Land Shark


"What's this all about? The sea creature even swims on land. This is quite unscientific!"   - Pang Yu


release year: 2020
genre: giant monster mayhem
viewing setting: home streaming 4/16/23

synopsis: A genetically-modified shark gains the ability to move on land, among other things.

impressions: First things first: this was NOT the 2017 American-made movie with the same name. That was a product similar to Sharkenstein which means it's poorly-made and -executed trash and barely watchable. This movie, on the other hand, was in a whole different league, with decent production values and acting. It comes to us from China (the movie, not the shark) and made me aware that now, apparently, China is making its own Asylum-type giant monster movies. Which is great news - it's like a while second Asylum has appeared to bring us B-grade monster movies! It's time to rejoice, monster movie fans! Anyhow. Despite the bad dubbing and often-corny dialogue, this was entertaining and shared some plot elements with the masterpiece that is Deep Blue Sea. It also had a number of stereotypical characters: the laid-back hero, the quiet but competent female lead, the bumbling and goofy comic relief, the cowardly backstabbing wretch, the evil executive, the annoying child, overly-confident mercenaries. Other notable elements here: the most sinister computer voice ever, a giant underwater room only flooding halfway, inconsistencies with the shark's size, a shark-attracting device known as "the signalizer", the shark destroying a playground, the shark swimming in reverse (both in the water and on land), a brief but highly entertaining rampage through a city, incredible luck for the heroes as they make their final attack against the monster.

acting: Liqin Yu is the main man of action, who has the most experience with the sharks (and any other skills needed to survive, basically.) Tang Yin is the overweight friend who helps out and provides comic relief. Xi Mei-Li is the female scientist. Yang Yong is the evil CEO who wants money, no matter what it takes. I need to add that the acting is hard to measure because of the dubbing, so bear that in mind; either way, I thought the various actors conveyed their lines well with body language, no matter what they actually originally said in Chinese.

final word: Fairly well-made giant monster cheese from China.

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