Chompfest 2024
In 2019 the Discovery channel decided it was time to do something new to celebrate their 31st shark week, and hence an original television movie was the final decision of Howard Swartz, Discovery’s senior vice president of production and development. Hence, instead of having narration about just sharks they used the real-life survival story concerning a shipwreck from 1982 which was based on the book “Albatross: The True Story of a Woman’s Survival at Sea” (1994) by one of the two survivors, Deborah Scaling Kiley; as the basis for the production. The primary script was written by Stephen David, and further story development handled by Tim K. Kelly and Jonathan Soule with two key principals staying close to the story by using tiger sharks and do not make, the shark species out to villainous while director Roel Reiné (Bear [2010]) crafted it as an animal attack versus horror survival storyline. Incidentally, the book was previously filmed as a drama, entitled Two Came Back (1997) and was featured on the television series I Shouldn’t Be Alive Episode 1 of Season 1 “Shark Survivor” (2005).
It begins with the retelling of a true story involving a poor captain John (Josh Duhamel (The Picture of Dorian Gray [2004])) who truly does nothing but make situations worse, such as keeping Mark (Joshua Close (The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005])) as first mate who is a dangerous loose cannon and full-blown alcoholic, while the remainder of the crew for is sail boat named Trashman (a name that sends shivers), consists of Deborah (Beau Garrett, (Turistas [2006])) and new hire Brad (Tyler Blackburn), as well as his girlfriend Meg (Rebekah Graf (The Amityville Murders [2018])) who doesn’t seem good at following necessary orders in times of crisis. Now some critics pointed negatively about the vessel being a sailboat, two things that was the type boat used in real life, and secondly the modern vessels use motors in and out of ports, but there’s a guiding beauty and peace of when captaining with wind in the sails and currents however, a necessary and experienced crew is required with strict adherence to all safety and orders. Soon enough the weather changes on the horizon, John dismisses the impending doom and Mark, in a drunken stupor, misses all coast guard storm reports, during the raging storm Meg disobeys orders causing a dreadful injury. A rogue wave causes them capsized and while they survive, they remain in the water holding to the raft because worries of hypothermia due to the fact they had no provisions nor safety equipment, more bad preparation on behalf of the captain. Nevertheless, Meg’s wound is oozing blood in the open water and well you know what that means – SHARK! Although, in this case that’s Tiger Sharks… Soon enough it becomes a series of attacks, crew suffering from mental breakdowns, and thirst as their weakness and hopelessness grows. A letdown is that instead of staying in the lifeboat, the filmmakers keep taking us back to a Coast Guard office about rescue efforts, if it was necessary to include them, then perhaps a voiceover about these courageous efforts but keep us with the mounting uncertainty in the unforgiving seas as prey to all elements of nature including apex predators. The closing credits show an actual picture of the rescue of who the survivors were as well as what they suffered through and included where were they in 2019.
The production took place in a 2.4-million-gallon tank where the crew worked for extended hours and suffered in the extreme heat at the Pinewood Studios in the Dominican Republic where many other projects were film including 47 Meters Down [2017] and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged [2019]. The actors had some difficulties in trying to make believable scenes of attacks, the shark footage was a combination of CGI and stock footage added in post-production, therefore stunt divers would choregraph pulling the cast members under without warning to enhance the predator strikes and attacks. The movie suffers from one main problem the generation of suspense is lost every time a commercial break occurs and thereby ruins the pacing.
It was refreshing to finally see another species of shark making the spotlight, yes the Great White is impressive but other species are just as vicious. The hardcore shark film enthusiasts will experience some disappointment as the death scenes lack gore, but the movie does successfully convey how alone one is on the vast ocean, a rubber lifeboat that contains no emergency gear, translates its own version of claustrophobia. One important detriment to film that I found was a constant back and forth between the solace on the lifeboat and the coast guard station, this became annoying as it gave an escapism from the torturous world the survivors had to deal with on an hourly basis.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10656752/
IMDb Rating: 5.3/10
Baron’s Rating: 5.0/10