The good news is that of the SyFy shark movies, Roboshark is one of the better ones, and among the more tolerable SyFy outings. The not so good news is that that doesn't stop Roboshark from not being particularly good or great.
Roboshark is one of SyFy's least amateurish-looking movies, with nice scenery, slicker-than-usual photography and a design for the Roboshark that has some menace and is one of SyFy's cooler- and- less-cheap- looking. The Roboshark is also well-utilised and unlike a lot of SyFy creatures has a personality, a threatening one rather than being too goofy that it brings unintentional humour. The movie clearly knows what it's trying to be and which audience it's aiming for, and in the process doesn't try to do too much while not playing it too safe either, and contains some clever inside jokes and hilarious one-liners. There are also fun performances from Laura Dale and particularly Nigel Barber, the only ones in the cast who show that they can still have fun without overacting, as well as some spirited and confident direction.
On the other hand, the rest of the cast wildly overact and in the case of the extras and Matt Rippy to an embarrassing degree, something that really hurts the tension. The characters are barely developed and some are annoying, which makes them difficult to root for, the movie drags a little in the exposition moments and some of the more dramatic parts veer on turgid and ham-fisted. The story is well-intentioned and clearly knows what its aim and audience is, but the silliness gets very over-the-top sometimes that it gets ridiculous (like with the bacon) which gets in the way of generating suspense or tension, and it gets tiring towards the end. Aside from a catchy opening, the movie is generically scored too with not an awful lot standing out as memorable, and while the opening is fun and quite scary the climax of the movie is predictable and rushed..
All in all, not great but one of the better and more tolerable SyFy shark movies. A decent guilty pleasure-type movie if you will. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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