Bull Shark

That title would probably go to the other 2022 shark movie The Requin. Bull Shark seems to be in a competition to top it but just falls short. One can also consider the newly released Beneath the Surface.

The directing here isn't the worst there is but everything about the movie is unfortunately dampened by a hackneyed and poorly developed script that spends most of its time ignoring the threat of the shark to focus on the story of a struggling alcoholic, which could be compelling if it wasn't instead so sloppy. One decent performance might have saved this movie, making it salvageable at least, but try as I might I can't find one to point out.

Schizophrenic cinematography is on display with plenty of pleasing moments for the eye followed with so many others that look like they were done by film students that I wonder if they were shot by the same person. Some decent visual effects on what was obviously a low budget saved this from being a 1, even though the shark we see on screen is a Great White instead of the Bull Shark that the title and characters indicate.

A movie about a Bull Shark let loose in a Texas lake could have been great. Unfortunately it wasn't left in capable hands. Hopefully somebody else may come along and attempt to right the wrongs.

After a series of strange attacks, the sheriff and game-warden at a small-town lake community slowly realize the stories about a killer bull shark living in the area are true and set out to corral the shark from attacking the community while trying to keep it quiet from the public.

This was a rather problematic indie shark movie. Among the few things this gets right is the generally fun series of attacks here that manage to overcome the low-budget indie setup in place. The initial attacks with the swimmers in the lake, including those that get dragged underwater and chomped on, generate some decent enough sequences to get an idea of what they're dealing with. The realism of the scenes featuring the shark just coming up and chomping on victims in a normal, grounded setting is quite fun that goes hand-in-hand with the equally grounded encounters trying to kill it. Relying on the more realistic nature of keeping the hunters in realistic boats and not going overboard with the stunt-work and action which is a nice touch that gives this some likable features. It's not that much but it keeps this one going somewhat. There are a few issues with this one. One of the main drawbacks here is the rather uninvolved setup that takes quite a while to get to anything interesting due to a flurry of cliches and formulaic setups. The focus on the family squabbling through a divorce due to his drunken habits, or alcoholism that's led to the divorce makes for a troubling start here filled with uninviting and cliched setups with family drama to start the film. The different forms of trouble found at the office, with the different offices attempting his contact him or going through the motions of contacting him for their own means manages to drag this one down even further into a slough that's rather hard to overcome since hardly any of these tie into the other storylines at play with a disjointed appearance. That doesn't take into account the fact that a majority of the story is so disjointed and chaotic that it's somewhat difficult to stay invested. Not only is this beginning tough to get into, but the secondary storylines involving the family strife and cover-ups that try to hide the shark's existence are also equally uninteresting and just fuel cliched setups that affect the pacing. As well, that also doesn't take into account the usual tropes surrounding this one including the highly underwhelming special effects at play. The shark is shown in a rather intriguing anatomically-accurate-yet-obviously-CGI setup that manages to make the shark look quite goofy and cheesy as a result since the focus on continuing the highly aggravating tactics of featuring it looks cheap. Not fitting into the environments, looking out of place due to the insertion into different settings and the ever-prominent dimension changes that take place which keeps it looking pretty underwhelming. Since there's not much in the way of practical effects here or even blood and gore featured here, this all helps to make it feel somewhat underwhelming.

Rated Unrated/R: Language and Violence.

I've seen a few reviews about how unrealistic it is about sharks living in freshwater lakes. There have been sightings and attacks in the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, Trinity River. Lakes in Louisiana and California. So that part is probably the only true and good thing about this film. The public needs to be educated, but since this movie is more an SNL Jaws parody (without the comedic approach) they really dropped the ball. And really, it's not even about sharks. It's about a small Texas town with corrupt political figures and a game warden struggling with alcoholism, divorce and being a bad father. The sharks have small guest appearances a couple times and then some plastic fins a few other times. Nope. No thanks.

*The people behind this film have a funny stereotype of Texas. But seriously dude, we're not a bunch of beer drinking till we fall over drunk people.*

A game warden who answers to a county sheriff and a local mayor? Haha!

Not the worst rip off of "Jaws" that I've ever seen, but still not good.

At least they got the whole, bull sharks can live in fresh water, correct.

Well what did you expect from a movie on Tubi called Bull Shark? Oscar winning special effects? Pacino level acting? Don't leave a negative review saying how horribly bad this movie is if you sat through the whole thing. Couldn't have been that bad if you did watch it all. Is it bad? Yes. Is it horrible? No. You get what you pay for, and since it plays on Tubi don't complain.