‘Beast Of War’ Looks Like The Shark Movie We’ve Been Waiting For — No Tornadoes, No CGI
Is there anything better than practical effects?
I love a good shark movie, but here's the thing: there aren't many fantastic ones.
Sure, it doesn't help matters that Jaws set the unquestioned gold standard fift years ago, but a lot of shark movies in the decades since have been pretty hokey or just not that interesting.
But this new flick coming out is called Beast of War? This puppy looks like one of the good ones, and the story behind how it came to be is just as great.
Take a look:
First of all, your eyes did not deceive you. Just like the infamous mechanical shark used in Jaws, those sharks were created with practical effects, not CGI.
That deserves a round of applause already.
According to Bloody Disgusting, the movie hit theaters and VOD on Friday, and its writer and director, Kiah Roache-Turner, talked about the interesting way it came about.
No, it’s funny, a couple of years ago, my producer, Blake Northfield, rang me and he goes, ‘Have you kind of got anything written about something on water?’ And I’m like, ‘Water? No man.’ He goes, ‘Well, I’ve got access to a giant water tank. Can you write something on water?’ I say, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a shark movie.’ He replies, ‘Shark movie, great, I’ll call you in a month.’ And that’s just how it started."
So, Roache-Turner got some inspiration from what is easily the best monologue to ever appear in a shark movie (or any movie, if you ask me), and that's Quint's famous USS Indianapolis monologue. I always thought one of the Jaws sequels should've been a prequel that dealt with this (there's actually a book that goes this route).
However, the Australian writer-director noted that doing a movie about a sinking World War II heavy cruiser carrier is pretty damn expensive. That's why Beast of War is about another very real and very similar situation that happened to an Australian vessel called the HMAS Armidale in 1942.
I'm in. I need a break from shark movies with bad special effects. I mean, don't get me wrong, watching regular sharks get picked up by a tornado is fun, and I like watching a giant one fight Robocroctopus or whatever, but you can't beat practical effects.