Director: A.B. Stone
Year: 2016
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Saltwater: Atomic Shark
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Following a wave of shark attacks, Southern California lifeguards find that they're being attacked by a great white shark subjected to massive amounts of radiation from nuclear tests and must try to save the beaches when the shark approaches a crisis mode.
Review:
There was a lot to really like about this one. Among it's better features is the fact that there's the usual high-amount of action scenes within this one as there's a lot of fun to be had from the rather fun series of scenes throughout here. The opening attack on the parasailer is quite fun with the creature being unseen against the diver and attacking her while the boat trails off and sees the shark coming back causing his escape, a later attack on a group of water-tunnel works that is a fun cheesy highlight of the shark moving through the hoops to set them on fire before biting at the one on the equipment and the centerpiece scene where it attacks a second parasailing group that's in the different boats leading to the fire-fueled assault on them before taking out the others up on the rig.
It's the kind of appropriately cheesy and high-action scene that works incredibly well, while the other big fun action scene featured that's nearly as much fun is the second beach assault that showcases the shark running through the different swimmers as it comes into shore and then landing on the beach to attack even more patrons before going out to sea which is quite a fun and enjoyable cheesy scene. Though it's the typically-clichéd hunting-the-shark- in-open-water finale, the action there is still so much fun with the different luring methods to effectively get the creature out to sea and finally get the creature after them resulting in some fun deaths, a couple of really exciting tactics to combat the shark and numerous suspenseful chases that take place for a big rousing finish.
The cast here is fine for this type of feature. Rachele Brooke Smith as the main lifeguard Gina serves this nicely as the type of fearless, gung-ho leader that's usually found here, oftentimes rushing into dangerous situations simply because of her sense of duty but it's a fine role regardless here. Her friends, the typical group of snarky loud-mouthed photogenic types that have to be coerced into doing the slightest bit helpful to any situation even though it does nicely manage to offer up some sympathy towards them when they get into danger. It's also always nice to see Jeff Fahey turn up here, and his grizzled shark-hunter Rottger may seem too obvious and familiar but the enjoyment's still the same. Coupled with some fantastic burn marks with all the radiation scares featured throughout here, these here are quite enough to make this a great entry.
Again, the main element that holds this down is the same usual method of problem that usually affects these movies in it's utterly ridiculous and beyond lame special effects usually associated here. The CGI utilized here is up to their usual atrocious standards with the obvious pixelated images cropping up throughout here but also still in the wrong perspective in the frame to really settle upon any kind of positive interaction when they're featured and it really does take a lot out of the fun with such a wholly unappealing effort especially since we're exposed to it from the start as it's mere seconds of the opening of the film. Likewise, the film also struggles slightly here with the government agency aware of the creature, as there's a strong thread in the first half about they being responsible for a cover-up but yet nothing is done about it and is just summarily dropped without much explanation. Otherwise, this one serves as another fun killer shark effort.
Overview: ****/5
Overall, this is one of the finest and more enjoyable of these SyFy Channel original shark movies, which manage to offer up plenty of action-packed cheese that the channel offers in spades. Give this one a chance if those types of genre features or are into these cheesy channel offerings, while those who have no tolerance for the cheese on display should avoid completely.
Comments
Post a Comment