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[Piranha 3D]
Plot:Jaws...lots and lots of jaws. From acclaimed director Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) comes the new action thriller PIRANHA 3D, in the latest eye-popping 3D technology. A new type of terror is about to be cut loose on beautiful Lake Victoria. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area's new razor-toothed residents. But our heroine (Elisabeth Shue) is seriously outnumbered, and with only one chance to save the lake and her family from totally being devoured, she must risk everything to destroy the aquatic carnivores herself.
Cast:Elisabeth Shue,
Adam Scott,
Ving Rhames,
Richard Dreyfuss,
Steven R. McQueen,
Dina Meyer,
Quinn Lord,
Riley Steele,
Brooklynn Proulx,
Jessica Szohr,
Jerry O'Connell,
Peter Scheer,
Christopher Lloyd,
Cody Longo,
Ricardo Chavira.
My Thoughts:Pretty cool.
Review:"Piranha 3D" is the remake of the cult classic "Piranha", where a school of man-eating fish, go on the attack at a summer resort. In the remake, during Spring Break...the flesh-eating fishies are unleased by a crack which develops in the ocean floor. The original is cheesy, but entertaining. The remake? Is actually equally-entertaining, and a lot more fun.
The movie boasts an ensemble cast of veteran actors (Shue, Scott, Lloyd, Rhames), while mixing in some rising young stars as well (Szohr, McQueen). The performances are very strong, and pretty well done. The most entertaining characters in the movie in my opinion, were definitely led by Jerry O'Connell's character Derrick Jones, who plays a "Girls Gone Wild"-ish sleazeball, similar to the real-life GGW founder Joe Francis. Jones would pretty much do anything to get the quote-unquote "perfect shot", and when the s*** hits the fan, he proves to be more about his camera, than anything else.
But the good news is, "Piranha 3D" isn't one of those horror movies that keeps it on snooze until the fish decide to go on the ultimate attack. Now those pics from the movie that hit the web months ago, show the films biggest and most powerful scene, the Lake Attack, where the fish go on a bloody rampage, eating, killing, and devouring anything and everything with a pulse. The good news like I said, the movie doesn't wait until then to go hardcore. There's actually some good character development here, and getting two vets like Shue and Rhames, who play cops at the lake, keeping an eye on the Spring Breakers, made many of the pre-massacre scenes fun and tolerable to watch.
Usually with movies like this, you snooze, and grit your teeth as you sit and wait for the big kill scene to happen. But luckily, this movie develops it's characters, offers up good performances, and throws one or two chip-kills in, to whet your appetite for the films big finale. I was pretty impressed with Jessica Szohr's character Kelly though, who plays the love interest of McQueen's character Jake. Szohr's character comes off and is likeable, tolerable, and you pull for her to survive and get away when the fish start "biting", so to speak. I'm glad they chose her to play the role of Kelly, but more importantly, I'm glad the film decided to give a brunette a chance to lead the female cast behind Elisabeth Shue, who plays Jake's mother/local Sheriff Julie Forester.
If we had been stuck with another huge-breasted, brainless, shalow, annoying, and obnoxious blonde as the lead/love interest of Jake, I would've been extremely annoyed. There's nothing more annoying, particularly in horror films, when the female lead is some shallow blonde who the lead guy is in love with, but she's too busy stripping for every guy that shows her an inkling of attention, to notice. That dynamic has been so overplayed, it's not even funny. As for the Piranha, the tiny cig stars of the movie...the CGI is done well enough, even in post-conversion 3D, to make the movie buyable, and make the Piranha fun to watch on screen.
They also made the perfect villains, as they showed no mercy on their victims. And even with their human targets trying to battle back, the Piranha kept coming. Which kept the movie latter parts very suspenseful and entertaining. The pic is pretty bloody as well, and we get some awesome moments of bitten and eviscerated people being drug from the water, and in most cases pulled down into the water to be finished off. The death scenes were really well choreographed and gory. The film also delivers on the cheesy comedy that the original was so well-known for. One character in particular gets it bad, and a vital body part is shown later on in a comprimising position.
Great stuff, and risky also considering this film could've easily gotten an NC-17 rating because of that one scene alone, added to the already bloody moments prior to that. The movie concludes on a very high note, with many chills and thrills, but one thing lacking in the movie was that it only has one damzel in distress moment. I think a movie like this should have atleast 3 moments where the potential human victims are in peril and things look bleak. Ala the old..."person tied to the railroad tracks as the train is speeding towards them", which was used in the old black and white films.
I don't mean the movie needs to do that literally, but scenes like the one mentioned above, where characters look like they're doomed? This movie needed a few more of those instaed of just one. The final scene of the movie, albeit somewhat over the top, still garnered a chuckle or two from me. "Piranha 3D" is definitely worth seeing in cinemas, whether in 3D or 2D. It's a very entertaining and fun picture. Perfect for these sometimes dreary dog days of August.
Positives:Good performances by a large chunk of the cast. Some cool cameos as well by some well or semi-well-known actors. The Piranhas were awesome villains bring the blood, gore, and graphic violence along with them. More than a few cool kills and moments. A surprisingly high amount of genuine suspense, and a very honorable death late in the movie.
Negatives:Small negative is I felt the movie needed one or two more "singular character in peril" moments.
Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.
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