Swim (2021) by Jared Cohn

Director: Jared Cohn

Year: 2021

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Sharks

Plot:

Heading down to a vacation beach house, a family finds the area swarming with inspection problems but are forced to stay due to a massive storm in the area which they soon find a massive shark has gotten trapped in the house with them forcing the family to try to get out of the situation alive.

Review:

Overall, this was a fun if problematic entry. One of the stronger factors with this one is the rather enjoyable setup that, utilizing several different plotlines together, manages to generate a pretty thrilling scenario. With the establishing storyline of the unsafe conditions inside the basement that makes it ripe for flooding and the landlord's unwillingness to spend the money to fix it when the family's about to arrive, the discovery of these conditions that distract them long enough to be unable to escape with the rest of the evacuations and the oncoming storm trapping them in the rising water with the shark swimming in the house, this comes of quite fun overall as the struggle to stay alive meshes nicely with the father trying to get to them to have a quite strong setup.

With that established, the film has a lot to like with the shark attacks which are cheesy and enjoyable enough. The initial attacks on the landlord and the basement ambush of the repairman start this off nicely with some small, brief attacks which set the stage for the later sequences inside the house. With the water rising and the shark confronting them in numerous strong sequences leading up to the escape from the flooded basement and the eventual confrontation in the living room, the second half comes off much better with a strong slew of scenes featuring the group trying to get out of the water away from the shark circling them leading to some tense encounters and graphic attacks with the victims. With a fun finale offering a similar fun series of chases and encounters with the sharks trying to get them while the family tries to escape, this one comes off quite nicely overall.

That said, there are some flaws to be had with this one. One of the biggest issues here is the beginning that focuses on the disasters at the house setting the stage for the ensuing carnage to come. Going through the motions of the various household factors and the trouble with getting everyone together due to the storm gives this one with a proper setup but takes way too long to get going with the cheapskate landlord trying to bribe his way out of the inspection, the family trying to spend time together despite their own issues and the discovery of the faulty structure. It all comes off as too overlong to get to the shark action in this one with these elements, and along with the instances of underwhelming CGI for the settings and the sharks when they're on-screen, all conspire to bring this one down enough.

Overview: ***.5/5

A highly enjoyable if slightly flawed shark film which has a lot to like about it, that there’s a lot to like with this one manages to hold it up over its few drawbacks which do crop up here. Those that appreciate these factors or are a fan of killer shark films will be the most impressed with this one while those that don’t like either of those factors should heed caution.