Mega Piranha (2010) by Eric Forsberg


Director: Eric Forsberg
Year: 2010
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:
After a science experiment creates a series of rapidly-evolving piranhas, a Special Forces team and a former scientist on the project must stop them after they're loosened upon Venezuela before they get to American soil by eating their way through everything they can in the process.

Review:

This one was a pretty typical SyFy Channel creature feature, so this one has a ton of stuff to like about it. Among the best parts of this one is the film's rather big action scenes here, filled with plenty of high-energy scenes featuring the usual assortment of scenes here. There's the rather fun quicker encounters of the creatures launching attacks on the local's boat, a great battle with the Venezuelan soldiers against the creatures which quickly turns into a massive slaughter of the soldiers, a further salvage operation that gets wiped out by the creatures and a rather frantic chase scene in the jungle where the creatures take out the scientific expedition sent to study them which gets only more fun once it gets out of the jungle terrain as the scenes of them on the beach is quite fun.

What makes all of these early scenes so enjoyable is that that they're discovered and featured here quite early on, not only helping to deliver positives with the frantic pacing and full-on action but also brings about the rather impressive feat of making the authorities seem more logical and rational rather than the typical clueless authorities. As well, this furthers the main action along the later half here with some outstanding confrontations of the creatures attacking and chomping everything they can while the military tries to contain and destroy them resulting in the numerous creature attacks on submarines, boats, helicopters add then chewing through the city in a frantic city-wide destruction scenes that is highly enjoyable for its wide-spread sense of chaos and cheesy action. Added by the strong, fierce image of the creatures and frantic gore and bloodshed here, those are enough to hold off the few flaws.

The biggest issue here is the rather lame storyline involving the general's attempts to track them down for his perception of their involvement in the situation. The rationale he uses to justify this makes no sense here as this simply screams like an excuse to turn him into a villain unnecessarily just to provide another obstacle to overcome. Not only that but the fact that he continues going out of his way to get the fish results in some extreme measures that aren't questioned enough for what they've done. As well, there's also the usually-typical CGI for the creatures here which comes off rather lame trying to integrate the creatures into the scene or the action provided look goofy and unrealistic. These here are what hold this one down.


Overview: ****/5
One of the more consistently fun and enjoyable efforts by the channel in their history, this is a stellar and generally fast-paced effort that doesn't have much wrong for it in this genre. Give it a shot if you're a fan of these cheesy creature features or an aficionado of the company's output, while those not interested in that kind of film should heed caution.

Comments