Low budget shark films generally do not get a good reputation and one can see why. There are a few guilty pleasure ones, like the first two 'Sharknado' films while not considering them great by any stretch. Most are just painfully amateurish with very little to them to set them apart or make them different, other than the odd silly idea not well executed.
The good news is for 'Atomic Shark' is that there are far worse shark films out there (those from SyFy and The Asylum are notorious in this regard) and at least there are redeeming values, even if not many. Something that cannot be said for too many other low-budget shark films, of the shark films seen recently 'Atomic Shark' is actually one of the least bad. The not so good news is that 'Atomic Shark' is still not a good film at all, with a lot wrong with it and the wrong elements are done poorly.
Jeff Fahey and David Faustino do conscientiously reasonable jobs with what they have. Generally, when it comes to low budget shark films the acting is surprisingly competent when it tends in most shark films to be all-round awful.
Scenery is nice and there are times where the shark action is fun to watch.
Unfortunately, that is only sporadic. The shark effects look terrible, even for low budget, and there is not much menace, suspense or fun in the mostly under-utilised and under-characterised shark action.
Much of 'Atomic Shark' is a mess of unintentional humour, awkward dialogue, stilted and mawkish melodrama and bland and annoying character writing (not the actors' fault, it's the writing). Complete with a story that is silly, implausible and essentially your basic more of the same generic low-budget shark film with nothing new.
It's not just the shark effects that look cheap. Excepting the scenery, visually 'Atomic Shark' is very drab and rushed-looking.
Overall, silly and under-cooked. Not unwatchable but easily skip-able. 3/10 Bethany Cox
