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To be perfectly candid I’m a sucker for natural disaster movies, and
shark movies. I’m much more tolerant of bad movies than my Hot Bad
Colleagues. (Made-for-TV animal-monster movie marathon? Sign me up!
Shark week? I’m there.) So it’s really not a surprise that I’d go for
a monster-shark-creates-a-disaster movie. And I really enjoy it. I
own it. It makes me happy. But that really doesn’t mean it’s a good
movie, and I know that.
So what we have here is an ambitious and somewhat unethical scientist Susan McCallister (Saffron Burrows) who genetically modifies mako sharks. Naturally, a skeleton crew of research staff get trapped in the isolated research station in the Pacific, just in time for the super-sharks to decide to escape their captivity. Things go from bad to worse as the sharks get the upper fin, and the researchers end up trying to escape themselves.
So we’re certainly not watching this for the plot. And the acting – or, should I say, actors? Cool Bad Guy Samuel L. Jackson is always a plus, and there are some interested revelations about his character, shortly before his ... departure ... from the plot. L.L. Cool J., mostly here for comic relief, was a joy. I can always look at Michael Rapaport without complaining, not to mention Stellan Skarsgard and Cute Shark Wrangler Thomas Jane. He swims a lot, sans shirt. Let’s watch that again. Mmmm, yeah.
Hot, Cool, absolutely.
Sadly, the sharks aren’t the real villains. Instead we get the annoying and arrogant Susie. “But we’ll cure Alzheimers!” Blah blah blah. Not if I kill you first, lady.
The whole thing screams cheese, my friends.
(and remember, I’m a sucker for this stuff....)