MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS (2009). Director: Jack Perez.
Oceanologist Emma MacNeil (Deborah Gibson), paleontologist Lamar Sanders (Sean Lawlor), scientist Dr. Shimada (Vic Chao), and smirking official-type Allan Baxter (Lorenzo Lamas) team up to stop the menace of two humongous prehistoric sea monsters: a shark of massive size and an octopus that's just as big. Typical of direct-to-video monster flicks that wind up on Syfy, this picture is a lot of talk, talk, talk and you hardly ever see the monsters (and they're none too impressive when you do). The group uses pheromones to attract the beasts to a specific area, and the two begin a lacklustre battle. Emma and Dr. Shimada have a romance. Oh, and there's a lot more talk. The cast is rather appealing in its way, but the monsters are a real let-down. A few years ago Lorenzo Lamas appeared as a panelist on a really dumb show where people were judged as to their sex appeal, and he got to tell guys who were much more attractive than he was that they "weren't hot." That was probably the nadir of Lamas' career until Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus came along.
Verdict: Watch It Came from Beneath the Sea instead. *.
Oceanologist Emma MacNeil (Deborah Gibson), paleontologist Lamar Sanders (Sean Lawlor), scientist Dr. Shimada (Vic Chao), and smirking official-type Allan Baxter (Lorenzo Lamas) team up to stop the menace of two humongous prehistoric sea monsters: a shark of massive size and an octopus that's just as big. Typical of direct-to-video monster flicks that wind up on Syfy, this picture is a lot of talk, talk, talk and you hardly ever see the monsters (and they're none too impressive when you do). The group uses pheromones to attract the beasts to a specific area, and the two begin a lacklustre battle. Emma and Dr. Shimada have a romance. Oh, and there's a lot more talk. The cast is rather appealing in its way, but the monsters are a real let-down. A few years ago Lorenzo Lamas appeared as a panelist on a really dumb show where people were judged as to their sex appeal, and he got to tell guys who were much more attractive than he was that they "weren't hot." That was probably the nadir of Lamas' career until Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus came along.
Verdict: Watch It Came from Beneath the Sea instead. *.
Movies made by "The Asylum" are by and large dreadful, but by golly they get distribution.
ReplyDeleteLately Asylum is almost synonymous with "a Syfy Original", which is not a good thing, but I've also noticed that they aren't taking themselves as seriously, almost as though they are playing to the cheesy CGI in a smirking way, and really, it's working.
I can watch just about any awful movie, but some of their stuff is pretty hard to stomach, the earlier "Giant This vs Giant That" are especially bad, but with the lighter scripts they are producing the stomach cramps are abating.
I spare myself the agony now by avoiding Syfy mnovies -- life is just too short, LOL!
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