Bait

Almost three stars. If the sharks in several scenes weren’t so awfully digital, I couldn’t give it three stars with a clear conscience. Bait is the last in a trifecta of shark horror movies that have made fun of us in the last year (the other two: Shark Night and Dark Tide). This one has the most fun premise: a tsunami carries the sharks into an underground supermarket and locks them there with a bunch of people. There’s a lot to complain about, but I can’t say that watching it was an ordeal or boring; there are times that it’s downright funny (the blonde girl in the garage), and the atmosphere of the flooded supermarket is fine. 5/10 (15/09/2012)

A very solid representative of an almost extinct genre, which in recent years has been solidly indebted to its own creators. Bait has the great advantage that, with the exception of the opening scene, which is horrific, it doesn't bother the viewer with ugly digital effects, and that it manages to shoehorn in a group of diverse characters (a cop, the cop's beautiful daughter, a rational criminal, a crazy criminal, a whiny blonde, and a couple of fast food morsels) into such a tight and unglamorous situation that the viewer is happy to wait those 90 minutes for another final version of "smile you son of a bitch". And nothing is spoiled this time by the direction, which manages to maintain a sustained tension in a confined space and even to conjure up one unadulterated emotional death (ironically, it's not the shark's fault). It's still a pointless and rather silly film, but one this nicely made and will always find its fans. 55% (01/02/2014)

The film Bait isn't as lighthearted and funny as I initially hoped. At times it takes itself too seriously, but on the other hand, it must be acknowledged that the filmmakers have turned a fairly silly idea into a movie that isn't boring, isn't unnecessarily contrived, and is actually quite suspenseful at times. Put logic aside and you will enjoy Bait. (16/01/2017)