Great White
ALTITUDEIncluded in what feels like the year of monster movies, Great White offered hopes of an intimate horror that did not overly set its sights on the shark, but the question on the human morality. The result is not quite what was expected, but for creature features and fans of B-Movie horrors, Martin Wilson's feature might just do the trick.
For starters, any cinematic entity that even entertains the idea of a shark is likely to be compared to Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece Jaws. Equally as harsh towards this feature is that the central cinematic character has been brought into the blockbuster territory with the Jason Statham vehicle The Meg. The bar is relatively high, so are the love and interest from audiences. Great White is as passive as you can imagine for a creature feature: little blood, little character development, little skill in front of the camera, and amazingly only a sprinkle of genre conventions. It is surprising all-around just how flat and non-eventful director Martin Wilson's film truly is.
First and foremost, this is a feature that is clearly on a budget, and that might be a detriment on the surface for audiences expecting a horror romp. However, it is in fact a blessing for a low-budget horror film to limit set pieces, which increases tension and drama and heightens character development. Nevertheless, even with the ironic freedom of limitations, Great White is unabashedly tame. Wilson uses the camera from afar with his obtuse CGI creatures incorporated in quite attractive footage caught by underwater cinematographer Mark Broadbent. In the same breath, he utilises close-ups on his five central characters. It is a wise decision to pull in the internalised anxiety and atmosphere of the latter combined with the craft tension and fear of the unknown of the former.
Nevertheless, the issues that arise are two-fold. Firstly, the characters and arcs to craft atmosphere and anxiety are impoverished. The writing is consistently derivative and underwhelming, not feeling organic. Equally as poor are the performances themselves. Granted, Michael Boughen's screenplay is never moving or thrilling, both in adventurous peril or character anxiety, but none of the cast list have the power or skill to elevate the material or make even a remotely immersive moment in the events that develop. Secondly, as soon as Wilson shows the sharks in a close-up, the tension and atmosphere drop to be nonexistent. The idea to use restraint and have tension fill the void and create its own fear inside the mind of its audience cannot be replicated. As soon as the creatures appear in all their first-generation computer graphics, the jig is up, never to be recovered.
These two issues are the primary catalyst for the film’s failure. Either major aspect of production to have the audience care and be immersed fails to incite any form of enthusiasm. More disappointing is the fact that Wilson and cinematographer Tony O'Loughlan do a rather admirable job of composition and choice of angles that illustrate good command of the camera. It is just a shame that everything in front of it is bland and underwhelming. The idea here to pump more money into this vehicle is not what is needed, but a more creative and pragmatic mind behind its creation would undoubtedly add wonders to the overall production. Alas, The Shallows or The Meg are enough to fill the void.
