Shark Night (Blu-ray Review)
I would have been much more pleased had they released Jaws in 3D. Instead, we got the opposite: a PG-13 movie about vacations, bikinis, and sharks, which is totally devoid of what I loved about Piranha; the blood, the guts, the nudity, and excitement that made that film great. With Shark Night, we are given a handful of awful performances (even with the appearance of freaking Joel David Moore). We have a football player, a druggie, an explorer, and a wimp. Just those four aspects make this film average. The only redeeming aspect I could think of was the sharks; which had the best performances of the film. There is no real reason for Shark Night to exist. What time is it? Razzie time!
Film
I remember watching the trailer for Shark Night about six months back; at first, you thought it was a terrible teen-party flick, but then you realize that it is an average shark flick, in 3D. It was obvious the whole film was made to further invest in the everlasting 3D gimmick (when will it end?), which may seem like a reasonable idea for investors, but I thought that movies were about magic and excitement. Shark Night has neither of those things, but does succeed at being one of the most average films in recent history.
Sara Paxton stars as Sara (brilliant writing, guys), who brings a group of friends (Dustin Milligan, Chris Carmack, Katharine McPhee, Joel David Moore, Johsua Leonard, Sinqua Walls, Alyssa Diaz, and Chris Zylka) on a vacation to her lake house in the Louisiana Gulf. All of these friends are having the time of their lives; kicking back, drinking some beer, getting some action. Everything goes haywire once giant sharks begin attacking the lake. Without any help, and no way out, this group of misfits needs to find a way to survive.
Despite my fairly high rating, Shark Night is average at best. Once the film gets going, boy, does it get going. The shark-sequences were well crafted, and were surprisingly entertaining for a PG-13 shark film. It does repeat itself by using the point of view of the shark (like in Jaws, Piranha, etc), which does become a bit of a drag from time to time, but once we are able to see the entire layout of the sequence, it was well worth the worthless drag.
The designs of the sharks themselves were quite impressive. They did not look realistic by any means. In fact, they looked very cartoonish. Like Piranha 3D, these sea-creatures were not designed to look realistic, they were designed to look creepy as heck, which is where it succeeds. There are 15 different species of sharks shown throughout the film. The sharks have huge, bulging, cartoonish eyes. Even though the film itself was not too good, the sharks were.
The film was written by Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg, and let me tell you, it is A-W-F-U-L. Do not believe me? Check out this quote from the film: Gordon: “So you’re probably gonna have to get her drunk. You gonna make her one of your awesome mixed tapes? Those are amazing.” Blake: “Don’t disrespect the mixed tape, okay? First of all, your mom loves them…” I think that pretty much speaks for itself. The script is so unscrupulous; it becomes uneventful after a while. The title is pretty darn dreadful too.
Shark Night isn’t horrible, but it doesn’t warrant any type of recognition either.
Video
Next to Apollo 18, this was the first official Blu-ray I watched on my brand new TV. Let me say that the viewing experience that I had with Shark Night was nothing less than extraordinary. Colors are bright, blistering, and miraculous. The look of the sharks are as clear as the lake house and even that looks impressive for the short time it was on screen. Contrast levels are perfect. I cannot not recommend this enough; a fantastic video presentation.
Audio
This is sort of an average audio track that does not pop-out or inject anything particularly amazing into the film, but is acceptable nevertheless. Shark Night features a fine 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that does what it needs to so it can get the job done, but isn’t perfect. There are some audio mixing issues here and there involving some syncing problems, but this is an overall fine audio presentation.
Special Features 
These are pretty lackluster, nothing out of the ordinary. These are your typical fluff epk’s, but at least they’re all presented in HD.
- Shark Attack! Kill Machine!
- Shark Night’s Survival Guide
- Fake Sharks, Real Scares
- Ellis’ Island
Final Thoughts
Shark Night is without a doubt one of the most ridiculous films I’ve ever seen, but I can’t say I didn’t have a little fun with it. The Blu-ray presentation is top-notch, and that warrants at least a rent.
Order Shark Night on Blu-ray!
I’d give this an extra half a dog on the Why So Blu scale for the excellent psychotic redneck performance of ‘Blair Witch Project’s Joshua Leonard as Red, and Donal Logue as the seemingly clueless sheriff. Plus it pushed the limits of the PG-13 rating with as much semi-nudity and mild gore as possible. When I was 13, I would probably have loved this flick.
The mild gore was average at best. Aside from the shark’s guts being blown (which wasn’t very intimidating), the gore was set to a minimal. The twist at the end w/ the sheriff was unexpected, unbelievable, and unwelcome. Despite that, I agree with you, this film was fun, and Joshua Leonard was pretty entertaining. I didn’t notice much semi-nudity (compared to Piranha, at least), and they could have pushed the PG-13 boundary a bit more. One thing that always angers me about these films is this:
Idiot #1: Oh my God, the shark killed our friend!
Idiot #2: You know what we should do? We should enter the water to make sure he doesn’t kill any of us again, and if the shark strikes again, we should double check and go swimming in this dangerous lake.
I can’t wait for the prequel. Shark Day.
The movie was despicable but once Paxton stripped down to her tiny bikini, it made me forget everything that was wrong with the movie. That body looked amazing.
Katherine McPhee looked good on American Idol. Still looks good in Shark Night. I was hoping this movie could remotely hold a candle to Piranha 3-D, but didn’t even come close. I’m with Bob. I may have enjoyed this when I was 13, but today it’s all thumbs down.