I did say that I wanted more period piece shark movies, didn’t I? Apparently, they're all Australian.
Beast of War is slightly different in that it is “based on real events.” No one tells us what those events are, but Google pointed me in the direction of the HMAS Armidale, which sank in 1942 and matches some of the details pretty well.
The movie follows a group of Australian World War II soldiers who are stranded at sea when their ship is sunk by Japanese fighter pilots. While hunger and dehydration are mentioned and talked about, there’s really only one real threat that they have to worry about: the shark circling their makeshift raft.
Our shark this time is a female great white, and it’s a particularly gnarly looking one at that. There are no picture perfect rows of teeth. It looks beat up and scarred like something that truly belongs in a horror movie. They didn’t want perfect realism, and I appreciated that, especially since it didn’t tip over the line into being an outright monster.
It looks amazing, and it’s done entirely with practical effects. They made three different sharks, the “attack head” hero piece, a full shark that a diver could control from inside like a puppet, and a fin attached to a small submarine so that they could get the proper water displacement when the fin swam by.
One of the best parts of Jaws was how the water moved when the shark passed, and I love that that level of care was used here too. It all combined to be a great shark, especially with the added addition of the broken air raid siren stabbed into its fin.
What a creepy, horrific sound! What a great way of letting us know that the shark was out there somewhere! What a great fit for a monstrous shark.
The gore effects all looked good too, although the dark lighting made it hard to see some of them. At least we got one really good grenade effect in broad daylight so that we could appreciate it in all of its glory.
Was the reason why we got that grenade effect a little silly? Yes. There’s an undercurrent of humor throughout that keeps the movie from getting too heavy. It makes sure that everything stays fun and solidly in the adventure movie category as opposed to turning into something full of pain and misery.
That’s not to say that it’s a completely lighthearted romp. It isn’t. There’s definitely some dark subject matter at play surrounding the ideas of brotherhood, responsibility, and family legacy. The very first concept introduced is that in war, you aren’t fighting for your country or for honor or for glory, but rather for your mates, for the men standing beside you. They are more important than anything else. Everything you do needs to be for them. To protect them. To help them.
While the movie is only 87 minutes, it still devotes 20 of them to our characters at basic training before they get anywhere near the ocean. It’s mainly used to set up our two main relationships going forward: the brotherly bond between Leo and Will and the antagonistic rivalry between Leo and Des.
The acting for everyone is strong across the board, but I especially want to highlight Mark Coles Smith and Sam Delich as Leo and Des respectively. Smith has a very solid, calm screen presence that made me instantly buy into anything that he did. I fully believed in Leo’s competency. He is exactly who I would want next to me in a foxhole. Or if we were stranded in the ocean with a hungry shark.
Delich looked like he was having a great time, and he had to hit a lot of different emotions. He earned my sympathy while still remaining a racist, selfish prick that never went into caricature. He still felt real and grounded.
Their fight in the river was a really great display of their contrasting personalities and styles. Just really well done all around.
If I had any complaints, it’s in the places where the small budget became most apparent. The heavy fog bank was atmospheric, but at some point it just became clear that it was there to hide the fact that they’re in a tank somewhere. The final act also ran out of steam. While cool in theory, it felt a little random and out of place compared to how focused things had been previously.
But those are all very minor. Beast of War is an excellent shark attack movie. I wouldn’t be surprised if it winds up at the top of my rankings on Labor Day.
Random Thoughts
Drowning in a mud pit? New fear unlocked.
I didn’t realize that fog could last for days without burning off or otherwise dissipating. Yet another reason why the open ocean is terrifying.
The bioluminescence scene was very pretty. Tense too, but mainly pretty.
There is one scene involving urine as a source of hydration that made me gag multiple times.
Just like in Fear Below, there are a handful of period-typical racial slurs.
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An Honest Fangirl loves video games, horror movies, and superheroes, and occasionally watches far too many shark movies.
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