Bait 3D: Movie Review

Bait 3D: Movie Review

Cast: Xavier Samuel, Chris Betts, Phoebe Tonkin, Julian McMahon, Sharni Vinson,
Director: Kimble Rendall

What is it about those Aussies and their shark worries?

Well, whatever it is, this latest release will do nothing to quell any fears they may have.

Twilight's Xavier Samuel stars as lifeguard Josh, whose life is turned upside down the day after his engagement party when his surfer colleague and fiancee Tina's brother, Rory, is mauled by a shark. Riddled with guilt, the pair split up.

One year later, Josh is working in a supermarket on the coast of Queensland - and his life is turned upside down once again when a robbery takes place in the mall and he finds Tina is one of the robber's hostages.

But that's nothing compared to when the mall is over-run by a tsunami, trapping Josh, the robbers, Tina and a group of others in a potentially watery grave.

Things get even worse when the trapped group finds they're being hunted by a couple of hungry great white sharks....

And so, the fight for survival begins.

Bait 3D is a veritable cheesefest.

It sets its stall out before the titles have even shown on screen and Josh is channelling his very deepest Anakin Skywalker learning that Padme died howl while on a jetski when his colleague Rory is chomped by a shark.

Pretty soon after that, wooden acting, risible dialogue and utterly ludicrous situations unfold (one victim even wears a shark cage suit made from shopping baskets and cans) and you're laughing at the film perhaps a little more than you should. There's very little tension as the shark circles, to be frank, picking off each victim one by one. And there are plot holes a-plenty - like how is the top part of the supermarket flooded but the underground car park not completely underwater? (Apparently, because of two doors...)

The cast are very earnest in their (at times over) acting as well as scenery chewing and the whole thing is ludicrously silly as you'd expect. Sure, there are bits of splatter gore when the sharks chomp in a frenzy but there's little else in between.

There are your stereotypes - a pair of lovers, separated but destined to be together; a father and daughter, whose relationship is strained but will stand the test of a great white bearing down on them; a comic relief couple who are airheads but provide the laughs and a bad guy, who's not actually all bad but just forced into a bad situation and will ultimately come good.

Swirls of blood are the only real flourish for the 3D - everything else is fish swimming at you, a gun pointing out of the screen and a shark jumping in the air. Not exactly challenging or redefining the technical boundaries.

Bait ticks all the boxes for a cheap night out but it's so appallingly done in places, you can't but help be swept along by the risible dialogue, OTT acting and soon to be cult quoted lines.

In essence, Bait is Sharks in a Supermarket - so if you like that idea, (much like Snakes on a Plane) then you know what you're in for. Just don't be surprised, if you find yourself laughing when you shouldn't and rolling your eyes as the terrible plot plays out.

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