Sommerleigh Pollonais, Horror Head Writer
Plot: To save Paris from a bloodbath, a grieving scientist is forced to face her tragic past when a giant shark appears in the Seine.
Review: Ah shark movies! At this point they've become their very own sub-genre of horror, standing outside of the man-versus-beast or creature features we all know and love. Some are serious explorations of man's destructive nature or fragility in the face of it. Others are bat-crap crazy fun that demand you switch off your intelligence to enjoy. Netflix's Under Paris just says "au diable ce bruit!" and goes after both narratives like a….well, like a hungry shark trapped in the most polluted river in France!
Me ignoring my pile of work
Firstly, going the serious route, the film follows Sophia (Berenice Bejo), a marine biologist and her team as they are tracking a rare mako shark dubbed Lilith who for unknown reasons has grown way beyond her normal size and said team is killed in the process. Three years later Sophia is approached by an environmental activist and truly annoying character named Mika (Lea Leviant) who informs her she has tracked Lillith to the depths of the Siene – something that should be impossible as makos are not freshwater sharks – and Mika wants Sophia's help in freeing Lilith so she can make it back to the ocean. Things begin to veer into the realm of ridiculousness when it turns out the pollution of the waters has not only made the shark larger and deadlier but also capable of reproducing on her own. And with Paris set to host the World Triathlon Championship Sophia is forced to team up with the river police led by the gorgeous Captain Adil (Nassim Lyes) to stop Lillith before it's too late.
I love a good stupid movie, I really do, and when you couple that with some over-the-top shark shenanigans, you're usually in for a good time. For the most part I enjoyed Under Paris, but I think the movie's biggest problem is it doesn't know whether it wants to be a serious study on how negatively humanity has affected nature (the Siene River is one of the most polluted rivers in the world) or just a fun action movie a la The Meg. The first half of the movie wants so badly to be Jaws, you can almost hear the theme music playing every time Sophia has a flashback. But once they go into the catacombs and discover Lilith's nest, things veer into the realm of the ridiculous, admittedly the best aspects of the film.
Fancy meeting you here
The conclusion is also one of the movie's strengths especially considering outside of the Sharknado franchise we don't get to see a lot of sequels for these types of movies. I for one would love to see an Under Paris 2: Electric Boogaloo (sorry couldn't help myself). And for all this film's flaws I found enough of it entertaining to want to dive in a second time around.
Sommer's Score: 6.5 out of 10
Have you seen Under Paris? What did you think of it? And you take a bit out of more shark film content below:
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Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I'll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More
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