Director: Prem Lawlani
Year: 1996
Country: India
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Growing up together in a remote village, two friends who find themselves as close as brothers learn that the village is under the iron-fisted rule of a treacherous gangster and must stop him from overrunning the village, only to find the task complicated by a massive shark lurking in the nearby waters.
Review:
This was a somewhat troubling if enjoyable effort. One of the film’s biggest issues here is the decision to concentrate on the decidedly non-horror exploits of the gangster ruling over the village. The fact that he’s a crime-lord with a mansion filled with dogs he feeds subordinates to is pretty eccentric, but this is a rather uneventful start to a creature feature film as it keeps the creature off-screen. Detailing the feud between him and the villagers where we get his continuous threats to keep them in line because he owns their waters and boats which the guy keeps contesting to push back his influence as well as the secondary plot to smuggle out the pearls from the area, this ends up holding back our first shark attack until nearly an hour into the running time. That goes hand-in-hand with the other subplots involving his attempts to rule over the villagers to keep his nefarious plan a secret which just ends up doing the same thing in keeping the shark off-screen.
That’s somewhat of a blessing as well with the film’s technical limitations due to the budgetary restrictions. It shouldn’t cost much to make a shark that retains the same basic dimensions and proportions throughout the film yet the shark here is maddeningly and frustratingly inconsistent. Initially appearing to be slightly bigger than a grown person in some attacks, later scenes have the creature big enough to swallow a person within their jaws while an underwater chase as it goes after the divers scalping the pearls illegally is more of a realistic bigger-than-man being. This change in size is carried out with the stiff, plastic-like look of the model inside playsets for the sharks’ activities which create a wholly cheesy look and feel to these scenes. The storyline rationale for some of the attacks is also a bit clumsy and far-fetched, such as the bride luring a falling-down drunk groom into the surf or a defenseless fishing boat in the same area looking for the missing woman which manage to really hold this one back.
There are a few things to like here. Despite not having much shark action, the other scenes here depicting the villagers fighting back against the mobsters’ goons which result in various clumsily choreographed but energetic kung-fu brawls with the henchmen that offers a fine lead-in to the village raid. The scale is quite grander than expected and has a lot of intensity with the stunt-work featured here, really giving this a big scene much like the thrilling police raid at the compound at the end which has a rather enjoyable action movie tone featuring the gun battles and fighting throughout. That also is what works here with the big confrontation to get the shark out at sea as there’s plenty to like involving the extended battle trying to bring it to the surface while the secondary race to stop the gangster fleeing the scene is a great touch due to the spectacle here of accomplishing both at the same time with a stunt that has to be seen to be believed. Otherwise, there isn’t much else here beyond the cheesy charm of the shark while it’s attacking.
Overview: **/5
While the film mostly works as a decent and wholly enjoyable action film that throws a killer shark into the final half, this one isn't much of a true creature feature due to that issue which keeps the creature's screentime limited. Give it a look if you're curious about it or a die-hard shark movie completist while those expecting a true horror-based creature feature should avoid this one.
Comments
Post a Comment