Sharktopus

I love campy sci-fi. I expected with Eric Roberts in it for the movie to be -- well, watchable if not even enjoyable. Sadly, it was not enjoyable. Nor was it funny. It wasn't campy. And it certainly wasn't fun to watch or even amusing. It was pitiful. The scenery is the only decent thing in it.

The dialog is bad. The CGI is bad. The effects are bad. The acting when being attacked was a single action only -- scream and fail your arms around. It is possible that the idea was to make a sci-fi movie that was making fun of other such movies involving creatures of the deep. If so, they failed to do so.

Don't waste your time with this one. Try an old timer like Tremors.

Nathan Sands (Eric Roberts) and his daughter Nicole (Sara Malakul Lane) are scientists who created a shark/octopus hybrid. It manages to escape their control. They follow it to Mexico where they hire local guide Andy Flynn (Kerem Bürsin).

This is dumb, but that's to be expected. The CGI is bad, but it could be worst. The sharktopus design has problems, but I get the concept. The acting is bad, but they do have Eric Roberts. This is bad camp, but it is not worst of the worst. It does have girls in bikinis, but I wouldn't call it sexploitation. Its greatest sin is that it's boring. I wouldn't recommend it.

Story, which is stupid and so un-original, you can read in other reviews and in plot-section. It is however very stupid and not worth of mention. Actually, think about word "Sharktopus" just for second. Yes, it is some secret government project which went wrong. That's all you need to know about story.

Acting? Visual/audio effects? Comedy? Fear? All together, very low. But that is thing you know as well.

The reason why I review this title is simple. I'm big fan of low-budget-so-bad-its-good movies. This is bad, cheap, but simply, not bad enough. Seems weird? Well, acting is not that bad, there are no very obvious movie goofs, there is some cliché in story but not much, anyway, it is bad, very bad movie, but trust me, for making-fun-of with your friends, better buy some cheap Asylum movie.

I have seen better acting in a high school play rehearsal. Cheesy actors (no-names with nothing to their credit, for the most part), cheesy "special effects," (if you can even call them that), cheesy story (some sort of history of the creature that is only vaguely explained), horrible attempts at humor (especially when people get attacked by the creature), cheesy creature (half octopus and half shark -- really?), and cheesy creature "action." You can actually tell without any stretch of the imagination that it's similar to claymation in front of a green screen -- and not very good animation, either. I mean, really? Was this a 6th grade video project? Eric Roberts must be just one step above destitute to have signed to to this horrible production. We should all send him $5 so he doesn't have to do another one like that. Horrible. Just horrible.

This is not a horror or an action sci-fi movie. It is a comedy, but not your normal kind of comedy that you are used to seeing. There are no crazy characters or silly jokes. The real joke is in the acting, the directing, production design etc. Sharktopus was made to be terrible so the audience will laugh at how bad it is.

I don't understand why people take this movie seriously. With a title like sharktopus how could you? The plot is that a team of father and daughter marine biologists create a half shark, half octopus to use as a weapon for the navy. Then the remote control mechanism is knocked off and the Sharktopus goes on a killing rampage. Captian Jack (the creator of sharktopus) highers Andy Flynn, a Iraq war veteran, to capture the monster. But when Andy nearly gets killed and looses two of his friends he vows revenge.

There you have it. This is not suppose to be the next Jaws or even Deep Blue Sea. This is more along the lines of Maga Shark vs. Gaint Octopus. The director told the actors to be wooden and show very little emotion. The actors wheren't trying to win a Oscar, they wanted a Razzie. I just wish that actors would react to seeing the killings. When ever someone is eaten or torn apart in the movie who ever was witnessing it didn't react. They just stand there with a stupid look on their face. At least scream or try to help the victim. The production is minimal. The props appear to be objects the actors brought from home. The special effect are also bad with Sharktopus constantly changing size. In one scene he's big enough to eat VW Bug, in a later scene he is as big as a human. There are also scenes where the monster is walking out on land. Now I am not a marine biologist, but I am pretty sure that sharks or octopuses can't survive outside of water. Another thing that bothered me was that one of the characters who was named Nicole had some moral hang ups about her father altering the mind of Sharktopus. It is a genetically engineered monster, what does it matter if it mind is tampered with? If you watch this with a critic's state of mind you will hate this movie. In order to enjoy it loosen up and get a sense of humor.

Compared to Scy-Fy Channel's other original movies this is the best. Instead of being serious and trying scare the audience. Sharktopus is made to make you laugh. I rated this on level of how entertained I was while watching and gave it a 7 out of 10. Now if I where to rate it based on acting, directing, camera work, etc. Then I would give it a 2 out of 10.