Bait (2012) starring Richard Brancatisano, Xavier Samuel, Chris Betts, Sharni Vinson directed by Kimble Rendall Movie Review

Bait (2012)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Xavier Samuel in Bait (2012)

Take the Bait

Life was good for beach lifeguard Josh (Xavier Samuel), he was engaged to Tina (Sharni Vinson) and her brother Rory (Richard Brancatisano) was his best friend and fellow lifeguard. But then disaster strikes when a shark kills Rory whilst Josh rushes out to try and save him only to be seconds to late. Years later and Josh has taken to working in a supermarket and it is going to be an eventful day in the supermarket as we have shoplifters, cops, sacked staff, robbers, a couple making out and Tina walking in with her new boyfriend. But that is nothing compared to when a gigantic tidal wave engulfs the entire town, flooding the supermarket and bringing a shark with it forcing Josh to face his fears.

"Bait" is a movie of pure joy because you can love it on different levels; from loving the interesting idea of a group of people stuck in a flooded supermarket to loving the bad which is the forced use of CGI to give us the tossed at the camera 3D effects. In fact for anyone who is old enough to watch it "Bait" has something for everyone and you will finish this movie impressed but laughing at the same time.

Sharni Vinson in Bait (2012)

Now whilst we have sharks I would place "Bait" as less "Jaws" and more "Piranha 3D" as it embraces the corny side of things in spectacular fashion. The opening sequence which culminates with Josh just reaching Rory as a shark gets him is ridiculously over the top, just as over the top as a young couple making out in a car in an underground car park and ending trapped in the car as all around floods. Yet these seriously corny scenes are seriously entertaining and when we get to this group being trapped in the supermarket with a shark we also get the amusement of severed limbs and dead bodies bobbing towards the camera in the water.

Now of course we have the outcome of this and along the way some people die but the real emphasis is on how are they going to survive which in truth is genius and ridiculous and not what you might have suspected. But it is an enjoyably daft journey to get there as it is a movie of ridiculous scenes which are all so strangely entertaining.

What this all boils down to is that "Bait" is a lot of fun and a lot of entertainment even though at times some of that entertainment comes from some seriously corny elements. In truth for all the corny aspects there is also some cleverness to it which makes it a lot more interesting although quite gory as well.

Tags: Shark Movies


LATEST REVIEWS