Dam Sharks

Moviecut—Dam Sharks

source: Dam Sharks

Come on, you know what you are getting in this. Fun movie, good quality kills and hot babes, oh and killer dam sharks, need I say more?

Dam Sharks! has a great title. The exclamation point gets you ready for a comedy and that's kind of what you get. Imagine seeing the trailer on SyFy with Superman font. The actual film is less exciting than you'd hope. Most of the characters are exaggerated stereotypes from science fiction films that you've seen previously from their dress to speech. There's an annoying boss, sexy female assistant, tough guy, redneck, and nerd. None of the intended humorous dialogue between these characters really hits home due to how familiar it is. This writing is rather lazy when you think about it. Nothing requires dialog unique to the story. Not that there is much story anyway. The lead average joe and journalist are somewhat better written in that they actually interact with the plot. What is unique is the sharks' behavior in this film. The sharks for some reason explained by a few lines of dialogue build dams with the corpses of the people they attack. There is a story lurking in this premise. Maybe an environmental message. The film doesn't bother to explore beyond the fun visuals of seeing CGI body parts fill an ordinary wooden dam. At least it is an excuse for an animal that needs only a few dozen kilos of food per fortnight to attack a large group of people in a single day. Most shark films aren't that thoughtful even if the premise disguises the true intent. There are not a lot of river shark films at least. The CGI is passable but the kill variety is lacking. Several victims are attacked in the air walking across bridges or ziplining. Many more are attacked in their boats. The film could have used some variety of attacks and more practical gore effects so it becomes quite boring by the end. There is at least an homage to Batman's suit ups when a character puts on a vest that's more visually interesting than any shark attack. If it isn't obvious by now, Dam Sharks! runs overly long despite its short runtime. Maybe if you saw this between commercials it would be better because you would forget how repetitive it is.The film has a marketable title and attractive actors and low budget shark films can be better than this. You're better off picking up the Shark Bait set or Meg-A-Shark set if you live in North America and going through the films there to find something better.

Okay, well you just know that chances are 95% likely that a movie such as this 2016 movie titled "Dam Sharks" is going to be just another ultra low budget shark movie with horrible special effects. And guess what? ... It was exactly that. I mean, bull sharks that build dams out of wood and human remains? Are you kidding me? Who comes up with this kind of stuff? I suppose James Kondelik and Jon Kondelik did. And no, this wasn't even so goofy and campy that it was fun to watch. No, it was just cringeworthy. The sharks were poorly made and didn't come off as being realistic at all. No thumbs up for the CGI team for their accomplishment on "Dam Sharks". And having creatures that are realistic and look proper is a definite must for a movie such as this. And having this poorly animated CGI sharks just sank the movie to the bottom. Well, the CGI and the laughable storyline. The plot and script in "Dam Shark" was so generic and mundane that even a blind person could see what was happening next. It was just atrociously predictable and way too generic. The only performer in the movie that was familiar to me was Jason London. And I thought that the movie might actually have a chance of being watchable when he was in it. But no... If you enjoy shark movies, you must take heed and stay well clear of "Dam Sharks". There are far, far better shark movies available out there in an abundance. My rating of "Dam Sharks" is a generous three out of ten stars, mostly because this was a shark movie after all. A bad, bad shark movie though.

I wish that I could say watch it and really mean it. The most redeeming part of this movie is Neka Zang, dang she's hot. I could fill the rest of this review talking about how sexy she is and not actually tell you anything about this movie. However, if you feel brave and want to venture forth, then do so with the warning of you may not be entertained at all.

Of all places for a shark attack - an inland river- is invaded by bloodthirsty bull sharks thanks to a massive storm. To escalate problems, the sharks build a dam out of human remains in order to trap prey. Up river, an ambitious tech firm is hosting a wilderness retreat featuring archery, paintball and a raft race...let the feeding frenzy begin. Swimmers find more dismembered body parts upstream where another damn is being constructed. What will stop the construction of these damn dams?

Dam Sharks is the perfect excuse to uncork that bottle of Pinot you've been saving for a special occasion. Fill a giant bowl of Kettle Corn. Break into your pantry and locate that bag of Peanut M&Ms you've been hiding from your family. Turn off your freaking cell phone. Fluff up your best pillows and stake out your personal "couch territory." Forget everything you thought you'd heard about Carcharhinus leucas or any sharks that have the unique ability to swim between salt and fresh water. Sit back and enjoy Dam Sharks. This isn't your typical "B" movie, and after viewing this fun little gem of a flick you're going to want to watch it again. The amazing cast rises to the occasion to convey all of the drama, fear, and undeniable fun obviously intended by the director. This isn't Jaws or The Shallows, but Dam Sharks will remind you of how modestly budgeted movies used to be made - for entertainment! This small film has many grand moments, beautiful photography, and is admirably edited to guarantee the action will constantly rumble forward. Two thumbs up to the very capable actors, whom, I hope will be reunited for a sequel!

Heading into the woods for a weekend retreat, a group of corporate executives find that the area is infested with a swarm of bull sharks attempting to construct a dam along the local river with human body parts and team up with a wildlife officer to stop them. This was a highly enjoyable and overall fun killer shark effort. One of the film's better elements is the fact that there's the usual and highly exciting action scenes that are so cheesy in concept that they're fun and exciting. The opening attack on the cliff-diver in the lagoon where they jump out of the water and snag her in mid-air, the first investigation of the diver at the dam where they find out the location of the bodies and the sharks swimming around but gets attacked before anything can be done about it and a series of smaller attacks on the different people along the river giving us the fun attacks on the trio out on the rafts, the rather thrilling and creative attack on the zip-liners over the river where they have to rescue the two while the sharks are swirling around waiting to pick them off along the protective line while the two attempt to provide protection and the great attack on the fisherman where they come out of the water to attack them. All of these are more than enough to hold this up to the film's main positive in the attacks on the group on the retreat who are on the river as this is a usually typical extended series of action-packed attacks that are so much fun and exciting. There's plenty of scenes of the sharks leaping out of the water and tackling them out of the boat, bringing out the dead bodies and really managing to give this one a wholly intriguing final half where they drag the group down the river into the new dam where there's a slew of explosively cheesy setups that come from the different attacks against them and the need to fight off the sharks which makes for some incredibly good times to finish this off in grand style. As is usually the case here, there's plenty of graphic attacks generated from this grand action series of scenes as there's mangled and chewed up body parts floated all over the place and on the attacks as they bite into the victims which gives this some nice and bloody bits to go along with the fine action. Though not the most logical story out there, the unique and original story does make this feel quite creative enough to make for a solid series of positives that work really well here. The film does have a few minor flaws, in that the unique story doesn't really make any sense. It's never brought up where the sharks would've learned the idea of starting off the main plot point in the film as that does seem to go quite against their own natural behavior and implies a far greater level of thinking than they're capable of. Along with the usual atrocious CGI, it's what holds the film down. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

And even I cannot suspend that much disbelief! Especially when the primary question is never satisfactorily answered.. How the heck did these bull sharks acquire their dam-building instinct? From feeding on "Zombeavers?"