Sous la Seine

Will this movie win any awards? No It was a full of your standard shark movie cliches and the middle drags a little, but I have to admit I was surprised in the last quarter of the film, and even though I was cheering for the shark (there was just too many stupid people waiting to be eaten) I did end up enjoying the film. I love shark movies though, so if you aren't generally into shark movies then this probably won't float your boat.

A lot of action at the beginning and end, lots of blood, heavy dose of environmental message which is very topical. Would I watch it again. Yeah I would. And I'd watch a sequel if that happens too.

As mentioned above, I actually found this film to be quite entertaining. This film is full of typical shark film clichés; stupid characters, ignorant person in power and strange looking CGI. It had some intriguing elements that stacked this film above the rest of shark films, like The Shallows or The Meg. This film feels a little bit more than a simple rehashing of a survival story. The two main characters have to battle a large, complex shark against the backdrop of Paris. No spoilers, but I would definitely recommend that you watch the entire film until the end for the ultimate conclusion. The characters here are forgettable and, once again, most of them fall easily into the stereotypical roles that people in shark films have to in order for the body count to be higher.

Overall, this film was much better than I anticipated it to be, with the middle dragging out until the tension finally starts to ramp up.

The actors are ok, the script is pretty much as bad as any shark movie, but it lacks explanation about why the shark goes to Paris, why has it tripled in size, why it can self reproduce etc... a bit of logic never hurts.

The main focus is actually the Olympic Games in Paris put in the limelight by the lack of preparation from Paris City Hall. Anne Marivin does a good job playing a completely incompetent, dishonest, ruthless, politically driven mayor of Paris that everyone will recognize easily. The only differences are that she's pretty and she can speak French. Shame she doesn't get gulped by the shark.

Ok movie, worth a watch just to break the rhythm of the Netflix TV series.

Starting with the fact that the main premise of the film, sharks in fresh water, is nonsense, the script itself was very empty of content. Like any horror films premises don't make sense and I guess that's okay with the genre? I don't know because I am not a fan of horror movies but I do enjoy suspense and that is what made me watch it in the first place but there was little to no suspense. No plot depth. Not much good to it actually. There are no good dialogues, no good character development and you don't really feel any attachment whatsoever to any of the characters so you don't care what happens to them. If that is not a sample of bad scriptwriting, I don't know what is. The cinematography is also plain and quite insipid... But hey, I enjoyed the lovely views of Paris a lot and that's why I gave it a 4 and not a 1.

You know how there's a whole set of films that's based on stupid people making stupid decisions?

Person 1: DON'T DO IT!

Person 2: *proceeds to do it anyway and gets killed* Audience: SHE TOLD YOU NOT TO DO IT! How dumb are you!?

Those types movies. However, if they're done well, you don't mind the stupidity in it and play along.

I kept reading "If you liked Jaws, you'll enjoy Under Paris." "One of the best Shark films since Jaws" - High praise. So, I had to watch it, despite low scores.

The dumb people in this film don't listen, do dumb things, and get killed. But it's been filmed well; it's intense, the sound design and cinematography keep you engaged. Shark graphics - decent enough. It's got enough going on to keep you engaged, the plot is not boring at all. The ending may have you scratching your head though.

Here's a perspective that I don't think anybody is considering - I don't know the first thing about Shark Biology or marine evolution, but I looked at the 'Sharks' as a metaphor for 'Climate Change' and the plot AND the ending suddenly made so much more sense. That made me feel like the movie was actually better than people are making it out to be.

Either that, or I'm just trying to convince myself that I didn't waste 2 hours watching stupid people make stupid decisions.