Who doesn’t love a suspenseful shark film? And when it features Michael Madsen, I am all in!

Young Sara (McGarvin) is an aspiring model and ready to set out on another island photo shoot with her ex-boyfriend Jason (Pearson) and new make-up artist, Megan (DeStefano). While over protective dad (Madsen) reminds his daughter to be careful and keep in touch with him along the way, the gloomy anniversary of Sara’s mother is haunting her as she tries to keep her chin up.

Jason, the extroverted photographer, is hyped to introduce a new and isolated location for the day’s shoot – a rock formation located 3 miles from the usual island they have utilized in the past. Without much hesitation, the three ambitious friends hop into kayaks to travel several hours into the ocean for this spectacular site structure.

Alongside the sheer stupidity of paddling in a kayak for uncharted territory within a 3-hour time span, we are treated to ill prepared millennials who are not only amateurs, but clearly unguarded. Dolphins are seen frolicking nearby and provide a sense of hope that this will be an affirmation of all good things to follow. Could they be any more disconnected?

Sara’s early flightiness turns into immediate warrior mode when a territorial shark follows and makes its attack on the kayakers. The realization that they are trapped on a large pillar, miles away from land while the tide rolls in quickly, has quickly turned Megan’s brain to mush as she crumbles into accepting her fate as shark chum. Where did her previous fierceness go?

Both girls pull it together, apprehensively trekking back into the water in hopes of reaching the island before the shark strikes again. What to do? Discuss their love lives of course! In a strange and almost unbelievable discussion about Jason’s love interest, the story gets back on track with the same suspense from which it began. Whew! Saved by the shark.

Madsen, although a bit disengaging and forcibly empathetic to his daughter’s plight, eventually pulls it together with some urgency that was originally expected. It’s as if he was never oblivious to Sara’s ditziness and has come to heroically jump in with all his contacts lined up to locate the girls.  One huge negative comes from the coast guard’s constant monotone reporting as if he were reading lines directly from a text book. Completely void of any sensitivity or determination, he reveals all his information to dad as if he were speaking to a United Nations council. Luckily, Madsen’s resolve to save his daughter knows no bounds as he researches the areas, and conveys all his findings to the right resources. Go dad!

Shark Season is nothing new to blood thirsty shark fans, but it’s still a thrilling trip into the great big blue without knowing the predators still stalking beneath the waters. Make sure you have a working cell phone out there!