The sub-genre of JAWS knock-offs continues with this watchable popcorn b-movie from Australia. Yes, the sharks are obviously computer generated (but to be fair, it's only in the original JAWS movie where the mechanical shark looked perfectly real nearly every time, intermingled with real shark footage) and there are a lot of cliche 3-D gore gimmicks “coming right at ya” but the plot is intriguing. A tsunami hits a beach community and a group of survivors find themselves trapped inside a flooded grocery store where bloodthirsty sharks now troll the aisles, looking for fresh human meat on top of the shelves! Think THE MIST meets JAWS with a smaller budget, though production values and direction are competently slick in this entertaining effort. There are some nice moments of suspense and the characters aren't totally cardboard: there's a cop and his estranged daughter, some bad guys who were trying to rob the store when the tsunami hit and a bunch of good-looking teenagers peppered into the mix. Xavier Samuel, of TWILIGHT fame, plays a character whose best friend was eaten by a shark at the beginning of the film, doing a job he was supposed to do, and he gets to Rambo out on the attacking predators near the end of the film, bringing his character arch full circle. That was kind of cool. Actor Julian McMahon is the most believable of the bunch as a bad guy trying to make up for his poor choices in life, and I did find myself rooting for him. He says more with great expressions than any line of dialogue. BAIT is not without flaws- the middle drags a bit and some of the scenarios are just downright silly (like a bickering couple trapped underwater in their car with their little Paris Hilton-ish doggy!), but overall, if you're expecting a slightly above-average Sy Fy Channel style movie that does its best to be entertaining, you won't be disappointed. There's some great b-movie moments in here and BAIT sure beats JAWS 3-D and JAWS 4, that's for certain... (On the other hand, that may not be saying much!)
The sub-genre of JAWS knock-offs continues with this watchable popcorn b-movie from Australia. Yes, the sharks are obviously computer generated (but to be fair, it's only in the original JAWS movie where the mechanical shark looked perfectly real nearly every time, intermingled with real shark footage) and there are a lot of cliche 3-D gore gimmicks “coming right at ya” but the plot is intriguing. A tsunami hits a beach community and a group of survivors find themselves trapped inside a flooded grocery store where bloodthirsty sharks now troll the aisles, looking for fresh human meat on top of the shelves! Think THE MIST meets JAWS with a smaller budget, though production values and direction are competently slick in this entertaining effort. There are some nice moments of suspense and the characters aren't totally cardboard: there's a cop and his estranged daughter, some bad guys who were trying to rob the store when the tsunami hit and a bunch of good-looking teenagers peppered into the mix. Xavier Samuel, of TWILIGHT fame, plays a character whose best friend was eaten by a shark at the beginning of the film, doing a job he was supposed to do, and he gets to Rambo out on the attacking predators near the end of the film, bringing his character arch full circle. That was kind of cool. Actor Julian McMahon is the most believable of the bunch as a bad guy trying to make up for his poor choices in life, and I did find myself rooting for him. He says more with great expressions than any line of dialogue. BAIT is not without flaws- the middle drags a bit and some of the scenarios are just downright silly (like a bickering couple trapped underwater in their car with their little Paris Hilton-ish doggy!), but overall, if you're expecting a slightly above-average Sy Fy Channel style movie that does its best to be entertaining, you won't be disappointed. There's some great b-movie moments in here and BAIT sure beats JAWS 3-D and JAWS 4, that's for certain... (On the other hand, that may not be saying much!)
