Even if I hadn't seen the trailer for this, something that sold me on it immediately, and even if I didn't know it was the third feature directed by Sean Byrne, I would have eventually made time for Dangerous Animals based on the fact that it's a shark-centric film written by a man with the surname Lepard. Hey, everyone knows how easily amused I am by now. That tickled me.
A bearded and scruffy-looking Jai Courtney plays Bruce Tucker, a man happy to take tourists out on his boat to give them a chance to encounter some sharks. Unfortunately for the tourists, their idea of a shark experience is very different from Tucker's idea. He's a very dangerous man, and he likes nothing better than making very particular home movies. He has Heather (Ella Newton) held captive on his boat, and she's soon joined by Zephyr (Hassie Harrison). Apparently the kind of loner who nobody will notice has disappeared, Zephyr may well be grateful for the fact that she just spent a night connecting with the now-smitten Moses (Josh Heuston). Moses suspects something is wrong when he sees Zephyr's van (which was also her mobile home) being towed.
This might be the first full feature written by Nick Lepard, but he doesn't make too many amateur errors. Helped by a fantastic, but small, cast, and a career-best turn from Courtney, Lepard manages to add just enough to his screenplay to offer a variety of different possible third act scenarios without making it feel bloated or much more implausible. Oh, don't get me wrong, it certainly gets unbelievable on a few occasions, but those moments happen once you've already settled in and grown comfortable with the genre staples being used.
Byrne handles the material well, managing to keep things nicely balanced between the grim and the bloody and the somewhat fun. The actual shark appearances also impress, with a variety of tricks and deliberate filming choices being used to keep the menacing predators feeling like a very real threat. While things may end in quite a predictable way, the pleasure comes from the inventive ways that both Byrne and Lepard keep viewers on their toes until it is time for the very last scenes.
Harrison is a decent plucky heroine, and very easy to cheer on as she keeps trying to hold her nerve in the face of ever-increasing peril. Newton may not be playing someone as courageous, but she is just as good in her role. Courtney is the star of the show though, giving a performance that puts him right alongside some of the most infamous cinematic serial killers. At least one moment might be a bit too obvious in homaging one of the best-known scenes of someone revelling in their macabre hobby, but I was happy to let that slide. I also have to praise Heuston, who starts the film seeming very disposable, deliberately so, and then becomes someone else that you want to see somehow make it through to the end credits, despite the odds being stacked against him. It’s good writing, but it’s also sold by a winning performance from Heuston.
It’s hard to think of Byrne ever giving us another film as good as his feature debut, The Loved Ones (still a firm favourite of mine). This doesn’t manage it. But there are times when it comes bloody close.
8/10
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