User Reviews

Red stranded Peter on the island when they finished robbing the dead guy's house. So naturally he would need to find himself a ride back to the mainland. When Red found out he traded the cigars to the workers for a ride back, there would be no reason for him to suspect anything more since he was the one who stranded him and knew he would need to hitch a ride. Yet Red goes over to the island and hunkers down to wait all day there for Alan to return and thinking something was up. He had no reason to think that and it should've been written more logically to be believable----like just have Red follow him there instead. Other than that glaring plot hole, it was pretty decent and I liked that it was set in the 1980s and had a nostalgic feel to it.

"Are you gonna grow up to be the good guy or the bad guy". That's a quote from Sergeant Kent in 2019's Low Tide (my latest review).

Anyway, Low Tide is a numbing, languid drama/thriller that marks the directing debut of one Kevin McMullin (his only previous credit was a short called First Prize). For me, "Tide" at eighty-six drawn-out minutes, is like a mixture of The Outsiders, 2001's Bully, Stand by Me, and Hot Summer Nights.

Hinting at the 1980's with a rich sense of time and place and shot more than two years ago, Low Tide is well acted by its four young leads in Jaeden Lieberher, Keean Johnson, Alex Neustaedter, and Daniel Zolghadri. Lieberher is like Johnny Cade, Johnson is like Ponyboy Curtis, Neustaedter is like "Dally" Winston (or "Bob" Sheldon), and Zolghadri is like Randy Anderson. Author S. E. Hinton is probably smiling all the way from the Sooner State right about now.

"Tide's" story involves some teenage, Jersey Shore thieves who discover a gold coin treasure. Said treasure violently threatens the boys friendship when the police become hot on their tails. Each coin is worth a thousand dollars and these buds found about a hundred of them (dang).

Helmer McMullin creates "Tide's" atmospheric style while building tension with every careful inch. His editor (Ed Yonaitis) shapes the film in slow, tight cuts which favor the actor's rhythms. "Tide's" account entailing crime doesn't pay remnants, Coppola switchblade shots, and fragmented kinships, seems easy to follow.

My first question is where the heck are the parents when all this death and revenge is going on. My second question is what are these youngster characters gonna do later in life when their futures don't seem too bright to begin with. My final question is why didn't Bruce Springsteen make a "Tunnel of Love" cameo. Just kidding. Rating: Low Tide gets a slightly recommendable 3 stars and well, it's on the "low".

Act 1 - 6.0

Act 2 - 5.6

Act 3 - 5.5

Film takes itself way too seriously for the subject matter and the age of the kids

Film never rises above mediocrity

Performances are bad to bland all around

Some decent moments scattered throughout

Passable film but wouldn't recommend



Opens with 3 young men robbing a rich home on the water and one of the kids breaks his ankle during an escape and leaves his shoe behind

Locals in this beach town

The kids hang out on the boardwalk with some girls, Alan and Mary hit it off

Local rich man dies and rope Alan's younger brother to help rob it

Cop shows us to Smitty's house with his lost boot

Red finds a gun and Peter and Alan find gold coins

The cop shows up and catches Alan, Red escapes on the boat and leaves Peter behind all alone with the coins

Cops tries to get through to Alan and says he can turn his life around and warns us about Red being dangerous and violent, asks for his help to put away Red for a stabbing

Peter uses the cigars to bargain a trip across back to the mainland

Peter calls out Red for leaving him behind and doesn't come in with the bag

Peter and Alan take one of the coins to the pawn shop and get 1000$ for it

Father doesn't get back til after the 4th of July so they have been on their own for a bit

The brothers go back to the island and dig up the bag of coins, comes out to 100,000$, Peter thinks they should sit on the coins until the summer is over and re-bury them

Two kids just talking about what they want to do with all of their money, everybody has had this kind of conversation

Alan buys a car and talks to Smitty about their situation, try to make this situation more important in the grand scheme of things than it actually is

Alan goes out with Mary, Peter sees Alan bought a car and is pissed that people will know they have money now

Alan feels regulated to being stuck in this town and thinks Peter can go to college and do great things

Keep seeing Red practicing with his gun, a good shot

Smitty and the bum snitch on Alan to Red putting him and Mary in danger

Smitty goes into Alan's house and finds his map with a coin, Peter is there and Red is on his way

Smitty and Red are really bad actors and annoying characters

Alan shows up before Red and wants to make a deal to get half the coins

Cop tries to get Red to turn himself in and flashes the boot to Red, who now knows that Smitty has snitched as well

Red shows up and Alan tells him he's out but Red says they are all doing one last house

They are just kids and are making everything so serious and life or death, very overly dramatic for their circumstances

Red calls 911 on the house and dips, it's Mary's house and the boys get caught

Mary sees Alan in the cop car, Red gets back to the docks and finds out about the cigars

Smitty has the map on his cast and says will take the cop there to show him the coins, coins not in the spot, Red sees them leaving

Pawn shop owner bails out Peter and see him at the anchor where he moves the coins

Mary gets her parents to drop the charges against them, and have a cheesy scene together

Peter is digging up the coins and Alan shows up to help

Red shoes up behind them with the gun, he's so lame and unbelievable as this psycho

Alan charges Red with the paddle and shoots Peter in the head and then tries to drown Alan

Peter was just grazed and now has the gun and shoots and kills Red and saves Alan

Peter and Alan dump the body as fireworks for the 4th go off and looks like these two brothers are going on the run with their coins

.

This is a simple but very well done drama/thriller. Though the script revolves around some of the usual tropes of teenage growing pains, and on the figure of a possessive friend/bully, it does so in a believable and not clichéd way. And the ending clearly shows there was no compromise on the part of the creators of this movie, but not because the plot ending is in itself unexpected: it is the tone which is unexpected (and as such will leave a more lasting impression). All the other ingredients are good as well, from location, props, cinematography and cast - with all cast members delivering very good performances.

Simple story, good actors. Slow pace, drags a bit, snoozing yet? Fireworks needed....Ends with one eye.

The acting in this was mediocre. The main characters are so stupid that it had me screaming at the tv. It was frustrating how the hold friend group just snitched on each other. And the ENDING they're of course gonna find the body they didn't even go that far out to sea. And they're gonna be prime suspects. I hate this movie for how ignorant theses kids are. And even the smart one is just less idiotic compared to the rest of them.

Story had promise. A clique of house robbing teens can't quite get it together; turn on each other; make bad decisions. Lots of holes in the story such as how the parental, justice & legal systems dealt with the consequences of their indiscretions. And, most unlikely, how they kept encountering each other at precisely the right moment in the most remote places. Ending was vague and a body dumped in sea water is going to float at some point.