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[Harpoon:Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre]
Plot:A group of whale watchers, whose ship breaks down...get picked up by a whale fisher vessel. The Fishbillies on the vessel have just gone bust, and everything goes out of control.
Cast:Gunnar Hansen,
Pihla Viitala,
Nae,
Terence Anderson,
Miranda Hennessy,
Aymen Hamdouchi,
Carlos Takeshi,
Miwa Yanagizawa,
Halldóra Geirharosdottir,
Guolaug Olafsdottir,
Snorri Engilbertsson.
My Thoughts:Decent slasher indie.
Review:"Harpoon:Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre", is a new take on the typical indie slasher movie. It follows a lot of the typical slasher film rules, but also brings forth some new ones as well. The movie for one, is set on a whaling ship, where after a terrible accident happens to the captain of their ship, a group of whale watchers, end up being rescued by a ship full of whalebillies. These are people who have the "save the whale/PETA" types.
And they aren't shy about killing people to make their point either. The murder begins when the fishbillies find out who they'e just rescued, whale watchers. So they decide to dispose of these people in typical slasher-flick fashion. "Harpoon" is interesting for a few reasons. One of which being the scenario it offers up to the viewer. It's not every day an indie slasher film is centered around whale watching, whale watchers, and people who kill whales for various reasons such as profit and or food.
And while the movies goal is to show the terror that can ensue when two groups of people on opposite sides of a particular point of view meet up. On a boat, a situation where you cannot just run and flee to the cops in order to save yourself, it also kind of reflects what's currently happening here in America. Where our own politics are doing quite a number on peoples personalities and psyche. With some people going to political extremes to get their varying points across. That's pretty much how you have to see this movie, considering most of the characters are quite disposable, beyond Gunnar Hansen.
No offense to the actors meant, but the majority of genre lovers don't or won't know hardly any of these people. But the cliches are certainly there. The clueless blond girl, and the token black guy for example. However there is a twist with the black guy which comes later on in the film, and while it's a tad bit tacky, it's atleast an attempt at something remotely clever. The kills aren't very unique, not much creativity is put into most of them. One however does stand out, involving a harpoon, and it's quite a good, nasty, and brutal kill.
The others are the standard brutality stuff, involving fire, hammers, and some other items you'd find on msot whaling ships. But what ratchet's up the films intensity is the whole situation, that kooks are trying to kill you. There's more than one of them, they have weapons, and you're trapped on a boat with them. So that dimension, of not being able to just jump off and run away, adds a certain malice and malciousness to the overall story as it unfolds.
By act three, the picture however, has broken down into spats of black humor, mixed with blood, gore, carnage, and a few lame jokes. In other words, the movie concludes just in time to save itself from falling apart at the seams. The story was strong, but the way the characters are handled eventually becomes thin and wears thin. Although, the movie does manage to save itself near the end with a cool scene involving a standoff on the boat, which the coast guard just so happens to come upon as the standoff has reached it's peak.
The scene has a lot of undertones of race, comedy, and cop mentalities, which appreciators of sarcasm and underlying humor should enjoy. Also fans of the not-so-shiny-happy endings, should like the way this pic ultimately concludes. "Harpoon:Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre" is not a perfect slasher movie by any means, but it brings enough new stuff to the table to ultimately be effective.
Positives:Good story and set up for the slasher stuff. Some nice moments of subtle and underlying humor. Brutal kills.
Negatives:The characters aren't very well-developed, and are uber-disposable.
Overall:Three out of four stars.
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