By Jacob Cameron

Thrash is a film coming to Netflix from the director of Violent Night. It sees people try to survive a massive hurricane and their own personal problems. With some sharks.

Thrash was directed by Tommy Wirkola, who directed the aforementioned Violent Night. It starred Phoebe Dynevor, Djimon Hounsou, and Whitney Peak, among others. It tells the story of a Category 5 hurricane that devastates the town of Annieville. With several people ending up stuck in the flood waters trying to get to safety. One woman must give birth to her child in the midst of the chaos, a group of siblings must deal with their carpetbagging foster parents, and an uncle must find his niece. And to top things off, there are great white sharks on the hunt.

Violent Night was a very enjoyable film, and Tommy Wirkola could be good at his job. However, shark movies have a tendency to be mediocre at best, and this is sadly one of the mediocre ones. This was a film that should have felt and looked more epic than what it actually turned out to be. There is little to no tension, and it feels rushed for being so short.

The biggest positive aspect of the film is the actual landfall of the hurricane. When the actual storm hits, it actually looks devastating. When the floodwaters destroy a home, you feel the glass break and the characters in what truly feels like a hopeless situation. Additionally, Phoebe Dynevor’s character was the most sympathetic and the one that was the most memorable. Djimon Hounsou, while not having much to do, is also good.

The issue that kills any enjoyment of this film is a lack of tension. This is a film that feels eerily similar to that of 2019’s Crawl, directed by Alexandre Aja. That film, which also takes place during a hurricane, is about a father and a daughter fighting off a hungry alligator. In Thrash, there are more people and more stories, but about half the interest level as Crawl. It also doesn’t help that the sharks are barely present in the film. Almost making the movie feel as if it would have been better if the sharks were completely phased out.

The stories of the characters, for the most part, are pretty uninteresting. There are a group of siblings who, as mentioned, have foster parents who seemingly only adopted the children for the money. Whitney Peak’s character has a fear of water that is never properly explained, so it is more of an implication due to her character’s mother dying before the start of the film. All of these could have been interesting if given time to breathe, but due to the sub-90 minute runtime, everything feels rushed.

Ultimately, this was one of the many mediocre Shark films that have been made. Anything interesting is rushed through without any form of drama or tension. This is a film that is more like a weather event than a hurricane.

1 1/2 stars