It's actually a very elegant solution that offers a genuinely tense predicament. Even if the shark doesn't attack someone, the idea that a 12-foot Great White is only aisles away means that it must be accounted for at all times.
Things are even worse for the three characters trapped inside of the flooded parking garage attached to the grocery store. Now, sure, I can sit here and say that there is no car on Earth that is so watertight that the interior is completely dry while the water level is up to the roof. But that would mean that I lose the scene that got the biggest laugh out of me when a character very casually just opens the sunroof instead of letting her boyfriend smash open a window with her knockoff Gucci heels.
There are also some fun moments where you just see the shark swim by without the characters noticing, because of course there's sharks trapped inside of the parking garage as well.
Despite the set up, though, there isn't that much urgency. There's one line about how the water levels were rising, but they never did so to a noticeable amount. I never once thought that everyone huddled on top of the shelves or car roofs were ever actually in any peril. It was like they were a safe zone in a childhood game. The shark was only ever a threat if you touched the water, which meant that any character who touched the water was going to die within three minutes.
I was also frustrated more than once by the acting. There's one scene in particular that was genuinely emotional. I started to tear up a little. But then the mood was immediately shattered by a character dropping to her knees and screaming "Noooooooooo!" like she had just learned that she had killed Padme in her anger.
Literally! I wish that I was exaggerating, but I'm not. It was so cheesy and overdramatic that I went from near tears to sheer bafflement. Any emotional connection at all for me was dead and gone.
Kirby also felt like he belonged in a parody, and not even a parody of a shark movie. He started off fine, but just got more unbearable as time went on. By the end, I wanted to shove him in the water myself and just be done with it all.
The frustrating thing about all of this, though, is that outside of this? The acting was actually a lot stronger than I expected. Sure, a bunch of characters were very thinly written to the point where calling them one-note might be a bit generous, but no one was phoning it in.
Jamie's arc was predictable, but I still enjoyed it. I also really enjoyed the allusions that Doyle would make to religion and general view of the world. It was never explored in any meaningful way, but it still made him feel like he had a past, that he existed more than just during this moment.
Do I know why he was forced to rob a grocery store? No. Honestly, it seems like a really dumb target to hit. There's no reason to act like it's holding bank vault levels of cash. I kept waiting for some reveal there involving the store's owner that simply never materialized. But it didn't matter because I still liked him.
The sharks themselves could be a little hit or miss. This was a mixture of both CGI and animatronics. To be honest, I'm not quite sure when the animatronics were used, which may be a function of the fact that this movie was originally in 3D and that can make everything look super fake. The CGI itself also widely ranged from good to something out of a 2000s screensaver. It's not quite the level that I would necessarily hope for in something that actually got a theatrical release, but it didn't ruin my enjoyment by any means.
Bait is a lot of fun, and it's better quality than most movies I've reviewed for Summer Shark Festival. So far, this might be my favorite one of the summer.
Random Thoughts
Bait 3D was the title for the theatrical release. It was simply called Bait on DVD, but streaming services call it both names with seemingly little rhyme or reason.
This is another movie with a cast that is pretty relevant to the site. Phoebe Tonkin (The Secret Circle; The Originals) is the biggest one, although horror fans will also recognize Sharni Vinson (You're Next.) Julian McMahon (Charmed; Fantastic Four) recently passed away following a battle with cancer.
Apparently, there is a sequel called Deep Water that stars Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley. I don't think it's been released in the US yet, and it sounds like it has absolutely nothing to do with this movie whatsoever.
...Okay, but seriously there is no car on Earth that is that watertight.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally watches far too many shark movies.
A grocery store? I've never heard of this movie, but the fact that it's a shark attack movie set in a grocery store makes it incredibly appealing.
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