Aaron Eckhart & Ben Kingsley’s New Survival Thriller Debuts With Bloody Good Rotten Tomatoes Score

Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley’s new survival thriller sinks its teeth into critics with a bloody good Rotten Tomatoes score.

The former first broke into the mainstream with Erin Brockovich (2000) and earned critical praise for his sharp and satirical turn in Thank You for Smoking (2006). However, Eckhart is indelibly etched into pop culture as Harvey Dent/Two-Face from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). Sir Ben Kingsley, meanwhile, has long since secured legendary status, headlined by his towering Oscar-winning performance in Gandhi (1982), receiving additional nominations for Bugsy (1991), Sexy Beast (2000), and House of Sand and Fog (2003). Now, the two stars have teamed up for a new survival thriller.

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With a few days to go before its release, Deep Water has debuted with a bloody good Rotten Tomatoes score. Directed by Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger), the upcoming survival thriller stars Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley among those on an international flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai who are forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters.

Now, ahead of its theatrical release on May 1, Deep Water has debuted with an 80% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie only has 15 reviews at the time of writing, so its score could fluctuate as more are published. It doesn’t yet have an audience score, which will start to take shape once it releases in theaters.

In addition to Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley, the cast also includes Angus Sampson, Kelly Gale, Madeleine West, Molly Belle Wright, Kate Fitzpatrick, Mark Hadlow, Ryan Bown, Jacqueline Lee Geurts, Lakota Johnson, Michael Cardelle, John De Luca, Priya Jain, Rob Kipa-Williams, Lucy Barrett, Richard Crouchley, and Rarmian Newton.

Overall, the reviews suggest that Deep Water is a wildly uneven but entertaining shark movie. Some critics roll their eyes at its logic that “more sharks equals more fun,” calling it over-the-top and ridiculous, and even unintentionally funny at times. Yet others admit it’s a guilty pleasure that’s better than expected and leans into B-movie chaos. Somewhere in between bad and kind-of-good, Deep Water mostly survives on spectacle.

There’s a surprising split in tone – some see it as shallow, forgettable, or structurally silly – while others praise its throwback energy and brisk popcorn-movie pacing. A few even highlight moments of real tension and charm, especially for fans of old-school disaster movies. It’s not Jaws, not even close, but it doesn’t completely sink either, and that messy balance is exactly what makes Deep Water float.

Release Date

May 1, 2026

Runtime

106 minutes

Director

Renny Harlin