FountainPen Tried three times to watch this on TV, but had to give up. It appears to have been shot with defective cameras, as all scenes are unbelievably DARK. I've rated this 1 but it deserves a ZERO. WHY do producers let a film go out so extremely crippled? Could the producers not afford decent lighting? Whatever the reason, this abortion should never be put on TV again.

GL84 Studying sharks on a tropical island, a scientist finds that recent spate of shark attacks in the area are more than the locals' claim of a rogue shark when they discover it to be an escaped military project and must convince the authorities to help him stop it.This one here wasn't an overall bad miniseries but does have some solid points about it. One of the few areas that works here is the fact that this one manages to run through a lot of the genre's clichés and trappings into itself, feeling more often that not as a true work rather than a shameless homage. From the attacks on the locals that are tried to be explained as being done by something else, the attitude of the villagers when they think they've caught it and the subsequent desire to cut it open to investigate, the gradual realization through effective and realistic evidence to prove something's out there only for no response to come from the authorities until they witness it with their own eyes and finally putting their child's life in danger to be able to see the truth that must be arrived at no matter how much they want to disagree with are all plot points brought up here and yet it never really feels as though it's going through the motions with them. It works them all nicely into the rather enjoyable amount of action here where it features some rather fun and exciting scenes of the creature at play here both in the water as well as on-land, with the early sea-based attacks being quite good with the locals getting ambushed while the land attacks are great with the confrontation in the underground tunnels and a fun wipe-out of the troops out in the swamp-lands surrounding the island which makes for some really exciting scenes here. Given that the creature always looks good rather than cheesy when it shows up with the realistic make-up work and even a fantastic finish, there's a lot to like here. The main flaws here are mostly based on the feature coming from it's origin status as there's little reason here to make the film a real miniseries as this one really doesn't deserve that. The story-line is so full of clichés, from the secret government project gone awry to the reconciled couple which comes together and the mysterious stranger who knows more than he lets on in order to keep the story going on nonsense that usually plague these kinds of movies where it's not so much homaging the past as instead it's just plain irritating to have to keep going for these issues. They hold the film's pacing down to where it has to shoehorn them into the film to build up the overall running time and then rushing along through the few scattered action scenes here since it really doesn't seem all that suited for such a format that was presented here with this one not really deserving of being a miniseries of such length. As well, the other issue here concerns the film's series of false statements regarding so much of its science and technology here, from the inane gene-splicing at the heart of the original experiment, the creation of the new creature here, the different physiological problems associated with the creature being released and the late-twist where they find out the big dangerous secret about the creature that's just painfully stupid. It's science here is pretty troubled and sticks out along with the pacing issues to really hold this one down.Rated Unrated/PG-13: Violence, Language and violence-against- animals.

TedMichaelMor Veteran director Stuart Gillard gives us a good television movie with Craig Nelson and Kim Catrall giving top-notch performances. Rockne S. O'Bannon wrote a tight adaptation of Peter Benchley's implausible novel. However, once one accepts the improbable creature, the rest of the story works well. It is made well. It entertained me. I very much enjoyed seeing the movie.Further, location shooting in St. Lucia gives this movie a good look. The images are often beautiful in ways that do not distract from the narrative. Camera work involves careful use of positioning, careful movement of cast within otherwise ordinary shots, and good panning. I like the editing. Special effects are well done. I think that the monster creature looks good.The film has a good pace with humour and slowly building moments of terror. Megalyn Echikunwoke enriches the look of the film. I like the soundtrack.

cptnhook13 I don't want to beat a dead squid, but Peter Benchley needs to get over his obsession with scary creatures in dark water. Put the pen down and go for a swim!The writers covered it all - opening scene of a mysterious brutal death beneath the surface that outrages the locals, an under-appreciated 'expert' in marine biology (complete with sharkbait son), the skeptical townsfolk, the local police chief that doesn't want to ruin the reputation of his beaches, lots of fog at random moments of suspense, etc...The special effects are, well, not especially effective and the acting is annoying at best. If you want to enjoy this trainwreck, play the 'Chase' drinking game (Craig T. Nelson's character is Chase) and take a swig every time someone yells it out. You'll be feeling good by the second commercial break!