Jaws

[Silver Nemesis]

I mean, Brodie vanquished the shark in Jaws by perforating a compressed air tank. The shark's defeat in The Shallows is no more and no less believable than that.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen that moment imitated in movies, TV shows and videogames.

I'm no expert on ballistics, but the consensus seems to be that it would take an extremely powerful armour-piercing weapon to rupture a tank like that. And even if the bullet penetrated the tank, it wouldn't explode.

In Sharknado (2013) the main character pulls off this improbable feat using a handgun! That is of course the only unrealistic moment in that otherwise entirely plausible work of documentary-like cinéma vérité.

Speaking of bad shark movies, here's an extensive rundown of the Jawsploitation trend. It's one endless sea of trash.

[thecolorsblend]

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

I would compare this to The Deep House from the standpoint that both films take place primarily underwater. That gimmick sets both of them apart from their respective subgenres.

As with The Shallows, it would be fair to say that 47 Meters Down: Uncaged doesn't stack up to Jaws. But this is a fun enough thriller in its own right. And the narrative takes full advantage of the fact that the main characters are not experienced divers.

But that sort of leads into my main gripe with the film. Namely, that the type of diving they're shown to do is ridiculously dangerous even for veteran divers who know exactly what they're doing. Me, I don't think I'd have the paired reproductive organs to scuba dive even in open water for very long. And I certainly wouldn't go very deep.

But exploring an underwater maze of caves and manmade structures? No chance in hell. Literally zero.

Although I suppose the counterargument to that would be that if movie characters didn't do suicidaly idiotic things, there wouldn't be any movies at all.

And there's Big Bad CGI Shark. CGI was probably unavoidable. I don't know how else you could do a shark like this. Esp with the film's fuzzy science "they evolved in darkness" explanation. I don't buy it for one minute. But I can at least acknowledge that it's something original. Unbelievable. But original.

Anyway, whatever, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged isn't the greatest thing you'll ever see. I don't even recommend making a special effort to see it. But if you have a chance to see it without going to too much trouble, I don't think fans of shark attack movies will be too put off by it.

[The Joker]

Rare deleted scene featuring Mayor Vaughn solely voting not to fire Chief Martin Brody in JAWS 2.

Despite it being reasonably perceptible that Mayor Vaughn is much more sympathetic/cordial towards Brody than the other Amity Town Council members were in the final film, it's too bad this scene was cut out. Especially in terms of the false perception of Vaughn with some.

[The Joker]