Sharks in Venice (2008)

Synopsis: The seemingly tranquil waterways of Venice are terrorized by the perfect killing machine. In search of his father who has mysteriously disappeared diving in the city, David stumbles across the cryptic trail leading to the long lost fortune of the Medici. As the unwitting pawn in a Mafia plot to recover the treasure, David's girlfriend is kidnapped at gunpoint, plunging him into a desperate race against time. If he has any hope of saving her he must enter the deadly waters. Can David out-gun the Mafia assassins and survive the voracious sharks laying in wait beneath the surface, or will he succumb to the same fate as his father?

There are so many movies like this. I swear some executive somewhere has a huge pile of generic crappy action thrillers that he is unwilling to part with. He grabs one at random, tells a writer to add sharks and BAMMO, we get Sharks in Venice.

About 90% of this movie is spent watching the characters interact and watching people diving in the water. (And watching Stephen Baldwin's manboobs) The sharks really only act as transitions between scenes. I'll give them credit, they are pretty entertaining transitions but that is all they are. The focus of this movie is hardly on the sharks at all but on the treasure. In fact, everyone from the lowly citizen, to the main characters to the local authorities do their best to not acknowledge the existence of sharks whatsoever. But they are there and it makes this movie watchable. Just expect a lot (A LOT) of stock footage. It's pretty good stock footage but it's still stock footage. Only a couple instances of bad CGI were used and I guess for that aspect alone I am grateful. Too many horribly rendered CGI sharks are popping up these days.

So Stephen Baldwin is the star.  ....  ....   ....

I was shocked to see this was in 5.1 surround sound. I suppose I shouldn't be but when something with a better budget like Bait 3D comes out in stereo I just have to wonder what the hell is going on with studios.

I'm torn on whether to recommend this or not. It's not worth anyone's time but it's really good to watch for like doing laundry or sitting around on a Sunday morning reading the paper. I'd say it's worth that. If you're into bad movies this movie isn't even worth the watch. Not a lot to riff on, just a lot to put up with. BUT, the final scene is pretty awesome. It ends in a warehouse with the Mafia and the SWAT duking it out. There is a steady stream of bullets and SWAT members repelling from the roof. That alone is worth the watch.

I was hoping to see more focus on SHARKS IN VENICE but it's just another generic action thriller with an out of shape "nobody cares about the Baldwins anymore" actor vs mafia dudes where there just so happens to be sharks in a place where sharks should not be.