Piranha (2010)

Piranha (2010) Dir. by Alexandre Aja

Lake Victoria's annual Spring party by 50,000 young revelers is about to turn into a feeding frenzy with prehistoric hunger-pains. With knee-trembler's above the waves and tremors below, released from their dormant sleep, thousands upon thousands of flesh-eating nippers are released into the lake with whetted appetites and razor-sharp teeth. With a motley crew of strangers thrown together to defend these shores, it is now up to them to prevent the largest eat-out in human, and piranha, history. Written by Cinema_Fan on IMDB.com



Despite it often getting a bad rep, I am still a fan of the original, although I do actually like the sequel better. I have a feeling it is going to be the same way with the reboot. The film starts off by killing an actor used to get people to watch the film. I have seen the ploy happen on multiple occasions and that is fine, but it has trouble keeping a stead pace after that.



I will start out with Alexandre Aja. I don't really know what to think of the guy yet as a director. I absolutely hated High Tension, LOVED the remake of The Hills Have Eyes, and hated Mirrors (although it was a better attempt than High Tension). So all that being said... I didn't really know what to expect from this remake. He did an OK job, and did some really great things with the film, but also flew through the movie so fast y0u can't even concentrate on any sort of plot what so ever. His direction made the film an outline, without any depth. If that was what he was going for than he achieved it.

The acting was pretty much the worst acting I had ever seen, but that was to be expected from a movie of this caliber. The only three people doing anything worthwhile on the screen was Ving Rhames (a short lived performance), Adam Scott (who was decent, but played the same character he always does), and the amazing Elisabeth Shue was... well... amazing as always. The main kid, Steven R. McQueen (Vampire Diaries), doesn't really hold his own, but also wasn't really given a shot working with Jerry O'Connell (who was doing well acting like an idiot, but his overacting is sometimes unbearable). I will say this, and I hope I'm not giving out a spoiler too much here, but it made me SUPER happy to see Eli Roth's head pop like a zit. Oh that felt good.



The film was meant to be cheesy, from the post production 3D conversion to the hundreds of random naked girls. I will say there is an underwater shot through the glass bottom boat that was just beautifully shot. As a horror fan, I did appreciate the gallons and gallons of blood being used, and the special effects for body wounds were all done with old fashion make-up effects, which I thought was respectable. The film was fun to watch for the most part, but I really shouldn't be bored half way through the movie when people are getting ripped to shreds. I was let down by a couple of cameos, especially some major overacting from veteran Christopher Lloyd, and the less than worth mentioning cameo from Richard Dreyfuss. However, it was nice to see someone I know in the movie, with Devanny Pinn as a wet T-shirt girl, but overall the movie was just an ok popcorn film, but finished pretty strong in the last 15 minutes or so. The ending was pretty funny, and I knew there would be a cliff hanger, but I didn't know it would happen the way it did.



With all the not so great things I had to say about this film... I can't help but feel like it will be a repeat of the original series, where I like the second film better than the first. How could I not be excited for it? John Gulager is doing it! The same man who brought us one of the best, and one of my recent favorite cheesy modern day horror trilogies with Feast, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds, and Feast III: The Happy Finish. I guess we will just have to wait and see, but until then I give the Piranha remake exactly what it deserves for a rating.

Entertainment Value: 6/10 Severed Body Parts
Cinematic Value: 5/10 Severed Body Parts