Sous la Seine

(Yes, I did spend a while trying to come up with a pun that I hadn't seen before).

As this film was gathering some traction on Twitter across the weekend, I decided that I should give it a go. Having assumed it would be an equivalent to the sort of film "The Asylum" make, I was surprised and interested to see that it was initially not that - though in all honesty it gets there by the end.

Having lost her crew, and husband, to Shark attack, on an expedition to the Pacific garbage patch, Sophia (Berenice Bejo) returns to Paris and works in an aquarium. Three years later she's contacted by an Environmentalist Mika (Lea Leviant) who explains that she's hacked shark tracking technology and that one has made it up the Seine, as far as Paris city centre. With Sophia refusing to help them, Mika and her associate Ben (Nagisa Morimoto) undertake the dive instead, with Mika being arrested. Mika, and later Sophia, try to convince River Patrol of the unlikely interloper, but with the Paris Triathlon imminent, the mayor (Anne Marivin) refuses to consider cancelling.

At the start the film is actually reasonably sensible. The shark is played as a looming threat, foreboding in the background or whipping through frame too quick to get a good look at. There's a clear environmental message, where climate change and sea pollution has changed the shark's natural habitats. Berenice Bejo, who was in "The Artist" is a decent lead and does have some chemistry with impossibly heroic Soldier turned River Police action man Adil, played by Nassim Lyes.

I guess the trouble with the film is that, towards the end it does drift into that 'Asylum' "Sharknado" territory with much more explicit use of the, now painfully cheap-looking, CGI Shark. I write my reviews without spoilers usually, and I'll continue to do so here, but I just don't understand how the ending happens. I liked how spectacular it was but where does the water come from?

You never know with Neflix just how well a film has actually done, but there's a chance from that ending that sequels, or sister films might be forthcoming. I'd hope they'd find a more consistent tone, either way, serious, or campy, to be satisfying. This is neither.

Under Paris was certainly a film. Although I don't particularly know how to describe it, but this film did have some good things, and also some not so good things. The Film also did start out interestingly, and kind of develops the story along. The main focus in this scenario is Sophia. And they have never seemed to get the effects right for a shark, apart from the Meg. Not even Jaws. So, digest the shenanigans of Under Paris with me.

So, Sophia. Where does the film start? It is about her husband, and I presume they are both marine biologists, so apologies if I'm wrong, but her husband died due to a shark attack. And now 3 years later, the Shark has come back, to seek revenge. The Shark appears and should put a hold on the race, but it doesn't. The mayor is quite happy to keep it going, kind of dumb. Especially when they are now going to be attacked by a Shark.

"Don't go in the Water", proceeds to go in the water. And it was that type of film throughout, hilariously dumb decisions that made absolutely no sense. Jade as a result gets eaten by the Shark, as she tries to tough the baby shark, which is stupid in itself. So then after that, she's chomped by the shark.

The scene I described about Jade getting eaten, has some intense scenes and a very deadly scenario leads to some people getting eaten by the Shark. The mother, but it doesn't end there, as the big swim is still on. I like this part of the film, it was very action-packed. And had edge of your seat action, that went faster and faster as the Shark moved along.

What sets this film apart from other movies, It's dumb, yes. It's ridiculous, yes. It has, oh never mind it does A shallows and has explosions in the water, and collapses the bridge. Yes, that is all the same. However, the Shark is different, could be. And I love the commentary about the ecosystem and the pollution in the water, that's the difference. It also has interesting ideas about adaptation and weather the Shark can survive or not. But If it's near you, your body is twisting and tuning, and then we'll your eaten.

The End race commences, should it? Probably not. But hear we go!, and that's when everything gets exciting, intense. And people are being eaten by the Sharks. The explosions go off, the FBI fire at will, and it ends in chaos, it was certainly and action-packed 15 Minutes. Full of scenes that were ridiculous and non-sensical, and some entertainment through this part.

After all of that chaos, we then end with a flooded Paris, so now it's On Top of Paris. With Sharks all around the perimeter, now the police are stuck. And the end shows a beutiful view of Paris, and a flying bird. That ends the film In style. Now I will end my review, right after the Verdict.

Would I recommend this film? Honestly, you'll be entertained, and if your a fan of Shark movies then I would, but keep away if brain dead movies aren't for you. This film had everything though, Under Paris gets an average score of 5 out of 10.

Starting with the fact that the main premise of the film, sharks in fresh water, is nonsense, the script itself was very empty of content. Like any horror films premises don't make sense and I guess that's okay with the genre? I don't know because I am not a fan of horror movies but I do enjoy suspense and that is what made me watch it in the first place but there was little to no suspense. No plot depth. Not much good to it actually. There are no good dialogues, no good character development and you don't really feel any attachment whatsoever to any of the characters so you don't care what happens to them. If that is not a sample of bad scriptwriting, I don't know what is. The cinematography is also plain and quite insipid... But hey, I enjoyed the lovely views of Paris a lot and that's why I gave it a 4 and not a 1.

Will this movie win any awards? No It was a full of your standard shark movie cliches and the middle drags a little, but I have to admit I was surprised in the last quarter of the film, and even though I was cheering for the shark (there was just too many stupid people waiting to be eaten) I did end up enjoying the film. I love shark movies though, so if you aren't generally into shark movies then this probably won't float your boat.

A lot of action at the beginning and end, lots of blood, heavy dose of environmental message which is very topical. Would I watch it again. Yeah I would. And I'd watch a sequel if that happens too.

The actors are ok, the script is pretty much as bad as any shark movie, but it lacks explanation about why the shark goes to Paris, why has it tripled in size, why it can self reproduce etc... a bit of logic never hurts.

The main focus is actually the Olympic Games in Paris put in the limelight by the lack of preparation from Paris City Hall. Anne Marivin does a good job playing a completely incompetent, dishonest, ruthless, politically driven mayor of Paris that everyone will recognize easily. The only differences are that she's pretty and she can speak French. Shame she doesn't get gulped by the shark.

Ok movie, worth a watch just to break the rhythm of the Netflix TV series.