SHARK HUNTER (2001)

SHARK HUNTER (2001)

Tagline: The terror that time forgot...but you never will.

(Action, Adventure, Amateur Hour Graphics) [R]

You know that story of David and Goliath? Well me in this mini-sub is like Bambi vs. Godzilla.

In this one, a marine research station is destroyed and the owner has turned to Spencer Northcut, an expert on sharks to find out what happened. Northcut and his team including Dr. William Atkins figure out pretty quickly that what they are looking for is actually a Megalodon.

First off, I have watched a ton of terrible shark movies over the years, and to this one’s credit, Antonio Sabato Jr. is actually watchable as Spencer Northcut. The film opens up with his parents being eaten by a shark as a kid and Sabato does a pretty good job of carrying that tension and background to the role as an adult. Sabato has been acting for 32 years as of the writing of this review with a couple of stints on TV’s General Hospital. 

The rest of the cast is okay, but not great. I think the role that seemed the most out of place was Christian Toulali as Dr. William Atkins. The cast wasn’t top tier or anything, but everyone else outperformed him. The movie's main actress was Heather Marie Marsden who plays Cheryl. The script for her part was pretty unrealistic as she’s arguing that they should try and capture the Megalodon alive. However, she didn’t notice that nothing on the research rig looked capable of sedating and towing or capturing something that big. Marsden is probably best known for a small role in the TV show “The Office”. 

Script wise this is definitely not the worst, but there are several cheesy lines including a homage to JAWS where one of the characters mentions needing a bigger sub. Also some of Cheryl's actions that I mentioned earlier seem totally like nonsense. I do think some better lighting and a less claustrophobic feel would have really helped this thing out. They do actually throw in a little character development so that’s commendable. I think if I read this script, I would have thought, “Oh, I think we’ve got a decent shark movie idea here”. 

The score is rough but the pacing is okay. There are a few lulls but this film's biggest issue is that most of it is shot pretty much in the dark. It looks like the film might have been made in someone’s closet. The execution is just pretty rough. I also had some issues with the CGI. I mean, this wasn’t the worst ever, but it’s not what I would consider good at all. I know we had better stuff in 2001. 

It’s literally “just okay”. As far as shark movies go, it’s not the bottom of the barrel, but it’s in the bottom half of shark movies I’ve seen. This movie is watchable, it’s not like HOUSE SHARK which I had to turn off after the first 10 minutes. Fair warning, if you are a massive shark movie fan and you do decide to check this out, do not expect a masterpiece and you might be reasonably entertained. 

Overall I have to give this thing a 3 out of 7.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BRIGHT IDEAS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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