Fifty years ago, Jaws was released in theaters and more or less demonized sharks. Twenty years later, conservation efforts were made as they had been put on the endangered species list as shark hunting exploded in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.
However, Hollywood and other filmmakers have continued to churn out countless killer shark movies including the Sharknado franchise. But public opinion has changed with most people agreeing that sharks aren’t that dangerous. So, a movie like Dangerous Animals makes the statement that human beings are far more deadly by far.
Tucker (Jai Courtney) is a serial killer who uses his his boat off the Gold Coast to kidnap women and possibly men some of whom have paid to charter his boat to dive with sharks. He mainly targets tourists as their disappearances will be harder to track. He hoists his victims strapped in a harness into waters where the sharks are feeding as he’s thrown chum into the waters. Then, he videotapes them with an old-fashion VHS camcorder as they die from their wounds.
The movie works on the realities that most shark “attacks” are just sharks biting off extremities (arms and legs) which cause people to bleed to death from the shock and blood lost. Most real-life deaths are from sharks mistaking humans for other prey. However, Tucker makes a mistake a kidnaps the wrong person. Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) is an American drifting through coastal Australia surfing the waves. Zephyr is one of those loners, who lived in foster homes growing up where she learned a few tricks that will come in handy.
Harrison is a good actress. She’s best known from shows like Tacoma F.D. and Yellowstone. I never saw her on the latter show but she was funny on Tacoma F.D. and here shows off her serious chops. I can’t help but comment how she looks like Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Rothe. But she’s able to be serious but not too serious like Lawrence. That’s not to saw that Lawrence hasn’t shown her comedic chops as she has.
But Harrison has that look which shows she’s been through a lot of stuff and we can tell that Tucker shouldn’t have messed with her. We’re introduced to her helping out a young man, Moses (Josh Hueston), with car trouble. And then they hit it off and have sex. But she leaves while he’s making her breakfast. The way they handle this through text messages as Zephyr tries to play it off like she was hitting the morning waves. However, she really is worried of him getting too close but she really does like him. This is a mark of true Millennial love in the modern age. Director Sean Byrne and writer Nick Lepard frame this scene well.
It’s not exactly Jaws and it’s not trying to be. But it’s not a bad killer shark movie that’s really not a killer shark movie. Courtney has been one of those actors I’ve never really thought could make it as the big time star Hollywood tried to turn him into. I think we can all agree that James Gunn was right to kill off Captain Boomerang in the first 15 minutes of The Suicide Squad.
Tucker is the true villain of this movie, not the sharks who are just acting on instincts. The “Animals” in the title are us, human beings. Sharks don’t naturally hunt people the way humans will. Still the filmmakers do present us with a nice B-movie thriller. However, I had cringe a little bit when they added too many foiled escapes than necessary. But since the last one leads up to the climax, it’s somewhat forgivable.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 