MOVIE REVIEWS: PIRANHA 3D

IN THEATERS

PIRANHA 3D



Haute Tension and Hills Have Eyes director Alexandre Aja pays homage to the films that made him fall in love with the horror genre by helming this comedic remake of director Joe Dante's 1978 Jaws parody. Lake Victoria may look peaceful, but beneath the placid waters of this painterly lake lurks a deadly menace. A powerful underwater tremor has released scores of man-eating prehistoric fish into the waters, and now it's up to a group of unlikely heroes to band together and defeat the razor-toothed predators. With time running out and the aquatic carnivores taking over, one brave heroine (Elisabeth Shue) will risk everything to save the lake and prevent her family from becoming fish food. Richard Dreyfuss, Ving Rhames, Jerry O'Connell, and Adam Scott star in the Dimension Films production. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Alexandre Aja

Cast: Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Jerry O'Connell, Ving Rhames, Jessica Szohr.

Release Date: Aug 20, 2010

Rated: Sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use

Runtime: 1 hr. 29 min.

Genres: Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

Roger Corman’s sole direction when he produced the original B-movie classic Piranha was “More blood...” The low budget original filled that bill capably and while Alexandre Aja’s redux shares little, outside of the titular fish, in common with the original he does keep the spirit of it alive in all its gory goodness. His remake is filled with enough blood, gore and full frontal nudity to appease even the most cynical of horror fans. Aja moves his film at an incredibly fast pace staging some of the larger scenes of carnage with a precise technical eye but never losing the sight of the fun of the entire endeavor. His film is classic B-movie goodness, something that’s become a lost art. He finds that perfect mix of the exploitive, an egregiously long fully nude underwater ballet is a prime example, and visceral excess. Nothing is ever taken very serious, the cast plays it mostly straight with only the slightest of a wink, enough to let you know they are very aware of the kind of film they are making. Elisabeth Shue is given the unenviable job of trying to carry some semblance of a story and she does a fine job while displaying a nicely toned physique. Steven R. McQueen plays a fairly paint by the number goofy kid in love character and is mostly forgettable. Everyone else, from the good natured cameos to porn stars are pretty much cannon fodder for the meat grinder. Once the carnage starts its keeps going till the end but once it ended I could help wondering or maybe wishing that Aja pushed the envelope a little bit further. Perhaps that speaks more to my general blood lust.

B-

The 3D doesn’t make nearly the impression it should and mostly feel unnecessary.