Bait 3D – Just another shark movie?

YOU may have heard of snakes on a plane, but what happens when sharks invade a supermarket? Jamie-maree Shipton got a sneak preview of soon-to-be-released Bait 3D.

Everyone out of the water! I mean, cinema! It’s another shark movie.

Ok, so it doesn’t sound like the best plot: a killer tsunami that heralds killer great white sharks. But we all know there is just something about shark films that gets us hook, line and sinker everytime.

Perhaps it is fear that reels us in – who doesn’t love a good thriller?

Perhaps it’s the blood and guts.

Or perhaps it’s the hilariousness of watching someone stupid enough to get into water and become human bait.

Well you are in luck because Bait has it all, and in 3D.

The giant great whites that make fish food of the characters can’t help but look scary, especially in 3D, so the film ticked that box. It also had the quintessential shark flying scene or two – characters thinking they were safe on top of floating cars or hanging suspended on a rope attached to the roof. Wrong. They clearly forgot sharks can jump and fly at great heights.

The movie also had sufficient twitching limbs and floating severed bodies. There was even a decapitation.

But really, it was the stupidity of the characters that sealed the deal and let Bait sink to the level of every other shark movie that attempted to be serious.

The synopsis reads like a thriller;

“A tsunami swallows a sleepy beach community. A group of survivors find themselves trapped in a flooded underground supermarket and soon discover they are not alone, the tsunami has brought unwanted visitors from the depths. The survivors quickly realise their battle is not only to overcome the threat of drowning, but a threat far more sinister – hungry great white sharks.”

I’m afraid Bait came across more like a comedy. It was quite bizzare really. The film was made to appear like a serious shark thriller, but came across more like a movie pretending to be serious with an underlying agenda of showing how silly shark films truly are.

I’m still unsure as to what genre the film actually is.

I will say, however, there were more laughs than screams. A LOT more.

I don’t want to say the acting was to blame. It wasn’t bad, but it was below par. And that’s sad because the cast was full of Aussies who have great portfolios of work- Lincoln Lewis (Tomorrow When The War Began), Xavier Samuel (Twilight), Alex Russel (Chronicle), Phoebe Tonkin (Tomorrow When The War Began), Sharni Vinson (Step Up 3D), Daniel Whylie (Animal Kingdom and the new Channel 10 TV hit, Puberty Blues) to name a few.

A perfect example of the bad acting could be seen through Daniel Whylie’s accent in the film. I’m not sure whether his character was scripted to sound like an Aussie bogan or whether Whylie himself elected to put on the slang. But he failed. He ended up sounding like a hybrid between a small child speaking in a low voice during  a pyshcotic break and a hyena.

Downside number two was that not enough people died. If I’m going to watch a shark movie, I want at most only two to three people surviving, which guarantees me at least 10 decent shark mauling scenes.

I mean, even the small pomeranian dog,  Bully, lived. This was despite his apparent demise after being thrown into the water as shark bait to protect the stupid human that decided to swim in the water  (even though, surprise, surprise, they knew there was a killer great white shark in said water!) So how on earth does the dog reappear again at the end of the film I do not know. But I would have cared less if a human had died a show-stopping death in his place. Funny side note: the film’s slogan is ‘The food chain just got flipped”, perhaps it refers to the fact that a small dog can out-swim one of the world’s greatest predators?

Of course, there were also the film’s logistical problems. At one point, the characters somehow find materials to make cage-like body armour for one character attempting to enter the water – even though they’re stranded on supermarket shelves,  unable to enter the water, with goods floating all over the place. Another illogical scene is when a shot gun is fired at a shark – while under water..Is that even possible?

Despite all it’s flaws, Bait 3D was an enjoyable film. Definitely not scary, but enjoyable.

I still really don’t know how one of the actors, Lincoln Lewis, says he’s now developed a fear of  sharks after filming the movie. Because, well, from what I saw, sharks are super dumb and can totally be beaten by any stupid old human.

My advice? Don’t go into the film expecting anything else but a good laugh, questionable plot turns, and of course 3D floating body parts that in no way look like special effects and you will have a great old time.

And on your walk out before you make your final judgement, why not ask yourself: Would they really keep making these films if we didn’t secretly love them so much?

Bait 3D comes out in Melbourne cinemas this week. Tell us what you thought of it!