Ataque dos Tubarões

This movie was a classic "B" - - SciFi type of movie. It has a wonderful cast of really good actors...but in my opinion the plot was anemic, the directing was even more-so...and I loved it! Why? Because the cast each did an excellent job of acting and the setting was believable. One can see from the 'heft' of big stars where the budget most certainly was spent. It most certainly wasn't spent on special effects or, for that matter, screen writing.

All in all, I would not only recommend it because of its positive aspects...but would watch it again and again if the opportunity affords itself. The positives outweigh the negatives.

This is a production from RHI Entertainment, the makers and distributors of a number of awful movies like "Sharpshooter", "Depth Charge", and "Mask Of The Ninja". This should be your first clue as to the quality of this movie. The second clue is that this movie, like those others, was made for television. So there's no foul language, no nudity, no sex, and the presentation of blood and (very limited) gore could easily be showcased on prime time. But even if the movie had any of that juicy stuff, it would still be pretty hard to sit through. The script is awful - it stretches the movie past the breaking point by making the movie last more than two and a half hours. It takes forever for the characters to realize that something strange is going on and that a lot of people are missing, and even longer to find out that it's sharks causing the problems. The movie is also not very well made, with cheap-looking CGI sharks and cinematography that looks somewhat dark even when the movie is outdoors in the sunshine. There is an extremely high body count, and there is a somewhat amusing small subplot about a little girl afraid of the water, but those things are just a couple of drops in a sea of ineptness.

The only reason why I didn't rate Shark Swarm any lower was because of Armand Assante. Despite his rather stereotypical villainous character, he does put some gusto into his performance and he is enjoyable to watch. But the rest of the cast are poor. F Murray Abraham, outstanding in Amadeus, is wasted, he managed to save Blood Monkeys but he is not in Shark Swarm anywhere long enough to make the same impact. Daryl Hannah I loved in Splash and Roxanne, but other than her beauty she is very robotic and bland. John Schneider looks bored out of his mind, and who can blame him? They are not helped however their underdeveloped and very clichéd characters, nor by the horrendously cheesy writing. The story takes forever to get going, and never really picks up. The exposition scenes are dull and poorly written, the climax is contrived and the attacks are not scary or suspenseful in the slightest. The sharks are used sparsely, in hindsight you'd think that would work, however aside from the fact that they are horribly rendered in every scene they appear in(even the shark effects in Jersey Shore Shark Attack were this bad) you also don't learn anything about their origins or why they attack in the first place. In conclusion, Shark Swarm has nothing in its favour other than a pretty good turn from Assante(and actually even he deserved better than this). 2/10 Bethany Cox

"Hamilton Lux" (Armand Assante) is a real estate developer who wants to buy all of the homes and business of the small fishing town of Full Moon Bay in order to build condos overlooking the Pacific Ocean. So in order to compel the townsfolk to sell their property to him he has secretly poisoned the nearby coastal waters to kill all of the fish and impoverish the community to such an extent that they will be more than happy to take whatever he offers them. Unfortunately for him, one particular fisherman by the name of "Daniel Wilder" (John Schneider) has no intention of selling out and he happens to own a vital piece of property that Hamilton Lux needs desperately. Even worse is the fact that the particular chemicals used by Hamilton Lux to poison the fish has not only drastically affected the ecological balance but it has also resulted in the sharks hunting in large schools in search of the only food sources now available to them-vacationers enjoying the waters off Full Moon Bay. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that, for a made-for-television film, it wasn't too bad. Although I didn't care for some of the characters, I particularly liked the performance of Amy Zuckerman (as "Heather McComb") and the aforementioned Armand Assante. I also thought the shark footage was okay for the most part as well. In any case, although a bit long I have rated the movie as about average and recommend it to those who enjoy films of this type.

Ugh. One lame story. Empty dialog. Actors who can't get movie roles anymore. One exception - what is F Murray Abraham doing in this cast of mediocre actors? He has actual acting talent as opposed to Armand Assante who turns in the same swaggering tough guy persona every time. What is with that walk anyway? It's so embarrassing. And poor Darryl Hannah. Glamour girl no more.

Who read this script and said, "Wow, this is gripping. Let's make a movie!" It makes you wonder what scripts don't get picked. Now that's scary. Before there were so many cable stations, this movie would never get made. A studio wouldn't waste money on a rehashed shark tale and mediocre actors. So thanks Hallmark for lowering the standards.