SHARK ATTACK (1999)

SHARK ATTACK (1999)

Tagline: Without feeling, without remorse, without warning.

(Sci-Fi, Action, Ghostbuster vs. Shark) [R]

I'm glad I fed your brother to the sharks.

In this one, a marine biologist who has a thing for hanging out with sharks named Steven McKray goes to investigate a series of shark attacks. Once there he finds out one of the victims was his friend Mark DeSantis. With the help of Mark’s sister Corine DeSantis, Steven discovers that there is something nefarious going on in the area that is attracting sharks and possibly making them more violent. As they dig deeper they find themselves in grave danger from more than sharks. 

First off, this movie feels a lot like an 80s movie, but it was shot in 1999. That doesn’t mean the quality is bad though. This is the same studio that did the 2019 version of HELLBOY and JOLT so effects and action are really an issue here. 

What stands out about this movie is the performance of Ernie Hudson as Lawrence Rhodes. Hudson best known for GHOSTBUSTERS and CONGO has always been an underappreciated actor, but his role in this is light years above everyone else’s. The other thing that stands out is that the real shark footage and the practical effects are at least as good as any of the JAWS films. They did a solid job putting effort into this one regarding what makes it a “shark movie”. Tony Caprari also does a great job playing Mani (Steven's boat and car driver). That dude is a bit of comic relief and I just freakin love his character. 

Acting wise we get Casper Van Dien who plays Steven McKray and does a decent job in a lot of scenes, but there are other scenes where he sounds unsure of his lines and hesitates. I think as a director you do retakes in those situations, so the weirdness and choppy acting shouldn’t all be laid at Van Dien’s feet. Bentley Mitchum does a decent job as Dr. Miles Craven. I haven’t seen any of his other films. Jenny McShane is not great in this, I’d say below average. She was actually in all 3 “SHARK ATTACK” films playing 2 different characters. 

I think this movie has a rough time in several ways. One is that the story isn’t all that intriguing. This isn’t something like SHARKULA where they are trying to get us to be entertained by nonsense. This movie is taking itself seriously and does a decent job of giving us a different idea for a plot line. However, one major issue is that they are doing research on these sharks saying they are trying to cure cancer with sharks because sharks don’t get cancer. We know now and probably also new in 1999, that sharks do in fact get cancer. What would have been more accurate (because they are doing a serious shark film here) is if they just said that shark-derived antibodies could help with cancer. There is actual research going on regarding that and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease as well. Another issue is the choppy acting. Some scenes are very fluid and come across as natural. Other scenes feel like the cast is trying to remember their lines and the director either didn’t care about the quality of their delivery, or he was on a super tight time crunch. Another thing that would have helped this movie out is having an actual soundtrack. We do get a score, but it’s below average. There are no iconic heart-pumping or “let’s rock a bit” songs in this entire movie. The result is a drab watch that gives you too many chances to check out. 

Overall SHARK ATTACK is better than JAWS: THE REVENGE, but that isn’t a super lofty goal. Anyone taking an even remotely well-written script into a shark movie is going to do better than that.

This thing has its moments and probably more explosions than most shark flicks, so it lands at a 4 out of 7 for me. Really though, it's almost as if every vehicle or any kind in this movie was pre-rigged to explode if it hits anything. There is just a giant chunk of the middle where almost nothing is going on so it could have scored higher. For comparison, it’s better than JAWS: THE REVENGE and on par with JAWS 2.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PICARO FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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