GREAT WHITE | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Martin Wilson (15, 97 mins)
A mostly lifeboat-set riff on Jaws which cannot escape comparisons with that granddaddy of the genre and, predictably, is found wanting. Opening in an idyllic atoll with a perfect couple frolicking in the sea, soon to become shark fodder, the film turns to financially-troubled chartered tour operators and lovers Kaz and Charlie (Katrina Bowden and Aaron Jakubenko). When a job comes in for a charter to the same atoll they take it, transporting Joji and Michelle (Tim Kano and Kimie Tsukakoshi) – a couple who want to spread their grandfather’s ashes there. Along for the ride is Te Kohe Tuhaka’s Benny, a joker who develops a crush on Michelle.
When they find the remains of one of the perfect couple, they search for their missing boat in a bid to see if there are any survivors. There’s not, as Benny discovers during a Jaws head-in-the-boat scuba dive scene. Subsequently, their seaplane is attacked and they find themselves stranded on a lifeboat 100 miles from shore with two sharks circling, night falling and no hope of escape. Here, they revert to type: Joji is an obvious villain, afraid of the water and full of himself – he even throws a plastic bottle into the sea! – stoic Charlie has been attacked by a shark before, resourceful Kaz is pregnant and Benny is connecting with Michelle with predictable results.
The shark, when it attacks, is mostly CGI and rather unthreatening; the interplay between the characters, despite the best efforts of all involved, never really engages. There’s only so many times people falling off a slowly deflating raft can grip, and whilst a credulity-testing shark-versus-human underwater standoff adds thrills, the buildup is saggy. Unlike The Shallows, the similarly low-budget Open Water or even The Meg and Deep Blue Sea, Great White – though nuts-and-bolts efficient – adds little invention to this well-worn subgenre.
Out now via digital download
words KEIRON SELF