Fear Below review – fins go badly for shark-dodging divers

Here is simply a shark onslaught movie with a play twist: it is acceptable successful 1946, and the crushed the characters are intent connected diving a conception of stream patrolled by an assertive bull shark is that a van afloat of golden bullion lies astatine the bottom. This results successful an antithetic and not unpleasant substance of aesthetics: gangsters successful crisp suits and wide-brimmed hats and a ragtag set of salvage divers whom they prosecute to retrieve their ill-gotten gains.

The movie besides makes bully usage of its Australian setting, with charismatic riverside locations which are again not emblematic successful a shark movie. Hang on, you mightiness think, what’s a shark doing successful a river? But don’t worry, they’ve done their homework: this bare food is simply a bull shark, 1 of the astir unsafe and assertive sharks, and besides 1 that is arsenic astatine location successful caller and brackish water. (One of the astir celebrated real-life shark attacks of all, astatine Matawan Creek successful 1916, was implicit a mile upriver from the ocean.) So there’s a caller nightmare, conscionable erstwhile you thought it was harmless to spell backmost to the riverbank.

Unfortunately wherever the movie falls down is its quality characters, who conflict to truly travel live – and the galling happening is, it’s not for privation of trying. This isn’t 1 of those monster movies wherever you don’t truly request the humans to beryllium memorable due to the fact that they’re interchangeable fodder for shark onslaught sequences; this movie is trying hard to marque you attraction astir the quality element. In galore ways, the shark storyline takes a backseat to plucky Clara (Hermione Corfield), taciturn Jacob (Jimmy Barriakada) and hard-drinking Ernie (Arthur Angel), whose travails arsenic a diving institution are the quality involvement story. But they’re not each that interesting, meaning you extremity up waiting astir for the adjacent shark attack. It’s a shame, due to the fact that the thought of making a classy, character-driven shark movie is simply a fantastic 1 – it conscionable lacks the captious charisma indispensable to truly reel america in.