Bait

Going to a supermarket is never a particularly thrilling experience. There are the screaming kids begging their parents for sweets, the queues, the trolleys with the wonky wheels and of course those awful self-service checkouts that never really work. However, the one thing I've never experienced at Tesco's, is a shark swimming down the aisle, chomping at my heels.

In 'Bait' we see just what happens if you let Great White sharks into your local hypermarket. It doesn't end well for anyone concerned. Great White sharks are less inclined to use clubcards and queue nicely at Customer Services departments while trying to exchange a faulty toaster; instead they tend to eat anyone who gets in their path.

Bait follows a long line of so-so B-movies, all with sharks as the main threat. However, whereas most of them are pretty forgettable, this one is actually pretty watchable. You'll notice I said 'watchable' not good. Sadly, the special effects are pretty awful (CGI sharks just don't cut it) and even some of the acting is pretty wooden.

However, that said, it's a fun - if incredibly silly - ride. If you think 'sharks in a supermarket' sounds like a good film, then you're probably the sort of person who can appreciate a daft little B-movie like this. But if you think it sounds totally ludicrous, then you're probably best bending a selection of wire shopping baskets all around your body in an attempt to put as much distance between you and the film as possible (seriously, that's what someone tries in Bait).

Personally, I loved Bait. It was silly, cheesy, fun and totally stupid. A bit like me (I like to think, anyway). I can't wait for the sequel (yes, there's one on its way, if you believe the online rumour mill). I'm hoping this time we'll have either 'sharks in school' or 'sharks in an old people's home.' Classic. I should write those ideas down and copyright them before they're stolen!

I had mixed thoughts after reading reviews here but I decided to buy the 3D BluRay since it was on sale, glad I didn't listen to all the negative reviews. Phoebe Tonkin of the Secret Circle, Julian McMahon of Tip/Tuck and Dr. Doom in the Fantasitc Four, Xavier Samual from the Twilight Movies, not to mention a few other actors I did recognize from the movie Sanctum. First the good news the use of 3D in this movie is spot on everything coming at you from shark attacks to the minor details of other sea life like jelly fish and crabs, this movie is everything Shark Night wasn't. No its not boring its well paced with solid actors who take the material seriously. The movie never winks at itself and your become drawn in by the relationships, there is no one person who is the big hero and some unexpected deaths add to the drama. Now the bad while I will admit the special F/X could have used a bit more work they are miles above those seen in your typical SyFy Saturday Flick. I enjoyed the movie will watch again with friends and recommend it especially for those of us with 3D TV's you'll enjoy it all the more.

It was real surprising for me to find out how watchable this movie actually was. I mean, a movie in which a shark attacks a bunch of people trapped in a supermarket, after a tsunami hit, doesn't exactly sound like high quality stuff. As a matter of fact. you would normally expect a movie like this to be extremely bad and cheesy but the movie, as it turned out, was far from cheesy and simply was being pretty good for what it was.

I still expected the worst, after the first 15 minutes or so, which wasn't exactly being a very promising start for the movie. It looked horrible and I feared for the rest of the movie. I expected it to be a very formulaic genre flick, in which nothing exciting or original ever happened. And even while the movie isn't being all that original, it still feels like a good watch, since it manages to entertain and takes itself serious enough.

That was perhaps being the key as to why the movie worked out; it took itself serious. Normally modern B-movies are very self aware and actors and directors obviously don't take their work all that serious. They make things deliberately cheesy to add to the fun factor and while this does work out at times, at others it makes the movie noting less but bad and annoying. In that regard it also was being refreshing to see how serious everybody involved took this movie. It definitely adds to the overall quality of the movie and its nice to see that this is a movie that took its audience serious and didn't treated them like a bunch of popcorn-eating-no-brainers, who only wanted to see lots of blood and nudity. The movie is not like that at all, even though the first 15 minutes would still suggest otherwise. Perhaps it was all deliberate and in the first 15 minutes they were like; 'this is what you expect us to do' and what after that follows was 'but this is what we are going to do with the concept'.

Thing I also liked about the movie was that it didn't featured one main, heroic character, in it, who saved everybody. instead there is a wide range of different characters in this, who all, just about, share an equal amount of screen time. None of them is pretending to be a hero, which also lets all of them all feel somewhat realistic and human-like.

On the downside; the special effects in this are pretty horrendous. Sort of funny that after 40-years, "Jaws" still has the most convincing looking shark in it. This movie too often relies on CGI effects, which aren't exactly of the best quality. But still, as far as shark movies go, this definitely is being one of the better ones, believe it or not.

Definitely watchable!

6/10

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I'm going to start off by saying, this movie was awful. The story itself is ridiculous, the script is very poor, and the acting was average at best (although Julian McMahon put on a solid performance.

But I loved it. This is the type of movie you go see with a bunch of friends and just sit back and enjoy. It's a 'leave your brain at the door' type of movie. There are some comical lines as well as ridiculously stupid lines that just make you cry out with laughter. It's clearly evident that this movie is not taking itself serious at all, the story tells you that.

But you can still have a lot of fun with it. Don't sit there picking out all the flaws (because there are a hell of a lot of them), and don't take it seriously, the movie was not designed that way. Just enjoy the fact that "there's a 12 foot great white shark in here". There are some awesome scenes, as well as some really cool deaths (some that you wouldn't ever imagine)

The bottom line is, just enjoy the badness of this film, don't think about it, don't take it seriously, just enjoy it. That's what it was designed for.

Shark movies, how many good ones are out there? Well, after the obvious the list is pretty baron. However, Bait is remarkably watchable. I was quite surprised to find myself glued to the screen after over half an hour of character show and tell and only the opening shark scene to reel us in. The CGI and casting are the only two factors that plead with me to turn the movie off. For a thirty-mil budget the shark animations were truly inadequate, yet Bait managed to survive considering. Which is more than can be said for most civilians who aren't trapped in a supermarket given the state of that Australian coastline. Matthew Lessall and Ben Parkinson (Casting) need a job chat, some sideline characters offer absolutely, indescribably the worst performances I have ever seen. Listening to the psychotic Aussie robber, frantic store manager and squabbling couple in their car really made me shudder with anger. More time establishing deeper character backgrounds instead would have pleased, although they hold up pretty well for a shark flick.

Despite some teeth grinding actors and reminders of Bruce from Finding Nemo, Bait is visually very pleasing and makes for a worthy shark movie.

7/10.