Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Atomic Shark’

Written by Scott ‘Sharky’ Edwards

There are so many things that can go wrong when living or working on a beach. As the water levels start to rise, under tows can become more dangerous and you will not know where the waterline will finally stop. There are also creatures in the ocean that most people never want to see in their lifetime, especially sharks. When migration patterns start to change and the sharks are able to locate a new source of food, they make sure to stick around, but little do people know that when sharks are exposed to radiation, that their bodies absorb it and they can turn into a feeding nuclear bomb.
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It’s just a normal day and the lifeguards on La Jolla beach are in high spirits, all except for Kaplan who has been sidelined with a busted up knee. Now on drone detail, Kaplan will do anything to get back into the water and save lives, but his boss will not let that happen.  When spotting a woman drowning, Kaplan gets the wise idea to hook a life vest up to the drone and get it to her before it is too late. Making the save, Kaplan is reprimanded by his boss, but knowing that he did the right thing and saved a life, he would do it again in a heartbeat. 

While walking the water line, Gina is noticing burned up fish washing up ashore. Not knowing what is causing this she wants to find answers since she is going to school to be marine biologist. With little to no belief that what she is seeing is real, none of her peers foresee a problem with it, but there is something new in the water that the group has never seen before. When returning from a waterskiing trip without his customer, Rottger tells the police that there is a new red shark swimming around off the coast, but when the police don’t take the report seriously, Gina does. Wanting to know more about what he has seen, Rottger walks away from the situation leaving her answerless. But that does not last for long as the shark is hungry and looking for its next meal.

After seeing a red shark jump onto a boat and cause it to catch fire, Kaplan and Gina know that they are up against something new that has never been seen before. With the help of a couple internet vloggers, the group is able to catch the footage that they need to prove the coastline is in danger, but it is confiscated by the government before they are able to post it. When sitting down for lunch, Gina’s Geiger counter starts going off when there is nothing around that should be causing it to. Seeing that the fish has been dosed with radiation, the group leaves the restaurant before it goes up in flames. With everything becoming a cover-up, the group has to find a way to make sure the world knows what they are up against, but when they are not able to get an decent footage of the radioactive shark, they will have to do the next best thing, destroy it before it becomes the first atomic bomb to explode off of the California coast.

If there is a shark out there that possesses the power of the atomic bomb and IS an atomic bomb, I may never go near the ocean again. Talk about the worst of both worlds, a shark that will eat you and make you radioactive in doing so, there is no coming back from that even if you get away from it. The comedy in this movie was spot on and while Kaplan is your main source of it, there are plenty of one liners that will leave you smiling. With the use of social media and drones, this movie does show how dependent some people are on them, even when their lives are in danger and especially at the beach. I cannot get over the finale of this movie, it was epic and when one thing after another starts to go wrong, the saying ‘When it rains, it pours’ really comes to mind.  It is a heck of a ride and might leave you wondering if the government will try to cover this up, what else are they hiding from us. Stay Scared.

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