Bait 3D
(2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray w/DVD)
3D
Picture: B- 2D Picture: B- &
C+ Sound: B- & C+ Extras: C- Films: C
Shark
movies keep getting made, even though they rarely do well, but the appeal and
box office of Spielberg’s Jaws
(1975, now itself arriving on a restored Blu-ray) is apparently just too much
for producers to resist and the shark tales continue. Sometimes, they at least have at least some
variation and Kimble Rendall’s Bait 3D
(2011) is in 3D (so was the third Jaws),
is actually from Australia
and was co-written by Russell (Highlander,
The Shadow) Mulcahy.
It is a
fine summer day on the beach, when it is interrupted by (yup, you guessed it) a
shark that starts attacking vacationers.
A terrible situation, something needs to be done about it, but there is
suddenly a twist in that the earth starts to shake and the resulting flood
(tsunami?) is that the whole town is submerged and anew horror will now
terrorize the town… land shark!!!
Obviously,
the shark will now be able to swim to what was the shore and attack even more
people, including those unsuspecting of its arrival. This is played for some comedy and some of
that works, then we have a decent cast and this has some energy as well. However, so many of these films have been made
(including ones that substitute the shark for any number of animals that kill)
that there is not much of anywhere for the screenplay to go. It is at least amusing, 3D (done often with
humor) or not, but ultimately this is an Australian release trying to imitate a
Hollywood one instead of being more natively
Australian or Australian all the way.
Mulcahy had his own killer animal film with Razorback about 30 years ago and that was not as Hollywood, which is why it worked when it
did. Julian McMahon is the only known
actor in a cast of newcomers.
Bait 3D has some amusing moments worthy
of Piranha 3D, but not much in the
way of rewatchability. It is worth a
look for genre fans or 3D fans at best.
The 1.78
X 1, 1080p full HD MVC-encoded 3-D – Full Resolution digital High Definition
image has some good dimensional moments making it worth seeing in 3D, but it is
not consistent and can be gimmicky more than it should be, making it equal to
its 2D 1080p version that has some detail issues, but looks good enough for an
HD shoot. I liked some of the sets,
locations and look here, so it is a more pleasant viewing than your typical
genre film. However, the anamorphically
enhanced DVD version is softer still and not as easy to watch.
The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 lossless mix is towards the front speakers, but does have its
moments of surrounds (in the action scenes especially) where a full soundfield
kicks in and works well. Some of the
recording on the set is an issue, not always having a consistent quality. The lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD
version is weaker and not able to play back the best surround moments.
The only
extra is the Original Theatrical Trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
