Le Shark

Society is held together (tentatively) by agreed-upon traditions directed by shared rules. When we break such contracts, we risk true chaos. 

All I'm really saying is that when summer hits, it's time to watch a shark movie.

Quick Plot: Jaelyn and her husband Kyle are unwinding on a scenic vacation in Vietnam. They need the break. A few months earlier, tragedy struck when their daughter was born without a heartbeat in a home labor.

Jaelyn's main coping method comes via support on social media, something Kyle avoids at all costs. With minimal cell service in their far away paradise, Jaelyn doesn't have much opportunity to connect with anyone. The charm of history and delicious fruits is starting to wane as the couple settles in for the night in their high-priced floating villa during a tropical storm, only to wake up with their shelter now floating in the middle of the water. 

And as you might guess, phones don't work well in the middle of Vietnamese waters. You know what does? Sharks!

FRENCH sharks.

Let's take a moment to address the stupidity of the title of this movie. I confess, I had no idea what a requin was. I assumed it was a fancy vocabulary word that never came up in SAT prep. So I used my handy full-service internet not in the middle of Vietnamese waters to check. And boy was I mad.

Shark. In French.

I'm sorry, THE (English) SHARK (French). 

My brain hurts and I blame whoever titled this movie. 

I can put that aside to evaluate the actual product, which is...fine. As I've said before, most shark films have severe limitations. Jaws: The Revenge aside, most sharks don't come with traumatic childhoods. They didn't drown while their teenage protectors were having sex, and they generally don't enjoy bowls of chilli while wearing their victims' faces. They move, they hunt, they move again. Virtually every shark tale (maybe even Shark Tale?) has no choice but to feature multiple scenes where puny human stick legs frantically try to swim, music crescendoing, just in time to bump into a raised surface they can climb as the mighty jaws snap just out of reach.

Obviously, that happens in The Requin. It ALWAYS happens in a shark movie, even one that's half French by way of Vietnam by way of Universal Studios, Florida. Writer/director Le-Van Kiet creates some tension with the shipwreck, but the shark action itself never feels that fresh (and that's before the Megalodon 3-esque money shot in the final act). Jaelyn's arc in overcoming her own trauma is more interesting, but I just don't think The Requin ever had the potential to balance a very human story about recovering from a stillbirth with the excitement of CGI shark attacks in a way that truly clicked. Instead, we get some of both, which is perfectly fine for a lazy summer warmup. 

High Points

There's been a refreshing reconsideration of Alicia Silverstone's career recently (at least in the movie circles I find myself in) and The Requin is a nice reminder of how she is, and has always been a star. 

Low Points

One can guess pretty quickly that both members of this marriage are not making it out alive. The problem with Le Shark's execution of this is that it telegraphs Kyle for death so early, then proceeds to give us MULTIPLE teases that by the time he closes his eyes for good, it's a bit hard to care

Lessons Learned

Construction makes you a maniac

IMDB found this point notable, so how can I not:

(and yes, as mentioned earlier, this was filmed in Florida)

Rent/Bury/Buy

Eh. The Requin is probably right in the middle of the pack of upper lower budget shark attack movies. If you're a big Silverstone fan or a shark completist, there's plenty here. But if either of those things don't charm you, it's likely a pass.