Monday, August 30, 2010

Review: Piranha 3D



It is spring break, and Lake Victoria is filling up with booze soaked frat boys and bare breasted women. Little do they know that unfortunate seismic activity has opened a rift under the lake creating a pathway to a second subterranean lake. This second lake is teaming with a prehistoric breed of piranha that are overly aggressive and driven mad by their new found freedom. It is up to the sheriff, her deputies, and a brave geologist to save the day,

Piranha 3D has a better cast than actually necessary. As a big fan of Adam Scott thanks to the cult hit "Party Down," he proved to be a more than capable action protagonist along with Elizabeth Shue who performed equally well. With great character actors like Ving Rhames and Jerry O'Connell and likable hotties like Kelly Brook rounding out the cast, the absurd plot and tone safely lean on their shoulders. The cherry on top is Christopher Lloyd as a borderline mad scientist. And of course, Richard Dreyfuss in a familiar cameo is sure to tickle fans.

The movie knows is incredibly self-aware. It is full of graphic violence, gore, and nudity all of which is completely unnecessary and gratituous, but that is the fun in it. Never taking itself too seriously allows the film to succeed where similiar B-movie fare fail. It allows it too have personality and charm. It also has balls not afraid to kill off any characters making it feel genuinely like a "no one is safe" scenario.

I hate to be too nitpicky, but the movie is far from perfect even for a film that is as self-aware as this one. For one, you'd think being self-aware would let it lean on its gore and nudity more so than it did. The movie is never better than when there is complete mayhem on the screen. Its attempt at teenage dramedy and mom on a mission seem to cheapen the whole thing. It too quickly kills key cast members thus truncating the chaos rather than progress it further. Considering the 3D effects were made through the conversion process, the only thing it adds are dollars to the ticket price. The 3D is pretty sloppy, but at least there was more of an effort than usual to depict things directed towards the audience. I appreciate what they were trying to do, but the last few seconds were unsatisfactory.

It was not the most entertaining movie of the year, but it isn't the heaping pileof dogcrap that moviegoers have come to suspect from contemporary horror remakes.

6/10

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