Sharks in Venice (2008)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is rubbish. Don't bother with it. A fail in all respects. However, as with many terrible flicks, I note that there are some very high-rating reviews by IMdB members who have viewed/reviewed only ONE or very few films. Here's one review, for example, giving a 10/10 rating, by someone who has rated ONLY this movie, no others: " The first truly epic film of the decade 11 March 2009 by jryan154 " Nonsense! Is that a kid writing? A cast member? A friend of the producers? Please, IMdB, think up some procedure to stop these idiots from posting such crap. Thank you. I advise everyone to avoid this movie. HERE's another member giving this rotten piece of crud 10/10: " pure genius sj29-17 October 2008 " Is there any hope? #

Brought to Italy with news on his father, a man and his girlfriend learn the entire set-up was a ruse by local mafia-heads to assist them in locating priceless artifacts stored in local shark-infested waters and must brave the sharks to rescue her from their clutches.With a lot to like about this one and a couple of minor flaws, this one comes off as a rather impressive entry. One of the best aspects is that the film manages to get a lot of enjoyment out of it's premise, since not only is the Venice location unique enough it offers up plenty of fun times with it. Due to the unique outline of the city and its actual location put to great use here, the set-ups in the streets add a different dimension to it all with a couple of awesome attacks that can only happen in that kind of setting. The attack on the drunken couple walking along the pier or the gondola massacre are scenes that are very hard to realistically pull-off without this kind of situation to be able to handle it, and are highlights of the film. For even more fun we have two extended foot-chases through the unique streets, both featuring lots of different action tactics that make them exciting and a lot of fun. The main reason for this one, though, is the underwater action with the sharks. There's plenty of suspense, as the opening dive and a later one in the same area are just unnerving, chilling and tense being in the darkened, twisting, confusing and unknown tunnels helps, as do the murky waters and occasional bloody shark attack. We get plenty of action as well as several dives are quite interactive with the sharks that serve many nice functions along the way. With an impressive body count here not just from the sharks getting some nice brutal kills as well, these features make the film quite enjoyable. There wasn't a whole lot really wrong with this one. One of the biggest issues with the film is that there's very little to be threatened about from these sharks. Despite displaying the false characteristic of constantly growling, the constant use of stock footage that has already been used in over twenty different films is something to get over. Mixed somewhat nicely into the action, the fact remains that all of these movies feature the same footage over and over so it gets repetitive fast. That it's also mixed somewhat ineffectively with the completely false-looking heads for the attacks is something else entirely. The other flaw to this one is that the film gets really low on shark action for it's middle half. It opens and closes with some good shark action, but it decides on the Mafia subplot for those scenes, and it takes away from the shark story. Beyond an occasional attack, there isn't much mentioned about them, which does deflate the film a tad. These, though, are the film's flaws.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

There are so many factual errors, glaring goofs, moments of technical ineptitude and scenes of sheer idiocy in Shark in Venice that I'm not entirely convinced that this film is a genuinely bad piece of film-making, but rather a deliberate attempt at crapdom carefully crafted to appeal to cult movie fans. It matters not though, 'cos either way it sucks.Stephen Baldwin, he of The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Celebrity Big Brother fame, stars as David Franks, a lecturer in marine biology who unwittingly becomes involved in a Mafia scheme to locate the lost treasure of the Medicis, which supposedly lies hidden somewhere in the waterways of Venice. Unfortunately for Franks, the city's famous canals are now teeming with ravenous Great White sharks, having been filled with the toothy 'watch dogs' by crazy Mafia boss Clemenza (Giacomo Gonnella), who clearly wasn't having one of his better days when he came up with that idea.Those going into this film will probably have a pretty good notion of what to expect given the ultra-naff title and the fact that it's only star is one of the lesser Baldwins (who displays less emotion than the film's sharks), but even then they may find themselves surprised by some of the absolute tosh thrown onto the screen by writer/director Danny Lerner. I'm not even going to try and catalogue all of the daft bits—it would take me far too long to compile a comprehensive list—suffice to say that it's bloody hard to talk underwater with a regulator stuffed in your gob, and a severed leg won't ever grow back, even if you are a Baldwin!

This film started out with so much promise, it is a good idea for what could have been a good film, but it just got worse and worse. The story was full of holes: The treasure not found for centuries is found by the Baldwin character in minutes. ALL the mafia divers seemed to know where it was but for some reason they needed Baldwin to show them the way? The continuity errors are basically the whole film. The bit where the villains chase the Baldwin. Down the same two streets. Over and over and over… The same scenes replayed during the end fight. The mafia guys and their amazing ability to multiply. Baldwin has his leg bitten off then it regrows again The same shot appears at least 3 times to represent people being eaten. No matter how many times he gets hit in the face Baldwin has no marks on him whatsoever. The acting is truly awful although the main bad guy has a good face to play an evil bond villain. I watched this film on DVD and doubt I could even give it away now!