This goes down in history for me as being one of the better movies I've gotten to watch in a long time. I continuously pull this movie off the shelf and watch it when I'm in the mood for a shark movie (which is often as I'm totally fascinated by water monster movies......sharks/piranhas/kraken). I suppose part of my fascination with this film stems from how awesome it is as a shark movie (no continuous stock shark footage shown over and over, well done CGI so it doesn't feel too fake at any one time [though it has it's moments] and solid horror movie acting [which will never be blockbuster standard but is what the fans expect and desire of their horror movies]) and how wonderful it is as a horror movie. It breaks down all the stereotypical moments we've come to know and love and expect and trashes them to bits.
I will point out that there is no way for me to do a honest review of this film without filling this review with spoilers galore, so keep that in mind if you continue to read beyond this point.
The first and hardfast rule of almost all horror films is that there will always be a member of the 'survival' group whose got all the answers. Who is the hero so to speak. He's the leader, he knows what's going on, and how to lead people out to safety and freedom. Whether he has this knowledge at the beginning, or whether he learns as he goes along. Often enough he/she is reluctant to pick up the reigns of leadership and doesn't view themself as being a leader or the person to follow, but none-the-less the authoritative air around them will draw the other characters in and they will stick like glue to the power and confidence of this person. The mentor character of this film is clearly the amazing actor known by most as only Samuel L. Adding his last name is almost an insult that you don't know who I'm referring to already, but Jackson. Who is actually the second victim of the shark attacks (I do not consider the helicoptor or tower as victims of shark attack as they were simply a casualty of an explosion indirectly related to the sharks plan). So the character we expect and are ready to follow, are certain will lead the haphazard crew to safety.....is dead shortly after the attacks begin.
More examples of this film throwing caution to the wind of consistency and saying "Screw the Formula" are in the ending of the film. We expect that the burgeoning love between the lead male and female will be the ultimate love story of survival when all the sharks are dead and they're all in the clear. Only the lead female is dead moments before the end because she sacrifices herself, and not to save another character, but to prevent the sharks from escaping the environment and breaking free into the world.
But honestly, one of my favorites is the condemned black man. While it has become far more common for black men to survive until the end of a horror film, at the release of this movie (1999), there are very few examples of this. And not only does he survive to the end, but he's a cook, which begs the HOW question. No matter who he was (actor and race wise) the fact that the cook survives til the end of a shark movie is already a wonderful surprise. But actually watching how he figures things out and manages to keep his head above water (pun intended) is really quite amusing. And for the record LL Cool J is just all kinds of awesome in my book. I'm not normally attracted to black men but man does he make a girl go all atwitter.
Final statement is that no matter how you cut this film it's an awesome shark movie. Surprising and often backwards. But then again, in my experience, the very best movies are the ones the so called 'critics' didn't give much of a chance to. I say give this one a chance, but watch it with open eyes.
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