GREAT WHITE

Australia/US, 2021, 91 minutes, Colour.

Katrina Bowden, Aaron Jakubenko, Kimie Tsukakoshi, Tim Kano, Te Kohe Tuhaka.

Directed by Martin Wilson.

Another film about sharks. One of the difficulties of making a film in this vein is that the 1975 Steven Spielberg film, Jaws, is the archetype of such shark dramas. There have been many since but tend to be rather ordinary, routine in their storytelling, smaller budgets, short running time  – but for some an entertainment in the cinema or, especially, on television or streaming services.

This film was made in and around the coast north of Brisbane and the scenery is quite spectacular.

The plot is fairly straightforward. There is an introduction with a happy couple swimming in the water, taking selfies, the man suddenly taken by the shark, the woman frantically swimming towards their yacht, and then her being taken.

The audience is then introduced to the central couple, Charlie and Kaz, she announcing she is pregnant, they running a business with a small plane and tours. They get a booking, a woman, Michelle, from Japan whose grandfather turns out to be the only survivor of a shipwreck out from the shore, and her analyst husband who is fearful and quite obnoxious!

The couple charter the plane and the associate cook goes along for the ride, taunting the analyst, who is particularly critical. When the young woman goes to scatter her grandfather’s ashes, they come across the body of the man taken by the shark. They decide then that they should search for the yacht in case the woman is still alive. They discover the yacht. She is dead.

But, then the shark, eventually two sharks, attack, sink the plane, and the rest of the film is the five on the raft, shark attacks, bickering, rowing, going with the tide, the analyst angry with the cook and shoving him, the cook falling overboard, taken by the shark. In such screenplays, there is also retribution and the analyst himself eventually is taken.

Charlie has memories of being bitten by a shark, has a scar to match. He also has some flashbacks. However, ultimately, he goes into the water to lure the shark away so that the two women will be saved. They also have quite some heroics, Kaz going overboard to lure the shark into the shipwreck and kill it, but with Michelle coming to fight with her.

One might describe the film as ordinary – too ordinary for some, but a pastime shark entertainment for many.