Directed by Alexandre Aja and written by Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ving Rhames, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd ,Eli Roth, Jerry O'Connell, Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Adam Scott, Ricardo Chavira, Dina Meyer and Paul Scheer.
Alexandre Aja’s Piranha 3D is everything every SyFy creature feature wants to be, strives to be, would kill to be, an over-the-top, gore filled, expertly filmed, b-movie monster-fest. The film is filled with great cameo appearances, some of the best gore-mayhem the theater has seen in years, and it even successfully brings back the T&A factor in a big way. It is a wonder this movie made it to the theater in this day and age, probably due in part to the contrast is holds against the current wave of torture-porn mutilation gore. In that respect, it’s almost refreshing.
The plot is as bare as Riley Steele’s wardrobe, as 50,000 plus students descend upon Lake Victoria during spring break, an earthquake opens a fissure underneath the lake unleashing prehistoric (and hungry!) piranha into the fresh waters. Sheriff Elisabeth Shue and Deputy Ving Rhames must save the uncooperative party animals from becoming lunch, while her son, Steven R. McQueen, leads Jerry O’Connell and his film team into troubled waters. Let the carnage begin; some people survive, some don’t.
None of the actors are given too much to work with and, surprisingly, each is given a fair amount of screen time. Steven R. McQueen, as Jake, is at the center of the story, as he guides Wild Wild Girls producer and filmmaker Derrick Jones (Jerry O’Connell) to remote areas of the lake. Thankfully, Jake isn’t as annoying as many of the “teen” characters in recent horror flicks; he’s appropriately goofy, devious, charming and heroic in a unusually balanced manner. Elisabeth Shue plays his mother, Julie, the Sheriff of Victoria Lake and she plays the role with confidence and authority. As Derrick Jones, O’Connell gets the best role, a role that requires him to be larger than life. He becomes the highlight of the show being the closest thing to a antagonist the film has, beside the fish. He’s vulgar, obnoxious, manipulative and driven. Ving Rhames as Deputy Fallon, Adam Scott as Novak and Paul Sheer as Andrew all give fine supporting performances. And, of course, there’s the girls; Jessica Szohr, Kelly Brook and Riley Steele are all good in the limited roles they are each given. Szohr plays Jake’s love interest, the “innocent” of the group. Kelly Brook and Riley Steele are two of Jone’s Wild Wild Girls and are beautiful piranha bait.
One of the best things about Piranha 3D are the cameo roles played by Richard Dreyfuss and Christopher Lloyd. In the preface, Dreyfuss all but reprises his Matt Hopper role from Jaws, dressed in similar attire and singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home” as the earthquake strikes, freeing the hungry fish. Christopher Llyod plays a local aquatic specialist who realizes what the fish are and provides with great relish what little background is needed to establish their motive, hunger and feeding patterns. And Eli Roth plays a DJ announcing a wet t-shirt contest and awarded one of the films more punishing death scenes. Each is on screen for a short, but highly entertaining, time and are most likely to be more memorable characters from the picture.
But this is a monster film, a nature gone mad fright flick and the piranha are the stars. The CGI effects for the fish are top notch and effective. They’re creepy and disgusting, and just believable enough to buy into. If they had been silly, the whole picture would have sunk, but they work and they’re fun to watch as attack, terrorize and devour their victims. What they leave behind is as gory a scene as you’ll ever see in US theaters. Arms and legs (and more!) are eaten away. Bodies are stripped to the bone and ripped to shreds. Floating body parts are gobbled up as they drift away from the carnage on the surface. Aja and the special effects team celebrate the art of 80s gore cinema.
While not the perfect film, and could be considered as a brilliant success, the 3D is a huge disappointment. There are a number of scenes where the intent shines through and the 3D really works, for example many of the underwater swimming scenes and anytime someone or something is in the shot alone; however, most of the rest of the film never benefits from either coming out at you or field of depth. A film like this should really present itself with an abundance of opportunities to capitalize on the effect (or gimmick) itself and Piranha 3D just does not.
Thankfully, though, Piranha 3D does not need the 3D to be the romp that it is. It’s a summer horror action hybrid, a SyFy monster mash gone wild. It’s fun, light and unpretentious. Aja knew the kind of film he was making and he made one of the best b-movies to come to the theaters in some time.
7.5 out of 10
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