SHARK ATTACK 2
2001
R
R
Shark Attack 2 is a 2001 thriller directed by David Worth that serves as a semi-direct sequel to the original 1999 film. When Michael Francisco (Danny Keogh), the owner of a new aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa, learns that a great white shark is trapped in an inlet, he enlists his chief marine biologist, Dr. Nick Harris (Thorsten Kaye), to capture the animal and make it a part of the aquarium's exhibit. Nick succeeds in doing so, but on opening day, a man falls into the shark's tank and is subsequently killed, forcing Nick to lose his job. He decides to go after the shark, which happened to escape the facility during the attack, to stop it from hurting anyone else. With the help of a woman named Samantha (Nikita Ager), whose sister was also killed by the shark, Nick sets out to exact revenge. However, he soon meets opposition from Francisco, who has hired the help of television personality Roy Bishop (Dan Metcalfe) to find and kill the shark. As the chase for the shark continues, Nick and Samantha learn that there might be even more of the creatures lurking in the waters around Cape Town, and they all seem to be afflicted with the same abnormality.
To be fair, I went into this film with the intention of finding something truly ridiculous, and I can honestly say that Shark Attack 2 does not disappoint. It's so ridiculous that I'm not entirely sure where I should start. I suppose I'll go with screenplay. Honestly, the storyline isn't all that ludicrous. It takes concepts from the first film - which ranks as the sixth worst film I've ever seen - and applies them relatively simply, but it doesn't hearken too much to that story too much. In a way, the characters in this film have to deal with the consequences of the events of the first film, making the storyline a little bit simpler and less convoluted.
That being said, there's very little that's original in this particular film. It's definitely a combination of 1975's Jaws and 1983's Jaws 3-D since we're centered around the opening of an aquarium. I couldn't begin to count just how many moments felt taken straight from that iconic 1975 film, even down to a zoom-in close-up of Thorsten Kaye that's a spitting image of the shot used with Roy Scheider's character in Jaws. There's even a few moments where the music dabbles a little into the iconic John Williams score. All in all, there's really nothing all that original about this film, and that's really what's holding it back from being "average."
The acting is definitely a notch up from the first Shark Attack film, but that's not really saying all that much. Still, Kaye and Ager border on "good" performances, whereas everyone else is a tad bit on the ridiculous side. My biggest problem with the acting, actually, was the fact that not one character had a South African accent despite the entire film being set in Cape Town. As time passed, we learned that some of the characters weren't actually from South Africa, but when you have the Cape Town mayor (played by Peter Butler) speaking just like an American, there's something a little bit wrong. Yeah, it's stretching a bit, but it was definitely noticeable. Oh, and Metcalfe's Australian accent was so forced that it was extremely laughable. I just couldn't believe him in the slightest.
Now while Shark Attack 2 is better than it's predecessor, it's definitely not the best of films. I wouldn't go as far to say that it's "so bad, it's good," mostly because it's not quite "bad." Mediocre, yes, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's bad. There's definitely issues with originality and screenplay, and there's quite a few laughable moments, but I actually didn't hate it. Still, it's not quite a movie I would recommend you see, but if you've got ninety minutes to kill, you might find it a tad bit entertaining, if only so you can laugh at it.
Movie Review Summary:
Grade: F
0.5 Thumbs Down
To be fair, I went into this film with the intention of finding something truly ridiculous, and I can honestly say that Shark Attack 2 does not disappoint. It's so ridiculous that I'm not entirely sure where I should start. I suppose I'll go with screenplay. Honestly, the storyline isn't all that ludicrous. It takes concepts from the first film - which ranks as the sixth worst film I've ever seen - and applies them relatively simply, but it doesn't hearken too much to that story too much. In a way, the characters in this film have to deal with the consequences of the events of the first film, making the storyline a little bit simpler and less convoluted.
That being said, there's very little that's original in this particular film. It's definitely a combination of 1975's Jaws and 1983's Jaws 3-D since we're centered around the opening of an aquarium. I couldn't begin to count just how many moments felt taken straight from that iconic 1975 film, even down to a zoom-in close-up of Thorsten Kaye that's a spitting image of the shot used with Roy Scheider's character in Jaws. There's even a few moments where the music dabbles a little into the iconic John Williams score. All in all, there's really nothing all that original about this film, and that's really what's holding it back from being "average."
The acting is definitely a notch up from the first Shark Attack film, but that's not really saying all that much. Still, Kaye and Ager border on "good" performances, whereas everyone else is a tad bit on the ridiculous side. My biggest problem with the acting, actually, was the fact that not one character had a South African accent despite the entire film being set in Cape Town. As time passed, we learned that some of the characters weren't actually from South Africa, but when you have the Cape Town mayor (played by Peter Butler) speaking just like an American, there's something a little bit wrong. Yeah, it's stretching a bit, but it was definitely noticeable. Oh, and Metcalfe's Australian accent was so forced that it was extremely laughable. I just couldn't believe him in the slightest.
Now while Shark Attack 2 is better than it's predecessor, it's definitely not the best of films. I wouldn't go as far to say that it's "so bad, it's good," mostly because it's not quite "bad." Mediocre, yes, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's bad. There's definitely issues with originality and screenplay, and there's quite a few laughable moments, but I actually didn't hate it. Still, it's not quite a movie I would recommend you see, but if you've got ninety minutes to kill, you might find it a tad bit entertaining, if only so you can laugh at it.
Movie Review Summary:Grade: F
0.5 Thumbs Down
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