BAIT 3D follows Josh (Xavier Samuel), a lifeguard on the coast of Australia who is about to propose to his best friend’s sister, Tina (played by Sharni Vinson of STEP UP 3). Sadly, before Josh has a chance to pop the question, his best friend is attacked and killed by a great white shark in an overly dramatic scene that set the tone for the rest of the film. The shock breaks the couple up and we meet back up with them one year later. Josh is now working at a local grocery store where he encounters Tina before a freak tsunami hits the coast and traps the two former lovebirds and a handful of strangers in a flooded area that is swimming with 12-foot great white sharks.
When you look at the cover of BAIT 3D or watch the trailers, it’s easy to conclude that this is another campy monster-movie in the vein of PIRANHA or SHARK NIGHT. The cheesy attack at the beginning of the film almost convinced me until it was noted that the actors seemed to be showing a little too much emotion for an almost B-movie. Color me even more shocked when the scenes at the soon-to-be destroyed grocery store continued to increase in intensity and soon the audience finds themselves watching a film that is more similar to THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE instead of something more fun like DEEP BLUE SEA. BAIT is most definitely more along the lines of a disaster movie than a campy film about sharks attacking people, which makes for a film with a very uneven tone that tends to take itself too seriously.
The story for BAIT is interesting enough though the one downside is that none of the actors performances were really strong enough for you to care whether or not they got picked off one by one. Xavier Samuel (TWLIGHT: ECLIPSE) was the “star” of the film, and though he is a decent enough actor, his character was almost too emotionally wounded from the opening scene and it was obvious he had a difficult time with his current situation. Sharni Vinson wasn’t much better at giving the audience a reason to connect to her and the chemistry between the two was practically non-existent. Although he’s normally the cause of bad acting, the stand out performance was from Julian McMahon who portrayed his character with conflicted emotion. Although he’s technically a bad guy, it was hard to root against him. McMahon was easily the most seasoned actor of the group and his character was easy to root for.
I still feel conflicted about BAIT 3D. On one hand I really enjoy a good disaster film and adding sharks into the mix sounds like a plan for success. However, the mediocre performances and lack of likability for the characters was a downfall. If BAIT were a more campy, fun film, the character’s lameness wouldn’t bother me. But since the filmmakers seemed to be trying to make a dramatic film, the audience needed to be invested in the characters and care whether they lived or died. Unfortunately, BAIT 3D couldn’t do that and I spent most of the film feeling disinterested. That said, if I was fighting a bout of insomnia and BAIT 3D came on TV, I’d probably watch it. But I’m not sure that’s the ringing endorsement the filmmakers were going for.
Sadly, BAIT 3D is one of those films that completely under-utilizes the 3D technology available. There one decent scene is at the beginning during the shark attack and it just drops off from there. Unless you are just a hardcore 3D fan, I would suggest viewing this film in 2D.
Video: No problems in this arena. The film is a little on the dark side, but it’s still a clear image and was enjoyable to watch.
Audio: The audio sounded fine.
Storyboard Gallery
DVD Copy
