Alexandre Aja's second creature feature is a much more serious affair than the tongue-in-cheek Piranha 3D.
Kaya Scodelario - Hayley
Barry Pepper - Dave
Summary
During the devastation of a Category 5 hurricane, Hayley returns to flooded home and finds her injured father Dave unconscious in the basement.
Upon dragging pops to safety, a vicious alligator suddenly appears.
If that wasn't bad enough, reptile's got a few friends.
The battle for survival begins.
Plenty of bite
Commercially at least, I imagine this will be moderately successful, but disaster horror is certainly more impressive than you'd think.
Self-contained premise is remarkably similar to Bait (2012).
Hurricane rather than tsunami and gators instead of sharks?
(Pulls face).
Anyway, CG for both reptiles and storm convinces, performances are good, and action sequences deliver suspense and visceral gore.
I did worry that 'estranged daughter inevitably making up with father' would overwhelm matters, but good old-fashioned tension fest finds the right balance.
Minor characters are here only for gator chow and although performances from leads are good, we don't particularly care if they live or die.
For the record, both survive.
Dave says: "We are gonna beat these pea-brained lizard shits."
Ha ha ha!
I'm reliably informed houses with basements in Florida are rarer than rocking horse shit, as ground is mostly sand.
Accomplished swimmer or not, there is no way on God's fucking earth that Hayley (or any human being for that matter), could outswim a gator.
Kaya Scodelario - Hayley
Barry Pepper - Dave
Summary
During the devastation of a Category 5 hurricane, Hayley returns to flooded home and finds her injured father Dave unconscious in the basement.
Upon dragging pops to safety, a vicious alligator suddenly appears.
If that wasn't bad enough, reptile's got a few friends.
The battle for survival begins.
Plenty of bite
Commercially at least, I imagine this will be moderately successful, but disaster horror is certainly more impressive than you'd think.
Self-contained premise is remarkably similar to Bait (2012).
Hurricane rather than tsunami and gators instead of sharks?
(Pulls face).
Anyway, CG for both reptiles and storm convinces, performances are good, and action sequences deliver suspense and visceral gore.
I did worry that 'estranged daughter inevitably making up with father' would overwhelm matters, but good old-fashioned tension fest finds the right balance.
Minor characters are here only for gator chow and although performances from leads are good, we don't particularly care if they live or die.
For the record, both survive.
Dave says: "We are gonna beat these pea-brained lizard shits."
Ha ha ha!
I'm reliably informed houses with basements in Florida are rarer than rocking horse shit, as ground is mostly sand.
Accomplished swimmer or not, there is no way on God's fucking earth that Hayley (or any human being for that matter), could outswim a gator.
