Latest news with #DangerousAnimals'
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
Movie Review: Sharks aren't the scariest thing in the sea-bound, super thriller ‘Dangerous Animals'
As if a movie about sharks wasn't scary enough, the filmmakers behind 'Dangerous Animals' have upped the screams by adding what every thriller needs — a serial killer. While that may sound like very dangerous moviemaking, the result is actually taut and well crafted, a worthy birthday present to 'Jaws,' celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. 'Dangerous Animals' stars Jai Courtney as an Australian boat captain who likes feeding his female customers to sharks and videotaping it, while also offering little brainy speeches about the nature of makos, mosquitos or sailfish while toying with his prey. He meets what seems like his match in Hassie Harrison's Zephyr, an American antisocial surf queen who lives in a van and refuses to be tied down. 'There was nothing for me on land,' she says. She's kind of a handful for any serial killer, For instance, she can pick locks with the underwire from a bikini top. Nick Lepard's screenplay is muscular and satisfying, with nods to 'Jaws,' of course, but also to 'Point Break,' 'Hannibal' and even the song 'Baby Shark.' He says he was inspired to write 'Dangerous Animals' by seeing a surfboard bag and imagining it carrying a body, which says something about how Lepard's mind works, though we're not judging. Director Sean Byrnes has a super ability to build dread and his scenes are crisp without being exploitative. The movie was shot on Queensland's Gold Coast, but may take a bite out of the region's shark cage diving fleets. I'm looking twice even before taking showers now. Zephyr and the serial killer play an engaging game of chess for most of the movie, if by chess is meant she's fighting to stay alive by wriggling out of handcuffs and running or swimming away and he's determined for her to be shark food. 'Oh, you're a fighter. I love fighters. It makes for a better show,' he says, biting into the scenery almost as viciously as the sharks chomp on chum. He also does that thing that all serial killers do — saying he and his victim are similar. 'You're hard as nails. Like me. You and me, we're sharks,' he tells her. She tells him to stop talking so much and calls him ocean scum. The music department has a fun wink with the soundtrack. One scene uses Steve Wright's 'Evie (Part One)' — in which the singer begs his love to let her hair hang down — as the serial killer makes mementos out of his victims' hair. Another moment, astonishingly, plays Etta James' 'At Last,' the ultimate wedding song, just as the bad guy finally captures his quarry inches from rescue. The setting of a boat in the middle of the Coral Sea unlocks a delicious new home for terror. Sealable hatches and no one for miles means screaming is no good. And the serial killer has weaponized Vegemite. One thing Zephyr has up her sleeve is a boy, smitten after a meet-cute in which she tries to shoplift ice cream. He's played by the hunky Josh Heuston and they're perfect for each other but she resists until she's snatched by our nasty boat captain. But even though she blew him off, her boy is suspicious about her disappearance and is on the hunt. 'Dangerous Animals,' thankfully, doesn't try to be more than it is, although the quite beautiful images of sharks sliding through the ocean show, naturally, that we are the species that inspired the title. After all, sharks don't see a surfboard bag and wonder if they can put a body in it. 'Dangerous Animals,' an IFC Films release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong, bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use.' Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
2 days ago
- Entertainment
Movie Review: Sharks aren't the scariest thing in the sea-bound, super thriller 'Dangerous Animals'
As if a movie about sharks wasn't scary enough, the filmmakers behind 'Dangerous Animals' have upped the screams by adding what every thriller needs — a serial killer. While that may sound like very dangerous moviemaking, the result is actually taut and well crafted, a worthy birthday present to 'Jaws,' celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. 'Dangerous Animals' stars Jai Courtney as an Australian boat captain who likes feeding his female customers to sharks and videotaping it, while also offering little brainy speeches about the nature of makos, mosquitos or sailfish while toying with his prey. He meets what seems like his match in Hassie Harrison's Zephyr, an American antisocial surf queen who lives in a van and refuses to be tied down. 'There was nothing for me on land,' she says. She's kind of a handful for any serial killer, For instance, she can pick locks with the underwire from a bikini top. Nick Lepard's screenplay is muscular and satisfying, with nods to 'Jaws,' of course, but also to 'Point Break,' 'Hannibal' and even the song 'Baby Shark.' He says he was inspired to write 'Dangerous Animals' by seeing a surfboard bag and imagining it carrying a body, which says something about how Lepard's mind works, though we're not judging. Director Sean Byrnes has a super ability to build dread and his scenes are crisp without being exploitative. The movie was shot on Queensland's Gold Coast, but may take a bite out of the region's shark cage diving fleets. I'm looking twice even before taking showers now. Zephyr and the serial killer play an engaging game of chess for most of the movie, if by chess is meant she's fighting to stay alive by wriggling out of handcuffs and running or swimming away and he's determined for her to be shark food. 'Oh, you're a fighter. I love fighters. It makes for a better show,' he says, biting into the scenery almost as viciously as the sharks chomp on chum. He also does that thing that all serial killers do — saying he and his victim are similar. 'You're hard as nails. Like me. You and me, we're sharks,' he tells her. She tells him to stop talking so much and calls him ocean scum. The music department has a fun wink with the soundtrack. One scene uses Steve Wright's 'Evie (Part One)' — in which the singer begs his love to let her hair hang down — as the serial killer makes mementos out of his victims' hair. Another moment, astonishingly, plays Etta James' 'At Last,' the ultimate wedding song, just as the bad guy finally captures his quarry inches from rescue. The setting of a boat in the middle of the Coral Sea unlocks a delicious new home for terror. Sealable hatches and no one for miles means screaming is no good. And the serial killer has weaponized Vegemite. One thing Zephyr has up her sleeve is a boy, smitten after a meet-cute in which she tries to shoplift ice cream. He's played by the hunky Josh Heuston and they're perfect for each other but she resists until she's snatched by our nasty boat captain. But even though she blew him off, her boy is suspicious about her disappearance and is on the hunt. 'Dangerous Animals,' thankfully, doesn't try to be more than it is, although the quite beautiful images of sharks sliding through the ocean show, naturally, that we are the species that inspired the title. After all, sharks don't see a surfboard bag and wonder if they can put a body in it. 'Dangerous Animals,' an IFC Films release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong, bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use.' Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Movie Review: Sharks aren't the scariest thing in the sea-bound, super thriller 'Dangerous Animals'
As if a movie about sharks wasn't scary enough, the filmmakers behind 'Dangerous Animals' have upped the screams by adding what every thriller needs — a serial killer. While that may sound like very dangerous moviemaking, the result is actually taut and well crafted, a worthy birthday present to 'Jaws,' celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. 'Dangerous Animals' stars Jai Courtney as an Australian boat captain who likes feeding his female customers to sharks and videotaping it, while also offering little brainy speeches about the nature of makos, mosquitos or sailfish while toying with his prey. He meets what seems like his match in Hassie Harrison's Zephyr, an American antisocial surf queen who lives in a van and refuses to be tied down. 'There was nothing for me on land,' she says. She's kind of a handful for any serial killer, For instance, she can pick locks with the underwire from a bikini top. Nick Lepard's screenplay is muscular and satisfying, with nods to 'Jaws,' of course, but also to 'Point Break,' 'Hannibal' and even the song 'Baby Shark.' He says he was inspired to write 'Dangerous Animals' by seeing a surfboard bag and imagining it carrying a body, which says something about how Lepard's mind works, though we're not judging. Director Sean Byrnes has a super ability to build dread and his scenes are crisp without being exploitative. The movie was shot on Queensland's Gold Coast, but may take a bite out of the region's shark cage diving fleets. I'm looking twice even before taking showers now. Zephyr and the serial killer play an engaging game of chess for most of the movie, if by chess is meant she's fighting to stay alive by wriggling out of handcuffs and running or swimming away and he's determined for her to be shark food. 'Oh, you're a fighter. I love fighters. It makes for a better show,' he says, biting into the scenery almost as viciously as the sharks chomp on chum. He also does that thing that all serial killers do — saying he and his victim are similar. 'You're hard as nails. Like me. You and me, we're sharks,' he tells her. She tells him to stop talking so much and calls him ocean scum. The music department has a fun wink with the soundtrack. One scene uses Steve Wright's 'Evie (Part One)' — in which the singer begs his love to let her hair hang down — as the serial killer makes mementos out of his victims' hair. Another moment, astonishingly, plays Etta James' 'At Last,' the ultimate wedding song, just as the bad guy finally captures his quarry inches from rescue. The setting of a boat in the middle of the Coral Sea unlocks a delicious new home for terror. Sealable hatches and no one for miles means screaming is no good. And the serial killer has weaponized Vegemite. One thing Zephyr has up her sleeve is a boy, smitten after a meet-cute in which she tries to shoplift ice cream. He's played by the hunky Josh Heuston and they're perfect for each other but she resists until she's snatched by our nasty boat captain. But even though she blew him off, her boy is suspicious about her disappearance and is on the hunt. 'Dangerous Animals,' thankfully, doesn't try to be more than it is, although the quite beautiful images of sharks sliding through the ocean show, naturally, that we are the species that inspired the title. After all, sharks don't see a surfboard bag and wonder if they can put a body in it. 'Dangerous Animals,' an IFC Films release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong, bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use.' Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review: Sharks aren't the scariest thing in the sea-bound, super thriller 'Dangerous Animals'
As if a movie about sharks wasn't scary enough, the filmmakers behind 'Dangerous Animals' have upped the screams by adding what every thriller needs — a serial killer. While that may sound like very dangerous moviemaking, the result is actually taut and well crafted, a worthy birthday present to 'Jaws,' celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. 'Dangerous Animals' stars Jai Courtney as an Australian boat captain who likes feeding his female customers to sharks and videotaping it, while also offering little brainy speeches about the nature of makos, mosquitos or sailfish while toying with his prey. He meets what seems like his match in Hassie Harrison's Zephyr, an American antisocial surf queen who lives in a van and refuses to be tied down. 'There was nothing for me on land,' she says. She's kind of a handful for any serial killer, For instance, she can pick locks with the underwire from a bikini top. Nick Lepard's screenplay is muscular and satisfying, with nods to 'Jaws,' of course, but also to 'Point Break,' 'Hannibal' and even the song 'Baby Shark.' He says he was inspired to write 'Dangerous Animals' by seeing a surfboard bag and imagining it carrying a body, which says something about how Lepard's mind works, though we're not judging. Director Sean Byrnes has a super ability to build dread and his scenes are crisp without being exploitative. The movie was shot on Queensland's Gold Coast, but may take a bite out of the region's shark cage diving fleets. I'm looking twice even before taking showers now. Zephyr and the serial killer play an engaging game of chess for most of the movie, if by chess is meant she's fighting to stay alive by wriggling out of handcuffs and running or swimming away and he's determined for her to be shark food. 'Oh, you're a fighter. I love fighters. It makes for a better show,' he says, biting into the scenery almost as viciously as the sharks chomp on chum. He also does that thing that all serial killers do — saying he and his victim are similar. 'You're hard as nails. Like me. You and me, we're sharks,' he tells her. She tells him to stop talking so much and calls him ocean scum. The music department has a fun wink with the soundtrack. One scene uses Steve Wright's 'Evie (Part One)' — in which the singer begs his love to let her hair hang down — as the serial killer makes mementos out of his victims' hair. Another moment, astonishingly, plays Etta James' 'At Last,' the ultimate wedding song, just as the bad guy finally captures his quarry inches from rescue. The setting of a boat in the middle of the Coral Sea unlocks a delicious new home for terror. Sealable hatches and no one for miles means screaming is no good. And the serial killer has weaponized Vegemite. One thing Zephyr has up her sleeve is a boy, smitten after a meet-cute in which she tries to shoplift ice cream. He's played by the hunky Josh Heuston and they're perfect for each other but she resists until she's snatched by our nasty boat captain. But even though she blew him off, her boy is suspicious about her disappearance and is on the hunt. 'Dangerous Animals,' thankfully, doesn't try to be more than it is, although the quite beautiful images of sharks sliding through the ocean show, naturally, that we are the species that inspired the title. After all, sharks don't see a surfboard bag and wonder if they can put a body in it. 'Dangerous Animals,' an IFC Films release in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong, bloody violent content, grisly images, sexuality, language and brief drug use.' Running time: 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: ‘Dangerous Animals' sets new standard for survival thrillers
As suspense thrillers go, 'Dangerous Animals' is as uncompromising as it gets. It doesn't aspire to much, but it's well-acted and well-written, looks great and full of surprises. Over and over, and in the best way, it's pure torture to watch. I screened it at home and, at one point, I had to force myself not to run out of the room. But even if, at times, you feel tempted to flee 'Dangerous Animals' like I did, you may find yourself invested enough to stick with it. A curtain raiser introduces us to the villain, Bruce (Jai Courtney), a burly bearded fellow who appears to be genial — if you don't look into his cold, skewed eyes. He's a maniac with a very particular sexual fetish involving feeding people to sharks, particularly women. In a pinch, he'll settle for a guy, but women are his favorite. Next, we meet Hassie Harrison as Zephyr, an American surfer, temporarily living in Australia so she can experience the waves there. She is rootless and unconnected, a free spirit, which makes her interesting but also vulnerable. She's the kind of woman that serial killers have been going after since the Jack the Ripper days, because she could disappear without anyone knowing it. 'Dangerous Animals' is often terrifying. The vast bulk of it consists of Zephyr being held prisoner on a psychopath's boat, trying to figure out how to outsmart and overpower an experienced murderer who is twice her weight. Some viewers will already be familiar with Harrison from her role as Laramie on the hit Western drama 'Yellowstone,' but 'Dangerous Animals' marked the first time I'd seen her, and I was impressed. The essential quality that Harrison has to convey here is a powerful survival instinct. She has to make you accept that Zephyr is willing to go to almost unimaginable extremes, and Harrison succeeds in doing that. She plays a woman whose commitment to survival is beyond jaw-dropping, and yet Harrison keeps her choices grounded and human. There's a scene late in the film, in which Harrison does the coolest and most extreme thing I've seen in a thriller since Bruce Willis shot himself through his own shoulder in order to kill the guy standing behind him in ' Live Free or Die Hard ' (2007). For 18 years, that was the ultimate benchmark of action-hero intensity, but now Harrison has him beat. The script by Nick Lepard is first-rate, if you keep in mind the kind of script a movie like this needs. It's not about witty repartee. The deft Lepard must devise a series of surprising, escalating, maddeningly frustrating, shockingly outlandish and yet strangely believable incidents. This is a variety of good writing that gets no respect, except the respect that's implicit in a rapt audience. Director Sean Byrne and cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe give 'Dangerous Animals' a welcome and unexpected look that's pretty. The ocean is crystalline, and the sky is bright and blue with puffy white clouds. Even the death boat is attractive with its red, yellow and blue against a blue sea. We get the idea. Rather than taking place in a world where evil occurrences seem inevitable, 'Dangerous Animals' takes place in a world where evil isn't expected — thus making it easier for lunatics like Bruce to operate under the radar. In that way, the filmmakers keep reminding us of the agonizing fact that, aside from all the horror Zephyr is experiencing, it's otherwise a very lovely day.
