Dangerous Animals: Finally, a Good Shark Movie

Bruce Tucker makes crusty old Captain Quint in Jaws look like a charmer. He is a serial killer and his weapon of choice is the shark. That is why his shark charter diving business has so few Yelp reviews. Zephyr is exactly the kind of nomadic surfer he likes to target, but her resourcefulness surprises him in Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals, which opens tomorrow in theaters.

Zephyr lives out of her van and has no real family. Both she and Tucker assume nobody will come looking for her. However, she made quite an impression on Moses Markley, before her Irish-goodbye. He comes looking, but he is about a quarter of Tucker’s size and has about half of Zephyr’s survival instincts. Nevertheless, he represents her best hope.

Basically, if you fondly remember either Chief Brody’s nightmare of getting wheeled into the shark in the under-rated Jaws 2 or the shark tank in The Spy Who Loved Me, Dangerous Animals is the film for you. Tucker’s weaponization of sharks is reasonably credible, in a nasty serial killer way.

As Tucker, Jai Courtney is one of the most fiercely man and boozily blokey movie serial killers of all time. It seems pretty Shaw’s Quint was a reference point for the character as well as Courtney’s performance—and well it should be.

Obviously, Tucker is the showy role in Dangerous Animals, but both  Hassie Harrison and Josh Heuston are far better than you would expect from the potential shark meat in a movie like this. As a result, we really care about their survival, which duly leads to suspense.

Byrne also earns credit for the film’s taut razor-tension. Dangerous Animals is his first feature since The Devil’s Candy, which was visually much more stylish—while simultaneously resonating on a far more personal level. Nevertheless, he never mails anything in. Instead, he fully capitalizes on the potential of Nick Lepard’s high concept screenplay.

Arguably, Dangerous Animals is the best shark movie since Year of the Shark, which isn’t as sharky as most Jaws rip-offs and hasn’t screened widely in the United States anyway. It is tight, tense, and lethally on point. Enthusiastically recommended for shark fans, Dangerous Animals is recommended for shark fans when it opens tomorrow (6/6) in New York theaters, including the AMC Empire.