & Below,’ and horror outlet Bloody Disgusting shared the first trailer along with a chilling breakdown of the premise, teasing 30 feet below, 10 minutes of oxygen, and one apex predator. Aura Entertainment is bringing the film to theaters on July 29, and the biggest hook is the presence of Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas in a genre he rarely touches.
The official synopsis paints a much darker picture than a typical shark flick. During a Mexican shark dive, five friends are ambushed after discovering cartel cocaine, and two of them are trapped in a shark cage and forced by the cartel to retrieve a bag of drugs from the seafloor. The survivors are left battling great white sharks, dwindling air, and armed killers as they fight to outsmart their captors and escape. In the trailer, Banderas plays a ruthless drug cartel leader who forces the group of divers to retrieve the bag from the seafloor, only for a deadly shark to complicate the entire operation.
Rounding out the cast alongside Banderas is Laura Marano, along with Christina Ochoa, Timothy V. Murphy, Louis Mandylor, Jess Liaudin, Ryan Bertroche, Ramiro Alonso, Diego Llinás, Rodrigo Poisón, Mario Tardón, and Donncha Tynan. In the story, Banderas plays a cartel figure named Burns, while Marano’s character Tatiana and a friend named Kaley end up trapped in shark infested waters as the confrontation spirals out of control.
The project has actually been generating buzz behind the scenes for months. Sales firm Capture revealed a wave of international deals for the film ahead of the American Film Market, according to a Deadline report, with territories including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and several others already locked in well before the trailer ever dropped. That kind of early international interest suggests distributors are betting on the Banderas name to set this one apart from the crowded shark movie pack.
With a premise that mixes ‘Jaws’ style tension with a full blown crime thriller, ‘Above & Below’ is positioned as one of the more unusual entries in this overcrowded subgenre. Whether it can actually deliver on that promise remains to be seen once it swims into theaters later this month. Do you think Antonio Banderas playing a cartel boss trapped in shark territory is the twist this genre needed, or does ‘Above & Below’ still look like just another summer shark flick to you?
