Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Planet of the Sharks'

Written by Scott 'Sharky' Edwards

It is difficult to think about what might happen to the planet when global warming takes over and the ice caps finally melt and cover the world that we know. Hoping that we have some sort of scientific way to stop this or at least slow it down might be a pipe dream in this day and age, but one can hope. With no end in sight, this may become reality for our future generations to deal with and I can only hope that they are strong swimmers, since there will be plenty of water around. Trying to find a way to save the world is not a losing battle as long as you make your voice heard, so make sure to yell it from the mountain tops before they are underwater so at least someone can hear you.
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Seeing a flare being shot up from their neighbor flotilla city, Junk City, Moffat quickly gets on the radio to try and find out what the problem is. Not being able to get through, D’amato authorizes the release of a plane to see if there are any survivors of what appears to be some sort of attack. Hearing the reports, Captain Barrick makes the trek out to Junk City as well and is shocked to find a survivor in all of the wreckage. Rushing the young woman onto his boat, he sees first hand who the destroyers of the floating city were, sharks, led by a big Alpha who has some sort of control over her followers.

Arriving at the floating science station Vestron with his new friend Bea in tow, Barrick picks Doctors Nichols and Shaw to transport them to the Salvation Flotilla to work out a trade with D’amato for some more supplies. With the swarm of sharks following behind them, the group is more than anxious to get off of the floating city before anything bad happens but knows that there is a failsafe of shark nets surrounding the city that should keep them safe for the time being. Making their offer to D’amato and telling the governing body about the sharks that took out Junk City, the master of the waters does not seem to care and prepares his fishing party. Calling the sharks to Salvation for slaughter, it is quickly discovered that this shark group is smarter than the regular ones that the humans have fought off and wind up taking the city down thanks to man’s pride.

Being able to escape the flotilla, Barrick, Nichols, Shaw, Bea and their new friend Moffat have made their way back to the Captain’s boat and are making their way back to Vestron with the supplies needed to propel a C02 scrubber into the atmosphere that could help cool the planet and restore the oceans to their normal levels. But there is a problem at hand since the swarm of sharks being led by the Alpha are headed in the same direction. With a plan to eliminate the shark swarm in one fell swoop, Doctor Shaw uses all of the technology at her fingertips to ignite an underwater volcano to take them out, yet this may cause more problems than solutions as the blast sends out an EMP that cripples the scientific facility. With no way to launch the rocket without an electric charge, a new option is put on the table as the Alpha Shark has shown massive electrometric bursts that are controlling her fellow sharks. As there are no other options to saving the station, much less the world, sacrifices are forced to be made, but it could be for the greater good when all is said and done.

When you think about shark movies, you think about blood in the water, fisher-people that are able to defend themselves against the threat and who find a way to survive when there is a time squeeze and this movie has all of those things. What I liked most about the story that was put forward was the balance of power that was shown from the beginning with a warrior leader trying to get more for her goods than science is willing to pay. While that only lasted for a short time, the movie moved on quickly to the next problem at hand, that of saving the world and destroying all of the sharks. With both of these issues being important, the great ideas being put forth on how to do so were not too farfetched and it just made the movie enjoyable. With sharks, an electromagnetic Alpha Shark, some science, some spears, jumping sharks, an underwater volcano, a tsunami, some gun fire and plenty of sharks getting their feeding on, I think I like this movie a little more than I should overall. But I will admit that when I take those long boat rides out to the prime fishing locations, I will always wonder what is swimming beneath the boat and if there is a shark that can control a hunting party, well, I will kiss my backside goodbye. Stay Scared

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