Shark Night [3D] (2011)
Full review: Being a big fan of shark-related movies and judging from "Shark Night"'s cool poster and previews, I expected this film to be pure mindless entertainment. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Despite the countless cliches, "Shark Night 3D" is quite watchable at first, even moderately fun at times, however, after the reveal of how the sharks have gotten into the lake, the movie gets dumber and dumber with each next scene, and turns into a big fat "fishy" mess, that hardly makes any sense. I can't believe I'm saying this, but if it was more straight-forward, it could have been a lot better and a lot more fun to watch than it actually was. The scares are also lacking big time, except for the fact that there are a couple of sudden shark attacks, that might make you jump out of your seat. "Final Destination 2" director, David R. Ellis, does a pretty good job in the first half of the movie, delivering plenty of creative and diverse camera angles, yet unfortunately, his direction goes absolutely out of control later on, and turns from decent to amateurishly lame. Maybe, in the right hands, "Shark Night" could have been a great silly fun, but sadly, it's just silly. The most (unpleasantly) surprising thing about this movie is, that the special effects are shockingly bad and poorly-executed. During the underwater scenes, the sharks and their movements look so cartoonishly fake and the CGI work is so obvious, it's laughable. The 3D ranges from decent to completely hideous, and adds nothing to the visuals of the movie, nor to the overall experience. On a positive note though, the scenery is beautiful, and the lake itself - absolutely glorious. Acting-wise, "Shark Night 3D" also disappoints. The entire cast is incredibly charming and full of fresh faces, however, none of the young actors/actresses possesses any acting skills whatsoever. Sara Paxton is as phony and incapable as she's cute, Dustin Milligan is ridiculously stiff, Joel David Moore is goofy as usual, Chris Zylka is nothing more than just a pretty face, and former American Idol contestant, Katharine McPhee, is mediocre at best in her role as Beth. Joshua Leonard as Red delivers the only worthy performance here.
Overall summary: A few fun-to-watch attack scenes aside, pretty much everything about "Shark Night 3D" is wrong - the story is absurd, the characters are shallow, the special effects are cheesy at best, and the conclusion is downright ridiculous. If you want to see a truly frightening, tense and realistic shark flick, check out Traucki's "The Reef" instead.
Overall summary: A few fun-to-watch attack scenes aside, pretty much everything about "Shark Night 3D" is wrong - the story is absurd, the characters are shallow, the special effects are cheesy at best, and the conclusion is downright ridiculous. If you want to see a truly frightening, tense and realistic shark flick, check out Traucki's "The Reef" instead.
23 comments:
Sound extremely lame. I'll look forward to missing this one!
Russ, unfortunately it is lame. I've seen worse though. Skip this one and give "The Reef" a shot. ;)
When it wasn't rated R, that threw up another red flag.
Glad you're back online! Been a long two weeks without you.
Alex, yes the PG-13 rating ruined the fun.
I'm glad I'm back online as well. Unfortunately another long week full of lectures is ahead of me. Then, it's time for the exams. I'll try to post more often though. I missed you as well :)
Pity. This could have been so great if made by Lussier or Aja.
Still, I'll probably watch it when it arrives at Austrian theaters. Why? Because I'm a stupid sucker for all kinds of 3D crap :)
Maynard, both Aja and Lussier would have made a great cheesy fun shark flick out of this. I'm surprised that Ellis didn't deliver, cause I thoroughly enjoyed his FD sequel and Snakes on a Plane.
Give it a shot, you might like it better than me. The 3D was... well.. okay. :)
Yay, you're back!!! I missed you terribly. I wish all the best with school and those exams. You're going to do great, sweetie. :)
This movie sounded kind of silly when I first heard about it, but I thought cute kids getting eaten by sharks, I'm so there. But now that I've read your highly entertaining review, I'm thinking not so much. 10 dollars is a lot of dough to waste on a truly bad flick.
Oh, hello, sweetheart! :) I missed you so much as well... last two weeks were tough for me, and another one is ahead of me, but I can handle it of course. Everything's great at school, I met some great people and we are having so much fun. I'm one of the oldest which is okay, coz they like me a lot. :) My English teacher was blown away by my skills and said: No way, you're going to have the same test as them! I'm gonna give you a harder one. LOL. The truth is I speak English better than she does. LOL. I'm joking. She's terrified of me. Hahaha.
Mel, at first I was sold. The movie looked a lot of fun, but sadly it didn't meet my expectations. And they weren't even high. Don't waste your money on it, hon. Just wait for the DVD>
Agreed, Nebs. Both me and my sis love sharks-eating-people movies and were all over Shark Night this afternoon. Disappointing! A few good moments here and there, but overall a movie that could have been SO much better - a better story and an R rating could have helped this movie immensely.
I was wondering when you'd get back. I watched Stake Land last night, which was one of the best post-apocalyptic films I've seen, and wondered if my movie buddy had seen it. It even made me scream once.
The best line, "And then all that goodness was ruined by Christian crazies dropping vampires out of the sky". There was another good one about death having teeth.
Shark movies aren't high on my list. From your review, I think I'll skip this one. Last one I saw was Open Water. May give The Reef a try since you recommend it.
Glad you're back
Pretty much what I thought it would be, but I love the part they used in the trailer of the girl bouncing up and down under water. makes me want to see it even though it is bad.
Good God, are you trying to give me nightmares. I might never set foot in a pool again. Nothing worse than a shark in 3D, I don't care how sucky the movie. :)
Aarrggh, I was hoping this would be fun!
Ouch! 14% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's not surprising, but still..
Harry, thank you so much! Have a fantastic weekend as well! :)
Michele, glad you agree with me on this one. Although I wanted to like it, it left a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't even that much fun, was it?
Isis, I had three busy and very tough weeks, but here I am now. I'll try my best to catch up with my reviews and stuff. Glad you enjoyed Stake Land. I wrote a tiny review about it.. you may check it out if you want to see what I thought of it. It was a bit slow and pretty straightforward, but other than that I liked it a lot.
"The Reef" is absolutely fantastic. You should give it a shot.
Budd, that's actually the opening sequence, which is quite fun. The rest of it ... not that much. :)
Leila, you may set foot in a pool, but never in a lake. LOL. Just joking. So you're terrified of sharks? Don't be, hon.. most of these are CGI. ;)
Ricky, and so was I. Unfortunately, it was only mildly fun. Damn.
Maurice, yep, the critics hated it, and there's a reason for that - it's lame! :)
Hated it a bit more than you, but overall I fully agree with your review.
Maynard, I gave it a 4 because of the pretty scenery and a couple of shark attacks I enjoyed, but I share your disappointment with it. I'm looking forward to "Bait"...
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