Wet fun
in the summer time! An entertaining popcorn movie with plenty
of thrills and gore.
The movie
starts with two young couples on a boat, dancing, drinking wine,
and having fun. Their fun is interrupted when a nasty mako shark
(smaller, but faster cousins to the great white) attacks their
boat, looking for some humans to eat. It looks like he will
catch himself a juicy young lady, when, in a send-up of Jaws
(1975) the marauding mako is stopped dead in his tracks. The
shark is now the victim of stud Carter Blake (Thomas Jane),
who has deadly aim with a harpoon gun.
It turns
out that Blake is the shark wrangler for a big pharmaceutical
project headquartered on the floating laboratory Aquatica. Under
the direction of Dr. Jim Whitlock (Stellan Skarsgård) and
Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows), compounds are being extracted
from shark brains that could reverse the progress of Alzheimer's
disease. It seems that our little boat attacker somehow escaped
from the Aquatica.
McAlester
has been given the word from corporate honcho Russell Franklin
(Samuel L. Jackson) that after spending $200 million on the
project, he is about to pull the plug. Susan pleads for just
48 more hours. Franklin will visit the lab, and will decide
for himself if the research team is really close to a breakthrough.
Upon Franklin's
arrival, Carter wrangles a mako up to the lab's main tank, Susan
extracts some magic potion from its brain, and presto!! Inactive
human brain cells get active again. Success!! Franklin is duly
impressed and the celebration begins.
The joy
quickly turns to horror as the mako, still in the tank, jumps
up and bites off Dr. Whitlock's hand. (Talk about biting the
hand that feeds you.)
Needless
to say, Whitlock is losing blood fast, and the paramedics are
called. Unfortunately, there is a terrible storm.
Help finally
arrives, and the good doctor is extracted. Problems ensue, and
before you know it, the paramedic helicopter crashes into the
floating lab, causing multiple explosions and untold devastation.
All along,
Carter has been concerned that the sharks are getting way too
smart and aggressive. Susan finally admits that, in violation
of genetic research protocols, she has been enlarging their
brains, to get more magic potion faster. So, we now have three
giant brain makos, on the prowl, in a damaged facility. Whoop-de-doo!
Franklin
assumes charge, and scolds the group for fighting among themselves.
All of a sudden, he is grabbed by a shark and is dispatched
in seconds!
The quickly
dwindling band, including Carter, Susan, biologist Janet Winters
(Jacqueline McKenzie), engineer Tom Scoggins (Michael Rapaport--less
annoying than usual), and chef Sherman "Preacher" Dudley (LL
Cool J), must figure out how to escape the sinking facility--without
getting eaten in the process.
Director
Renny Harlin pays homage to numerous flicks as the body count
increases. Only two are left alive at the end, and one of them
is Carter. Besides all the fun, the pic could turn out to be
a star maker for Thomas Jane and LL Cool J. Burrows doesn't
turn in much of a performance, and we see very little of Skarsgård.
Pass the
popcorn!