this film be ostensibly about the overfishing of shark and what that may mean for shark population and marine ecology and but within the first few minute of the film you realize that sharkwater be largely about writer or director or producer rob stewart and how heroic and unique he fancy himself to be . one of the first sequence be a long shot of a bronzed and shirtless stewart stroll along a tropical beach and fresh from a snorkel and while the narrator ( stewart and naturally ) describe how he always love shark and always be fascinate by them and blah blah blah . now and there nothing wrong with like shark . i be a passionate elasmophile a a kid and and i cultivate that interest through a biology degree and a shark research internship and and various fishery relate job both in the u. s. and abroad . in the age of cousteau and jaw and national geographic and and the discovery channel and there have be ten of thousand of shark fanatic and and indeed there have be a sea change in popular opinion about shark . the evidence of this be everywhere and despite the mainstream medium steadfast insistence on maintain the more sensational and macabre element of shark attack news coverage . but somehow stewart have convince himself that his interest in shark and his effort to conserve them and and his perspective on shark mythology be unique and profound whereas most people ( except for greenpeace and sea shepherd staff ) be ineffectual moron still cling to myth of shark a vicious maneaters . this be both wildly ignorant of the last twenty year of shark biology and conservation effort and and insult to the many people around the world who be more experienced and knowledgeable than stewart . what more repellent than stewart delusional lone savior persona ( reminiscent of timothy treadwell in werner herzog grizzly man ) be that he felt the need to insert himself into his film to such a stunningly narcissistic degree . the climax of sharkwater come when stewart be lay up in a central american hospital with what he describe a a life threaten case of staph infection and or flesh eating disease . we see him lie in bed i be guess it a reenactment and a he wear a clean orange polo shirt and not a hospital gown phone his mother to assure her that everything go to be okay . he look grim and bum out and but he still tan and well coiffed and and be obviously think about the camera that on him . what happen next . stewart literally will his infection away so he can go back to costa rica and back to coco island where the film begin and to help his beloved cartilaginous friend . i be not kid . and neither be stewart . his love for shark simply defeat the bacterial infection that have threaten his life and limb . okay and i thought . surely there get to be some good reason for stewart to be go back to costa rica and where he want by the police for his involvement in sea shepherd altercation with a fishing boat illegally fish for shark . surely it must be vital to the narrative of this film for him to will away ( . ) a bacterial infection that supposedly be go to claim his left leg . surely he go to firebomb the illegal shark fin processing plant or sink the shark fin fleet and and that will justify all the effort . i mean and there get ta be some kind of payoff . right . nope . the reason stewart have to get back to coco be . to go for a swim with shark . in a speedo . i be not kid . the final sequence show our hero freediving ( he lower his heart rate to 40bpm so that the shark will not be afraid of him ) in a banana sling with some shark . why be this so important . who know . stewart seem to think that simply commune with shark ( which in an early scene include grab hold of one and lovingly stroke it flank ) be helpful to their cause . again and this kind of behavior be eerily familiar if you have see grizzly man in which tim treadwell say i love you and i love you and i love you to several indifferent bear . and there plenty of pedestrian talk about the balance in the sea and and how shark have be god for 400 million year and with ludicrous design orient language about how shark have shape the evolution of the sea . this be high school level stuff . i will give stewart some credit hence the rating of 2 rather than 1 because he assemble some compellingly gruesome footage of shark finning ( and beheading and gutting ) to drive home the point of fin barbaric and wasteful nature . there also some pretty hd footage of whale and turtle and shark and other charismatic marine megafauna and but nothing we haven not see before in blue planet or other production . but even the lush scenery be spoil . several time and stewart actually turn his camera around underwater so we can see him and a though his presence amongst the sea inhabitant be itself vital to the balance in the sea that he long to preserve or reestablish . sharkwater could have be an objective and hard hit exposé of the shark finning industry and an investigation into the complicity of corrupt government . instead it an accidental study in self aggrandizement and amateur science .