Dangerous Animals

by Mike McGranaghan

Every summer brings at least one new shark attack picture. They can start to blend together after a while because they all rely on the same fundamental components. Dangerous Animals is this summer’s big entry. It distinguishes itself not through gimmickry – like sharks surrounding people on an oil rig or having them terrorize survivors in a sunken airplane - but by having the sharks be only the second biggest threat to the protagonists. In this movie, the sharks are just doing what they do, and it’s one particular man who emerges as the true villain.

That man is Bruce Tucker (Jai Courtney), the good-natured captain of a boat that takes tourists into the ocean for cage diving experiences. At least this is how he presents himself. In reality, he overpowers those tourists, then videotapes himself lowering them into the water for sharks to feed on. His latest detainee is Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), a tough surfer chick with no intention of becoming dinner. What Bruce doesn’t know is that Zephyr isn’t entirely the loner she seems to be; her new romantic partner, Moses (Josh Heuston), starts looking when she goes missing.

Most of the tension in Dangerous Animals comes from watching Zephyr attempt to outwit Bruce, despite him having the upper hand. Like Laurie Strode in Halloween, she is not content to be a victim. She fights back, and there’s something incredibly satisfying about seeing the character use her brain to survive. Whether it’s figuring out how to escape the room she’s been locked in or getting un-handcuffed from a bed, Zephyr proves Bruce right when he says, “I love a fighter. It makes for a better show.”

As the villain, Courtney gives an amazingly demented performance. Bruce is a forceful presence – big and boisterous one minute, almost euphorically bloodthirsty the next. The fun detail about the actor’s turn is that he makes the guy a bit of a buffoon. Yes, he’s a cold-blooded psychopath, but also a little twerp whose violent ways mask a pathetic quality. Courtney goes all out, chewing the scenery in an endlessly entertaining manner.

Shark attack scenes in the movie are suitably gruesome. Unlike some pictures of this variety, the sharks are fairly realistic looking and not a product of cheap CGI. You get good gore from Dangerous Animals, so when the creatures do start munching, that vital sense of terror is present. The sight of panicked, screaming individuals descending into chum-filled water is chilling.

Despite the existence of dozens of shark attack flicks, very few earn the designation of being great. There’s Steven Spielberg’s Jaws and then… that’s about it, except, arguably for Open Water. The rest are varying degrees of good or terrible. Dangerous Animals is squarely in the “good” category. Director Sean Byrne (The Devil’s Candy) has crafted a fast-paced shark adventure that pretty much does exactly what you want this kind of movie to do.

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