People, seriously, you can't go watching a direct-to-video movie like this expecting material worthy of an Oscar, okay? You just can't come on here, slap it with a 2/10 rating just saying it was the worst movie ever. You don't go looking for plot holes in a virtually plot less movie. You just don't go complaining about under-developed characters or implausible events in a movie like this. This movie is about a Megalodon, which is a giant prehistoric monster-shark. So lighten up, folks. If you don't know what to expect from a movie like this, than you clearly haven't seen enough of them yet. So lower your standards and try to see it for what it really is. SHARK HUNTER (which is a very awful title in general and even a rather inappropriate one for this movie in particular) is in the same league as many of those recent underwater CGI sci-fi/horror/action quickies we've come to know recently (DEEP SHOCK, MEGALODON, OCTOPUS
). And it's even a bit in the same vein as those lovable 80's gems, like LEVIATHAN and DEEPSTAR SIX (albeit not on par with those), with the only difference that instead of some unknown mutating monster, it now features a
Megalodon.
The set-up to the story is negligible. They use the opening-sequence to provide Antonio Sabato Jr.'s character traumatic background (yes, the dude's clearly still active in motion pictures): He saw his parents attacked and killed by a Megalodon (anyone seen the recent KRAKEN: TENTACLES OF THE DEEP? they did the exact same thing in that one too). Then we learn that Antonio designed and built a complete submarine, but isn't allowed to play with it anymore by his superiors. He sobs and nags about it until an underwater research facility is destroyed by our over-sized granddaddy shark. So Antonio finally gets his chance to go underwater sailing again. And thus we quickly get to what this movie is all about: A crew, trapped in the claustrophobic setting of a submarine, which priority quickly shifts from capturing the Megalodon to eventually trying to kill it. Now let's rate it for what it is, because it is that and nothing more.
The crew constantly battling the shark and the shark constantly damaging the sub (and even infiltrating it in one scene) are mildly entertaining events as far as that goes. The Megalodon vs. the mini-sub was fun too (although scenes like these are always inevitable in flicks of this kind). The underwater CGI (both of the machines and the Megalodon) were surprisingly good (they wisely decided to use a lot of shadows to hide all too obvious CGI). A tad bit better even than what you'd expect from a movie like this. They apparently used their little budget to the fullest and hired capable set designers to built the convincing, nice-looking interior sets of the submarine (although I admit, it looks pretty small inside if you compare all that to the exterior CGI shots of the sub). The acting even wasn't too bad, and Grand L. Bush (as Harrington) quickly became my favorite crew-member. Not only did he come across as the most talented actor of the whole cast, he also has the best lines of the movie. My summary-line of this comment is one of them (nice nod to Spielberg's JAWS, of course) but he's got more to say. The "Bambi vs. Godzilla" line and calling the Megalodon "a goddamn train with teeth" was funny, and you should see him during that whole "Stay out of my torpedo room"-conversation with Antonio (especially the look on his face when he says "Big f***ing deal."). That man really should move on to do bigger pictures.
But what really made sitting through this movie all worthwhile was
the ending. You've seen this type of movies a zillion times before and you just know how it's going to end, right? Well think again, because what happens near the end earns this movie a whole big extra point. I for one sure didn't see this one coming.
