The Last Shark (1982)

Strong and Moving!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A dim witted & entirely shoddy rip-off of JAWS directed by none other than Enzo G. Castellari. To say Castellari, director of many great Italian crime thrillers, is out of his depth here is an understatement. When a 35 foot shark invades the waters off of an unnamed coastal community, James Franciscus & Vic Morrow (as deep sea divers?) attempt to kill it. Franciscus is bland while Morrow is absolutely dreadful...at times brandishing an Italian accent, at other times sounding Irish and then occasionally speaking with zero accent at all. All this and the inane dialog would be forgivable had the shark looked even remotely realistic (it doesn't).

The backstory about The Last Shark is more interesting than about half the film. It was released in 1982, where it was quickly pulled out of theaters after Universal Studios sued because of its striking resemblance to their 1975 blockbuster, Jaws. It's a direct clone. Clearly, Universal was proud to own Jaws and resented this movie for its plagiarism. They had every right, but that doesn't mean this is downright terrible.But it definitely is cheap, uninspired, tame, questionable, and, face it, not too suspenseful. The Last Shark is not only a copy, but an unsuccessful attempt to market off of one of the biggest horror films of all time. This did get a minor cult following, but not because it was good, because it was lame. If anything, this is pretty much a clone of the disastrous Jaws the Revenge. I'm sure Universal would say "by all means" if you were going to remake that. They'd add a "good luck" to that idea as well.The storyline is typical shark film fare. A windsurfer winds up disappearing because a thirty-five foot monster that is the Great White Shark plagues the waters of Port Harbor. The self-centered, idiot mayor wants to keep silent because he fears that this will greatly kill visitors. In walks a shark-novelist (Franciscus) and a grumpy sea-lover (Morrow) who are determined to stop this beast in its tracks.The Last Shark takes about forty minutes to get going, and once it does, it's like a halfway broken light. On, off, flicker, flicker, on for a few seconds, off for a few, on, off, flicker, flicker, blink. In the dark. Some scenes, most notably the one where a scuba-diver goes underwater to stop the shark, are interesting, while others, lack suspense and are simply provided for an odd mix of comedy and horror. The shark itself looks like a blow up doll at a fish enthusiast's ninth birthday party. It's larger than most likely any other shark in the world. Real Great Whites are only between eighteen and twenty-one feet long, and this one, is thirty-five feet. If there is anything that disappoints the most about this film, it's the end. The ending is without a doubt the cheapest, and most ineffective way to end a shark film. I was hoping for an ending like one in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, a very well-done, exciting, worthwhile ending. You don't get that here.Certain things about this amuse me, though. Some underwater shots are very good (when you can see past the dark and gloom), the opening music about "living on cocaine" with people wind-surfing like you are about to watch some cheap, eighties, wind-surfing tutorial, and certain shots of the shark underwater tend to spark the slightest eerie feeling inside you. But ultimately those are only minor perks that still can't make an eighty-eight minute long film suffice to a level of creepy film-making. The Last Shark is a good b-movie film to watch late at night, when you're about 2/3 of the way through a case of Bud Light with some buddies. That's about it.Starring: James Franciscus, Vic Morrow, Micaela Pignatelli, Joshua Sinclai, Giancarlo Prete, and Stefania Girolami Goodwin. Directed by: Enzo G. Castellari.

When it was released, The Last Shark (aka Great White) got quickly pulled from theaters due to threats of a lawsuit from Universal Studios, producers of the Jaws movies. Having seen the film on DVD, I can see why. The writers of The Last Shark basically watched the first two Jaws movies and stole every good scene from them, even going so far as to clone characters.All the main elements from Jaws are here. The gnarled seaman...check. The heroic everyman...check. The corrupt government official who tries to cover up the attacks...check. Even some of the attack scenes mimic specific scenes in Jaws I and II.These things are made worse by the fact that the Italian studio behind this film had nowhere near Spielberg's budget. Consequently, we have an obviously fake shark model that appears every time the shark sticks it's head out of the water, which is quite often. The underwater shots are accomplished by a mixture of stock shark footage and very fake looking stop motion animation.Making things even more ludicrous is that the shark appears to be intelligent, engaging in uncharacteristic shark behavior such as trying to trap people in caves with rocks and using ropes as tow lines. At times, it comes across as a comedy.

Jaws was a classic movie and more importantly in the eyes of people who make movies, it made a lot of cash. This isn't the first film to try to cash in on its success but it's the most blatant and easily the worst.This isn't just a film about a great white shark, it's Jaws remade in nearly every detail, only done really badly and on the cheap. The effects are funny beyond belief. In one scene the shark emerges from the water under a small boat sending the occupant flying up in the air. I nearly choked to death laughing while eating popcorn but that has in no way lowered my score.Really there's no call for this film, I mean you have Jaws which is great or this squalid version. Then again if you appreciate really bad movies then you are sure to love it. It's funny in all the wrong places and the continuity is just awful. I also found it funny that none of the characters are introduced or explained so at one point a girl gets killed and you find out she's related to another character, but that's the first you've heard of it.It's just slapdash and talentless all the way but pretty funny too, you are sure to get a few laughs especially that guy flying out of his boat I'll never forget that gem of a scene. Worth watching just for that.