THE REQUIN (2022)

THE REQUIN (2022)

Tagline: In the Open Water, No One Can Hear You Scream.

(Horror, Thriller, Shark Smell Blood) [R]

In this one, a married couple named Jaelyn and Kyle goes to Vietnam to enjoy some time away in a villa retreat right on the ocean. During a storm, the villa is detached from the land and floats out into the ocean. Instead of swimming to shore when they can still see land, the couple decides to wait it out hoping the villa floats back to shore. Forced to deal with their isolated surroundings one mistake after another leads to a gruesome encounter with sharks. 

First off, this isn’t your typical shark movie. Falling more in the vein of more serious films, this movie is more about the PTSD that Jaelyn is facing due to a miscarriage that happened before the events of the movie. The film's interaction between Jaelyn and Kyle is at the core of at least the first hour of this movie. Yes, we do get sharks, but the film's setup is trying to get you to either embrace these characters emotionally or at least be able to get you in a spot where you can appreciate the dynamic of their marriage. 

In light of all that, do not make the mistake of thinking this thing is shark-less. It’s far from that. We get some very gnarly scenes in this that are quite frankly hard to watch if you are squeamish. In the shark attacks, we do get a pretty “real world” situation, and that for me brought some tension to this whole movie. 

What works in this is Alicia Silverstone as Jaelyn. This isn’t the Alicia Silverstone we remember. She is playing a serious role and acting it out like a real person might. Lots of people have bashed her performance in this, but I am guessing they just couldn’t handle the gravity of her character. This movie is a downer for the most part. Outside of being a survival film, it may also have been meant to serve as a vehicle for Jaelyn’s overcoming her PTSD and finding strength she didn’t think she had. There is something that happens in this movie that I think emotionally would break most people, but she doesn’t get broken. She fights and I love that about this character. Some of the complaints might also be from the pro-abortion crowd. I am not sure. This movie is pretty pro-life in the sense that it gets into the trauma of losing a child to miscarriage. It’s basically a shot across the bow of the “clump” of cells argument. If the complaints “really” are about Alicia’s acting then those people have probably never seen a low-budget shark movie and should probably watch some to get a better grip on the genre or at least feel better about this movie. It would also give them an idea of what actual bad shark effects look like. This movie has more than adequate shark effects. Needless to say, I thought Alicia was great in this. I also thought James Tupper was good as Kyle, but man, Kyle was a freakin idiot. 

What doesn’t work in this movie is the setup. This movie is taking itself seriously so having a villa in Vietnam where storms happen all the time randomly detach from the shore is a bit shaky. It’s an interesting idea, it’s just not plausible a setting like this where most of the film is actually plausible. Just watch “Shark Week” and listen to some real-life shark attack stories. The other issue I have with this movie is that we only have 2 characters basically and one of them is pretty unlikable in spite of his good intentions. Then finally this movie is depressing for the most part. It’s actually hard to watch in some scenes and the first hour is loaded with so much dialog and animosity that I feel like it could have just been skipped and the film would have been fine. This movie is not the worst movie of 2022, it’s not even in the bottom 5, but the backstory as much as I agree with the sentiment wasn’t necessary to have a solid thriller here.

Overall this isn’t a fun movie by any means. It’s serious and comes with a lot of things that might cause the viewer to get emotionally distressed. Having said that, it’s beautifully filmed and well-acted.  When you bum me out and all I wanted to do was see a high-tension movie that wasn’t a downer, you are getting a 3 out of 7. 

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