Sunday, July 5, 2009

Summer Fest Day Three: Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus

Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed in MSVGO, despite Cranpire's promises of bad-goodness.

Don't get me wrong; there are things to like here for sure. Wooden acting, Deborah Gibson, Lorenzo Lamas, people "doing science" (and by that I mean pouring one colored liquid into a beaker with another colored liquid), and a few inspired attacks by Mega Shark.

If you can find the "Best of" reel on Youtube, I recommend you watch it, because the "Shark jumping 40,000 feet to take down a jumbo jet" or "shark eating the Golden Gate Bridge" or "Octopus swatting a fighter jet out of the sky" scenes are fun. There are a handful of funny "being serious in a submarine scenes" with Gibson and Lamas, but the downside is there's a lot of movie where nothing interesting happens.

For that matter, there's very little Mega Shark and Giant Octopus in the film, even if the reasons they're separated and (spoiler) reunited are incomprehensible at best. Their undersea smackdown is too short and consists of two effects shots repeated at least three times (Mega Shark bites off Giant Octopus' tentacle) and it's a lot of yapping by humans to get to this underwhelming fight. I'd liken this movie to Godzilla: Final Wars, where what you want to see is limited to small burts of "cool!" punctuated by "boring!"

Despite the Cranpire's promises, this movie is simply not worth the 90 minute investment of time. You're better served watching Megalodon: Shark Attack 3, a far superior "Giant Shark" film with John Barrowman of Torchwood and Doctor Who fame. That has a better pick up line and sex scene, even if it lacks the crucial Debbie Gibson component.

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