LAND SHARK (2022)

LAND SHARK (2022)

Tagline: Nope

(Action, Adventure, Earthworm Shark) [PG]

Note: the MPAA did not give this movie a rating. It would likely have been a PG. 

If we wait for it to wake up, all of you will become its prey.

In this one, Qian Cheng, who runs a pharmaceutical company had decided to venture into working with a shark to come up with an anti-cancer drug. They have been using parts of other animals to perfect the shark including earthworms. As a result, the shark can essentially swim through land. Once the shark breaks containment it’s a bloody free for all with predictable consequences. Can a shark hunter and a few other scientists take down the ultimate predator? 

First off this is a Chinese film made in 2020, but I think we just started getting to see the America dub in 2022, so I am calling this one a 2022 movie since we didn't have it here in the United States till this year. One thing you have to hand to the people of China is that their creative endeavors sometimes have a bombastic over-the-top flare and this movie fits in that category. For the record, the English dub for this thing is superior to a LOT of other dubbed movies coming out of China and Japan. 

What I liked about this movie is that it had some pretty decent CGI. We are not talking DEEP BLUE SEA level here, but it is an improvement over a lot of other films that probably manages to reach some of the CGI in newer THE ASYLUM films. There is also a pretty cool shot of a researcher getting dragged off by a shark. The shot is from a low angle rather than the long shot or big close-up shots we normally get for this type of scene. In the setting when this happens, this really works cinematically giving more depth. The film is also set in a really beautiful area, so that adds to the production level. It has several cliché moments including one ripped from DEEP BLUE SEA, but the corny fun one was where one of the main male characters rolls over and over with one of the female characters because he’s trying to save her. Then you get that shot where they look at each other and it’s an “insta-love” type moment. It’s pretty charming. The other thing that stood out was how they comedically had one character wearing a shirt that had a “shark bite” graphic across the bottom. I just that that was a funny little touch given that he spends the majority of the run time freaking out because of the land shark. I also liked the cool little rock song at the end of the movie. 

The parts where this movie kind of fails, is in the actual storyline. They do tell us that some of these characters have kids, but the run time is a short 75 minutes and there just wasn’t that much focus on the characters. The issue with this is that we really don’t care at all when people start getting picked off. They are all scientists trying to play God essentially. The focus seemed to be on “running away”. The “human villain” Qian Cheng is played by an actor that looks enough like a villain but the lines they give him are so corny it’s annoying. He has a monologue at the end that contradicts itself and just turns into mindless nonsense. We also have a section in the movie where the shark is basically a kaiju destroying a city. The crazy part about this is that the land shark’s growth spurt is only passingly mentioned. They don’t bother explaining it.  

One thing I can say for this movie is that it definitely takes the record for most bullets fired at a shark in any shark movie. If you cut this thing open you are going to basically find an ammunition shop in there.

Overall LAND SHARK is better than a lot of the shark movie offerings out there and there is some comedic relief meaning they knew exactly what they were doing here and played to the strengths of the production. For me this was cool enough and entertaining enough, to get a 5 out of 7 even without the character development and several plot holes. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ZHONGLELE PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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