Director: Sun Yu
Year: 2024
Country: China
Alternate Titles: Tun Tian Ju Sha
Genre: Sharks
Plot:
Following a series of attacks, a government team realizes the culprit is a massive swarm of genetically engineered sharks created in a special experiment to control the global food supply, which requires a special team to come together with a way to stop the creatures before they wreak havoc.
Review:
For the most part, this one is exactly the kind of cheesy movie it's set up to be. The main factor within here is the immensely silly and cheesy storyline that we're forced to treat seriously. The type of interactions with the scientists trying to come to terms with the ethics of their genetic manipulation experiments on sharks and the purpose behind it all creates a genuinely workable setup for a film of this caliber to work with as being asked to take something this goofy about the use of a genetic adaptation to improve natural resiliency to changing marine ecosystems which happened to take place in a shark rather than a non-invasive species is a lot to take in which makes for a generally cheesy setup.
With this established, the film openly operates on a series of equally goofy action scenes to play up this scenario. Letting the mutant sharks loose and free to roam the world's waters brings about plenty of encounters where the sharks jump out of the water to grab victims or swarm beaches looking to feed on the bathers gathered. The pinnacle of everything here, a straightforward battle with the mutant sharks using a shark-frame submarine in a full-on combat sequence, is spectacular, with the submarine taking out the sharks with torpedoes, biting into them with a working mouth, or slicing them to pieces with razor-sharp fins, is a sight to behold. Other military encounters here, trying to track and destroy the creatures with a slew of high-tech weaponry, feel more akin to kaiju films than straightforward killer shark efforts but help to provide such a gloriously silly scale that helps to make this one enjoyable.
In most regards, there's not too much to really say negatively about it. When looking at the type of action presented, the concepts behind these sequences, and the CGI used to execute everything, there's a general expectancy here that shouldn't be surprising for fans of the style. It should be plainly obvious from the start that the over-the-top nature of what's happening means there's going to be ridiculous action scenes punctuated with goofy-looking CGI to create everything due to the low budget, so the outrageously fake-looking sharks and military equipment pressed into service to stop them are par for the course here, even with their cheese factor. Beyond this, the one genuine issue here is the abbreviated length, where it doesn't even hit a seventy-minute running time with credits added on, leading to some unnecessary moments. There's room for a bit more thought put into these pieces to help stretch the running time out slightly, which is what really brings it down the most.
Overview: ****/5
Knowing full well what to expect from this one from the start, the film is a perfect embodiment of a cheesy creature feature and doesn’t deviate from that point throughout. Viewers who appreciate this point or are fans of the general approach with other types of similar films will absolutely enjoy this one, while those who are turned off by the style taken here should heed caution here.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully reprinted with their cooperation.
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