Beast of War

I really dug into Beast of War and felt that raw edge of wartime fear right from the boot camp scenes, where the young soldiers' nerves and sweat made their vulnerability hit home hard-it captured that post-enlistment haze so authentically, leaving me tense and empathetic. The survival kicks in brutally after the ship sinks, blending WWII peril with heart-pounding shark attacks that had me gripping my seat, thrilled by the desperate raft fights and oceanic dread. Sure, the ending felt too predictable and cliched, pulling me out of the immersion a bit, but overall, I see it as a solid, rewatchable gem that nails gritty horror with heart-7/10 for keeping me hooked on those primal stakes.

I admit I'm a sucker for survival films that rise above their budget, and Beast of War is one of them.

The story follows a group of soldiers crossing the high seas when their vessel is attacked by enemy planes. Stranded on makeshift rafts, they face hunger, thirst, and threats from both the sky and the ocean, including a lurking creature with far too many teeth. As the days drag on, paranoia and conflict begin to tear the group apart, turning survival into both a physical and psychological battle.

For a film set mostly in one location, the pacing stays tight and engaging. The cast is solid, the tension well maintained, and the cinematography, particularly the lighting, keeps the confined setting visually dynamic and atmospheric.

It's not perfect. The low budget occasionally shows, and there are a few questionable choices along the way, but overall this is a well-crafted and gripping survival horror thriller.

7 out of 10.

This is not great movie. Dialogue is poor and acting is standard. This is obviously a production with a modest budget and it is painfully clear that the shots at 'sea' were actually shot in a studio pool somewhere. However.... I will always give kudos to film makers who employ practical effects. I am always more willing to suspend my disbelief when production have gone to these efforts.

The shark looks decent. Gnarly, frightening and not completely unrealistic. Most of the shots of the shark are in slow motion and I don't blame them for that. This shark obviously took a huge part of the budget and let's face it, is the main reason anyone is watching so why not rinse those scenes.

It's not got too much else going for it but there aren't a whole lot of great shark movies after all. There's a bit of standard character play; a hero carrying past trauma, a douche bag with a redemption. Nothing really to surprise anyone.

All that said, I'd much rather a mid movie with a practical shark than a mid movie with a CGI shark.

Straight after leaving boot camp, a group of Australian soldiers traveling on a submarine is hit by explosives. Survivors scramble aboard a raft but face a desperate battle to stay alive as a great white shark senses blood.

It's going to get rinsed; that's obvious, but for what it's worth, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Compared to the vast majority of shark films, this one was pretty decent.

It has several tense moments and lots of shark action. It's quite a bloodthirsty movie; that shark is one hungry mama. It features a good mix of characters, and the acting is good. Mark Coles Smith was the standout, I thought.

It has a B-movie vibe, but it's fairly well made. Sensibly, the production team opted to keep actual shots of the shark to a minimum; we get some dimly lit shots of it, plus a few decent close-ups.

Don't get me wrong; it's flawed and patchy here and there, but overall, it's worth seeing, if like me you love shark movies, you'll know how bad most are, give this one a chance.

7/10.

No real character development. We get some basic background on exactly one and only one character. The story is bland and rather pointless. We are introduced to nurses for no reason. We see our main character home is breathe for a long time, never comes in handy later.

I can ignore the inaccurate shark attacks. Wrong specifies for ten area. Not realistic behavior. At this point, this is just a movie thing. None of them get it right, nor even try.

It's convient that the only people who survive the boat sinking are a handful of people who we coincidentally all saw trained together. They can't even be bothered to do anything interesting there. Throw in a random new guy? Nah!

And a movie can still be fun despite all of that but that's not the case here, at all. It is simply not an interesting or compelling story.