THE OPINION OF THE “WORLD” – WHY NOT
In 1975, Steven Spielberg, with the success of jaws (Jaws), at the same time as he invented the modern blockbuster, he also invented a cinematographic subgenre, the shark attack film, destined to be declined in all sorts of forms, to be recovered by an artisanal subculture (the series B then the “direct-to-video”) just like through hermeneutical chatter, triumph of a cultural industry doubting nothing. As always, in these cases, when the effects of surprise have been exhausted by the different variants of the prototype, sequels, plagiarisms and imitations, parody asserted itself not as a sign of loss of momentum, but as the guarantee of the formula’s longevity. And this gives in particular In very troubled waterssequel to a previous title, In troubled waters.
The original project of this franchise which seems to be inspired by pastiches cheap and jokes of Spielberg’s film, but with enormous means, like a series B gone to seed, consists in going beyond the data of the genre by gigantism. The hero of the film, played by Jason Statham, confronts prehistoric sharks, megalodons, monsters of disproportionate size, the ecstatic form of Spielberg’s shark and his followers. Gigantism is intended to be both an opportunistic one-upmanship as well as an ironic or even parodic exaggeration.
Chinese and American production, the series of Troubled waters is distinguished by an almost obscene desire to adapt to each of the specific requirements of an otherwise global market. No sex, a violence that refuses any overly graphic expression (no blood) and which is sometimes confused with a burlesque gag (the point of view of the shark swallowing a crowd of bathers), a recurring and cynical sentimentalism.
monstrous creatures
This second part, which was entrusted to the Briton Ben Weathley, this time multiplies the monstrous creatures: giant octopuses, various prehistoric critters, etc. The sharks will only really appear during a particularly confusing last half hour.
The spectator is wandered between various action scenes in alternate editing, during which the protagonists (Jason Statham and his friends of all origins to which is added an unbearable teenager) are hardly stingy with good words. The hero, in this second episode, goes from adventurer in search of redemption to muscular ecological activist.
Any resemblance to the formidable The Host (2006), by Bong Joon-ho, which is difficult not to think of, would not even be accidental, since it is non-existent. We recognize, however, in Ben Weathley’s film some inspired moments, such as this underwater walk during which the characters, dressed in diving suits, braced for their survival, cross various animal species that are supposed to be as extinct as they are fanciful. The memory of the adventure novels of an Arthur Conan Doyle (The lost World, 1912) then touches furtively.
You have 2.98% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.