Director: Martin White
Year: 2021
Country: Australia/US/United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Struggling to make their financial payments, a couple running a charter plane business agrees to take a married couple on a quick trip to a nearby island, but after getting stranded in the area they find themselves by a pack of rogue sharks hunting them down and must try to get away alive.
Review:
This was an overall enjoyable if slightly flawed genre effort. What this one does right is centered around an enjoyable setup that brings everyone into the situation. The early setup here, revolving around their floundering business and need to stay afloat when the perfect job falls in their lap to take the married couple out to the island that they agree to do, is quite well-done here. Given the other revelation about the real reason they're there and the discovery that leads them into the situation involving them being stuck at sea added together, this part of the film is quite entertaining.
Likewise, once the shark shows up and attacks them there are some enjoyable elements here. With the opening attack on the mysterious couple partying on the boat which sets up the idea of their search to rescue them it enables the subsequent discoveries and attack on their plane, this one does the right thing to showcase the savagery and intensity of their behavior quite nicely. Added together with the encroaching darkness that makes for an incredibly chilling scenario where it's impossible to see and the storm that passes over the area, there's a lot to like here.
As well, the way in which the shark begins to attack and pick of the group is really enjoyable and quite chilling. The first attack on the overboard passenger works nicely due to the earlier scene involving the camera-work being underwater before which enables a strong shock for the twist. Later scenes involving the shark attacking their raft to send them into the water and attacking brutally from beneath the surface or the ingenious way to combat the creatures underwater to get away offer up a wholly thrilling series of action scenes featuring dynamic special effects for the sharks as well. These here give this one quite a lot to like.
There is a big flaw here, and it doesn't totally drag the film down but lowers this one enough. That one flaw is the random start/stop tempo to the pacing here where it suddenly ramps up the action only to immediately switch over to a dramatic confrontation in the boat which lessens the tension considerably. It happens frequently where the shark attacks quickly on to then disappear for the group to go into some melodramatic spiel about their relationships or personal struggles which slows this down somewhat. A few questionable shots of the shark-head puppet performing unrealistic actions in the finale aside, there isn't much wrong here.
Overview: ****.5/5
Far more engaging and gripping than expected, this here proved to be a highly entertaining killer shark film that doesn't have all that much really holding the film down. Fans of the more serious brand of killer shark films or intrigued by this one, in general, will have a lot to like here while only those who prefer the cheesier entries won't have a lot to like here.
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