Shark week continues once again here on the 365 movies in 365 days challenge blog and we have a doozey. I was going to save Shark Lake for an Ass Whoopin Wednesday post because it stars Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV), but not bad ass enough so here it is here. Meredith Hendricks (Sara Malakul Lane) is an overprotective mother and one of the best cops in Lake Tahoe. She had to rescue her daughter from exotic animal dealer Clint Gray (Lundgren) who also happens to be her father. It’s years later and now Clint is paroled and heading back to Lake Tahoe. The only problem is that the lake is infested with some bull sharks that are killing the residents and Meredith has a suspicion that Clint has something to do with it. They’ll have to kill the sharks before it’s too late and they feast on everyone. Lily Brooks O’Briant (Bare Knuckle) as Carly Gray, James Chalke (Don’t Kill It) as Don Barnes, Michael Aaron Milligan (V/H/S Viral) as Peter Mayes, Ibrahim Renno (Gasping For Life) as Larson, Ele Bardha (It Follows) as Ricky, Melissa Bolona (Dog Eat Dog) as Sara, and the film was directed by Jerry Dugan (Between Grass and Sky: Rhythms of a Cowboy Poem).
Like I said above, I was going to use this one for Ass Whoopin Wednesdays, but enough kills/knockouts for Dolph and it’s not really an action movie. This is one of those films that just has too much going on at the same exact time that it kind of ruins the story. Not to mention, this is just downright cheesy and not the good kind. It’s one of those films that features a lot of bad acting combined with some overacting and cheesy moments. I don’t know what it is about Dolph Lundgren that kind of irks me, but he is just so awkward at times. I feel like he struggles to deliver lines and his fight choreography is just a little off at times too. Maybe Sylvester Stallone was right about Dolph after all. There were so many cheesy moments in the film like an old woman whose running abilities in the film is just god awful to watch and the same could be said about grandma in the film. The henchman are kind of cheesy and they get their asses kicked too easily by stumbling Lundgren. The only redeeming thing about the film was Sara Malakul Lane who starred in yesterdays film Sharktopus. I didn’t realize that she was also in this film until I looked it up on IMDB. She is absolutely amazing compared to everyone else, but she’s a little pushy in the film. This is a watch at your own risk kind of film so at least I warned all of you. It’s available on Netflix as we speak and I am going to give it a D+/C- for a final grade because it’s somewhere between those two.
I think I have mentioned before that I usually do not like to watch films that are based on movies, but what can you do when Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) stars in the movie. The movie that I chose for today is called The 5TH Wave and it follows a young girl named Cassie (Moretz) as she recounts each horrific wave of the alien takeover. You see one day the aliens showed up and they slowly began taking over the earth trying to eliminate the humans. All Cassie has left in the world is her little brother Sam (Zackary Arthur), but Sam was taken away by the military who said they were there to help. All Cassie wants to do is get back to Sam before it’s too late. The film also stars Gabriela Lopez (Million Dollar Arm) as Lizbeth, Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) as Ben Parish, Ron Livingston (Office Space) as Oliver Sullivan, Tony Revolori (Dope) as Dumbo, Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) as Vosch, Maria Bello (Prisoners) as SGT. Reznik, Maika Monroe (It Follows) as Ringer, Talitha Bateman (Life Grows On) as Teacup, Alex Roe (The Calling) as Evan Walker, and the film was directed by J Blakeson (The Disappearance Of Alice Creed).
Most of the teen aimed book films that we have seen never deal with what has happened, you just assume that some bad things happened. This film deals with what happened and it moves through the different waves which is pretty much everyone’s fear. Giant waves as one of the waves, losing electricity to make us act like animals, and so on and so forth. I have to be perfectly honest and say that this actually wasn’t that bad of a film, it was actually pretty good. Chloë Grace Moretz was as good as you would expect her to be, but for me Maika Monroe was awesome as the bad ass chick that you don’t mess with. I had been waiting to see her in a film since I had seen her amazing performance in It Follows. The movie also has all the things you would want as far as the story is concerned with the twists (I never read the book) and the paranoia of who is human and who is an alien pretending to be human? The cinematography is great especially during the flooding scenes and the acting was very good. Now as far as a second film is concerned, I have no idea because I don’t remember if this film did well in the theaters or not to warrant a second film. I actually would love to see what happens next to our protagonists. So, I am going to recommend this film cause it’s worth at least a watch. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.
365moviesin365dayschallenge 