mantasj09

As far as bad films go, 'Sharknado' is hard to 'outclass'. It has all the attributes of an utterly terrible film: atrocious acting, incredibly silly dialogues, horrible editing, Adobe-Photoshop quality special effects and above all - the main premise, which is so brain-damagingly stupid that one just have to consider that the film was intentionally created that bad as the authors just accepted the fact that with a very limited budget at their disposal it will be impossible to create anything decent and went all out in a ridiculous-bordering-insane front.

Since its creation, the film gained sort of a cult following and spawned quite a few, equally incredible (I would assume, as I'm not planning to watch these) sequels. If you're in right mood and have watched all the decent comedies, then 'Sharknado' is definitely worth a check. It has a certain entertainment value which is hard to match.

I have to admit, even among a low budget direct-to-video action film output, 'The Mercenary' looks rather cheap. Extremely basic settings and decorations spurs the feeling that all the scenes were filmed in one single set (even, though the characters supposedly visit different continents throughout the film). Narrowly framed shots make you feel like the operator was afraid some random props might just be captured with wider camera angles and this impression only emphasizes almost palpable shortage of filming funds.

Disregarding all of that, the film is engaging and delivers decent action scenes. Mostly due to solid, even though somewhat minimalistic performance by Mr Vandenberg. He has a strong screen presence, similar to Charles Bronson back in 70s, and doesn't have to do much to look intense or intimidating. Even though the story is quite basic and, in different variations, was tried in various films and even computer games, it is still engaging and, coloured with decent fighting sequences (by direct-to-video standards, obviously) and captivating score, consisting of a single flute tune, delivers a decent spectacle.

The whole film feels solidly put together and this is what you'd expect from Jesse V Johson as a director. It seems he's an expert when it comes to squeezing out everything that is possible out of limited budgets he usually has to work with. Even though this is an inferior product compared to his recent outputs with Scott Adkins ('Avengement', for example, pops into mind), the film is still worth a check for any action fan.

It's a little hidden gem of Scandinavian cinema which is just mesmerizingly good. The film is part sister relationship drama; part survival thriller and it works perfectly well on both fronts. You have just enough background information to care for both protagonists perfectly understanding their character differences and strain of their relationship. And when the thrills start, it never lets you down. I'm not an expert diver and cannot really judge the authenticity of the diving sequences and the validity of the challenges faced by the sisters, but that's really not that important. The diving accident can be easily perceived as a metaphor for any extreme life situation which just hits you out of nowhere when you're least prepared to deal with it. But you have to, there's no way around and there's no help, and the life of the loved one depends on you. So what you gonna do?

After watching numerous Hollywood films we've learned to expect that a hero of a story can solve problems almost before they actually happen; always have a clever trick up his (or her, but mostly his...) sleeve and remains evenly tempered, completely rational and almost supernaturally logical in the most extreme situations. Well... the problem is that people just don't behave like that in real life. I just loved the fact that the main heroine was acting like a real person would act when she ends up in an extreme situation where all mundane life experiences are just inadequate. She panics, does stupid mistakes, gets hysterical and loses hope for a moment (everything amazingly portrait by the main actress) but keeps going. As a typical city dweller with limited diving experience, she clearly got more than she could handle but she just did whatever she could, following advices of her clearly more daredevil sister, doing mistakes and improvising as best as she could. Haunted by her past, she just couldn't allow to be inadequate again.

In additional to amazing acting by both leads, the film has hauntingly beautiful cinematography and music score. It's a really touching surviving drama thriller, which even though delivers enough thrills, is really more about relationship dynamics between two sisters than anything else.