THRASH
Starring: Phoebe Dynevor, Whitney Peak, Alyla Browne, Stacy Clausen, Dante Ubaldi, Sami Afuni, Tyler Coppin, Chai Hansen, and Djimon Hounsou
Director: Tommy Wirkola
NICK
Thrash is dumb fun without any of the fun. As someone who has seen their fair share of shark films, I can't recall one with so little... bite. The shark sequences create no real fear or tension, which leaves them often feeling inconsequential to the story. It doesn't help that their prey is a bunch of flat, undeveloped characters. An opening Hurricane scene is entertaining, but somehow writer/director Tommy Wirkola failed to maintain that entertainment once he integrated sharks into the flooded town. You’d think it would be the opposite.
ROBERT
Thrash won’t be able to escape the comparisons with Crawl, no matter how hard it swims against that current. That is unfortunate because, unlike Crawl, this movie doesn’t grab and hold the tension and danger of the ongoing situation, especially during the shark attacks. People are bitten and must escape, and it doesn’t seem like it matters all that much, which speaks to the bad performances. Also, even in a hyper-realistic situation, there are nonsensical decisions made throughout to keep the plot moving, making a dumb movie appear dumber. Much like how the characters had to trudge through flooded streets, this was a slog.
KATIE
Thrash could have been entertaining if it focused on delivering bloody B-movie thrills, but instead, it's unfocused and lacks momentum. The extreme weather is a more imposing and interesting threat than the sharks, which ironically lack any real bite. There’s no sense of tension, and the shark attacks are underwhelming, especially since they’re seen so frequently. The set pieces also disappointingly lack any excitement, and it follows multiple stories, all of which feel underdeveloped and distract from one another. It sometimes leans into its ridiculous premise enough to be funny, but ultimately fails to deliver.
BODE
I don’t ask for much when it comes to creature features. As long as you deliver the mayhem that’s inherent with that genre in a fun manner, I’m satisfied. But with Thrash, writer-director Tommy Wirkola delivers a sharksploitation picture that’s severely lacking in fun, mayhem, and most importantly, sharks. What’s worse is that it spends much of its 86-minute runtime jumping between multiple (frankly, underdeveloped) survival arcs that bafflingly never intersect, which drains the film of whatever momentum it could’ve mustered. With the right execution, Thrash could’ve been the next Crawl. Instead, it sinks like a stone.
