Where has the 3D Gone in Shark Night's Video Release?: A Movie Review

*spoiler alert.

Director: David R. Ellis.

Writers: Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg (screenplay).

Cast: Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan and Chris Carmack.

If given the choice of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, a guide to these predators of the deep, or Shark Night in 3D, a third option is really required. An IMAX treatment can fare better at exploring the deep than a high budget exploitation of killer sharks. In what the home video release delivers is the lack of 3D. Where’s the splash?

According to multiple sources, this movie is shot in 3D. To not release a proper release is very suspicious. In amidst the fervor by industry to have a 3D television in the homes of entertainment enthusiasts by the end of last year, that penetration feels thinner than a pancake. The demand is only as good as those who want to own a 72” plasma high definition set over a liquid crystal display. The desire by networks to transition over is hardly even sizzling.

The watery grave that set owners of current tech versus available 3D content is so far still a speckled one, glasses be damned. With Shark Night, some of those moments—which also include a shark being able to leap out of the water just to eat a poor hapless human on a jet ski—are strangely enjoyable even though viewers will have to imagine how the 3D will look instead of seeing it.

That’s where having a super large television set will help. Surprisingly, the CGI is not that bad, and the animatronics are even better. As a renter, this movie is a touch enjoyable since audiences are not paying the exuberant prices for 3D on the big screen.

Viewers can focus in on the shenanigans of seven university undergraduates. They are headed to the family vacation home owned by Sara’s (Sara Paxton) parents. As attractive as this co-ed group is, the tale that unfolds is centered on Sara’s run in with an old boyfriend, Dennis (Chris Carmack). He has a pal, Red (Joshua Leonard), that will prove to be important later on. And typical to this genre of B-movie blood fests, the villains prove to be far more interesting than the heroes. Their motivation is simple: they are out to provide killer footage for reality television shows to use.

With a revelation that ties in with Discovery Channel’s program line-up, not even the "Mythbusters" episode debunking the myth of sharks being able to detect blood, human or not, can detract. If this movie only made a stronger statement about how the reality TV genre, or even 3D, is detestable, then just maybe this film could have made a mark. It hardly scrapes here.

In the end, everything, including this video release, in the is just a passing fad.

Overall: 5 out of 10.

More on 3D here:

3D Format at Real or Fake 3D

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