Raiders of the Lost Shark (2015) by Brett Kelly


Director: Brett Kelly
Year: 2015
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks

Plot:
Following a series of accidents in the area, a college professor is tasked with joining a military operation out to control a monster killer shark loose in the area, but when they realize the true nature behind the shark’s appearance and behavior set out to stop the massive shark.

Review:

On the whole, this was somewhat underwhelming if still somewhat watchable effort. Among its good qualities is the fact that there’s a decent-sized body count that comes across through a lot of shark encounters. The idea of this thing floating around in the lake undetected and attacking everyone who comes into the waters gives this one quite a lot of genuine attacks and encounters with the shark and sets up a somewhat engaging running time based on always having something happening. With the cheesiness involved in how they finally manage to stop the shark with the monster fish taking to the skies and forcing some rather fun action that’s also quite silly and goofy, this manages enough to be at the least watchable.

There are a couple of issues with this one. One of the main problems is the utterly underwhelming series of shortcuts here that showcase what a low-end budget the film has. From the hamfisted idea of bringing back the sister from the first film in order to make a tenuous connection between the films, the scenes in the hallway which are supposed to be a high-end college or the single manned computer desk that represents the security system all just come across as cheap and lazy. The incompetent sheriff who just wants to nap in the middle of actual police work, infuriating scenes that are dragged out far longer than necessary just to bump up the running time and constantly changing camera skills are all extra examples of how cheap this one is.

The other problem here is the way this one treats the main shark, which is quite problematic. How this one continues to conjure up lame reasons for people to get into the lake, from wanting to cool off to needing to investigate a strange object in the water while in the middle of a missing-persons’ search and having a tourist couple visit the area looking for a good time which all comes off as lame and simply unrealistic. Even the attacks themselves are somewhat of a miss with the lack of blood and gore involved and the hilarity of the CGI creation which is barely placed in the correct aspect, is far too pixelated to look believable and just all-together leaves this as a mess. Together, these are where the film is held back.


Overview: */5
While it doesn’t have much in the way of truly enjoyable aspects and far more flaws than positives, this is still at the least watchable as a truly bad killer shark movie that’s got a lot wrong with it. Only go for this one if you’re a true fan of the sadomasochistic shark movies or are a fan of the creative crew, while those who aren’t into this style or genre should heed extreme caution.

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