Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Sept 3, 2011 17:27:06 GMT -5
Plot:Several men and women spend a weekend at a lake house in Louisiana's Gulf area. When their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare of hellish shark attacks, unheard of in freshwater lakes, they soon discover that the sharks are part of a sick, greedy plan on the part of several locals.
Cast:
Joel David Moore
Sinqua Walls
Chris Carmack
Alyssa Diaz
Sara Paxton
Dustin Milligan
Katharine McPhee
My Thoughts:Fun time waster.
Review:"Shark Night 3D", is the latest nature-versus-man horror film from filmmaker David R. Ellis. Ellis started his trend with "Final Destination 2". Where teens went up against the Grim Reaper. Then he moved on to "Snakes On A Plane", where a bunch of unlucky flight passengers did battle with a plane full of killer snakes. Now, he's moved on to "Shark Night 3D". Where we're back to teens again. This time college students, who have to do battle with some sharks who ruin their vacation time at a local salt water lake. "Shark Night 3D" is everything people hate about mainstream horror films.
Its plot is paper-thin, its not very story-oriented, and it uses the dreaded CGI to make it's sharp-toothed antagonists. But it also runs opposite of mainstream horror as well. The film for one, has characters that are not the typical assortment of gap-ad teens. These people aren't hideous or anything. But they're more normal/person next door-looking than any of those CW or "Twilight" kids for certain. Particularly Sara Paxton, who is the movies female lead. An awkward college girl who doesn't seem to care much for dating or hooking up.
And instead, spends most of her time with her dog. Paxton isn't the sex-bomb-looking type. So sympathizing with her character when her friends begin to get eaten by the finned-baddies isn't very hard at all. Her friends (sort of), are played by Katherine McPhee and Alyssa Diaz. Diaz, being the girlfriend of the films token black guy. Who also doubles for the movies obligatory jock character as well. Joel David Moore's character is about as close to a truly obnoxious character as this movie gets. He's the typical "hook up" type.
But considering Moore's acting style, the character comes off more as fun, easy-going, and cares about his friends. Instead of pretentious, obnoxious, and mean-spirited. He's about as close to a douchebag as this movie gets with its male characters. But in reality, he's just a fun-loving college guy type who wants to have fun. The other male characters in the film are pretty cool also. And even the token black guy/jock guy, isn't a douchebag. However, him and Diazes character do have a moment of tension when they arrive at the lake. And the local inbreds begin to spout their usual stereotypical "racial" bile.
Which don't sit too well with the jock and his latin girlfriend. The film offers up a simple plot to follow. And doesn't over-complicate things however. The kids head to the lake to basically just have a good time. But the movies opening scene suggests that the sharks are lurking about the waters. When a fodder character is quickly disposed of in the pics opening scene. So once the kids arrive, it isn't long before we get our first shark attack. The movies big question or big reveal, is supposed to be -- are these sharks just like the croc from "Lake Placid"?
Just so happened to end up in those wasters through travel? Or did someone put them there? Problem with "Shark Night" is, it throws you one red herring that you might bite on once or twice. But when two new players (the racist rednecks from early on), are introduced further and further into the movies unfolding storyline, the big "twist" or ''reveal", quickly loses its impact. As any idiot can see these guys know something about the sharks. And why they're in the particular waters that they're in. But the movie tries to offer up one more "twist" near the end when we learn they aren't the only ones involved in this crazy scheme.
And then of course there's the reasoning behind their little "game". Which borders on "Hostel" territory. But this has to be the first horror film I've seen in awhile where the likeability of the college kids, is played up as a way of equally playing up the badness of the films bad guys. The movie really makes its bad guys bad, and its good guys good. None of these kids are written to be purposely annoying. To drive the viewer to dislike them strongly. They're all nice kids. Likeable. And I think that's what made this movie actually as good as it was.
When each one of them fall victim to the sharks, you feel a tad bit of "sorry" for them. Unlike in some horror films, where when 95% of the cast is wiped out, you're either happy, or rooting for the monster/bad person/killer. Speaking of which, the sharks in this movie, (after all, they're in the title -- heh)...are pretty bad ass! This isn't "Deep Blue Sea" though. There's no super-bloody moments of sharks eating people. But there is a sizeable amount of blood, and there are about three death scenes that are very well done.
One involving a tree, the other two involving a water ski and a shark cage. But these sharks are very vicious, very hungry, and the CGI used to create them is very clean and not the sloppy renditions we see in some of today's other horror films. We also get a cool moment where one character, who has lost A LOT, to the sharks. Decides to take the fight to one of them. Not gonna spoil that for ya though. As for "Shark Night 3D" -- in '3D'? Well, it's not super intense. But there are a few scenes where the 3D proves to be effective. But is it worth the extra 5 bucks? 50/50 I say. As for the films acting, for a movie like this it's pretty damn good.
Paxton and Moore are no slouches after all. With Moore having done "Hatchet" and "Spiral". And Paxton coming off of "Last House On The Left" redux. Everyone else did a good job to though, including McPhee who can now add "Actress" besides the "Singer" or "Musician" title on her resume. "Shark Night 3D"s conclusion is pretty sweet, with a few moments of suspense here and there. But overall, the movie is a fun watch.
If you go in with your brain turned off at the door, and don't have any ultra high expectations. Just accept the movie for what it is. A fun 90 minute ride, and a nice way to wrap up the Summer of 2011. If you go in expecting "Jaws" or to a lesser extent..."Deep Blue Sea", you're gonna be disappointed.
Positives:Good performances by the actors playing the college students on "vacay", and the films villains. Human and fish. A few nice moments of suspense. Many thrilling moments, likeable protagonists all around. A few cool human death scenes. One cool shark death scene. And just a fun and entertaining movie overall and all around.
Negatives:Obviously, some of the local rednecks being responsible for the sharks rampaging around the lake was supposed to be a twist in the movie. But it's so obvious at the very start that it fails at being even remotely, a surprise when it's finally revealed in full.
Overall:Three and a half stars out of four.