Dangerous Animals

There's no need to beat around the bush here, because Dangerous Animals doesn't. In the first five minutes, you'll know you're in for an all-killer-no-filler thrill ride, so there's no need for me to prolong reviewing it with some clever metaphor or seemingly tangential story. Dangerous Animals isn't interested in exploring insightful themes. It has one intention and one intention only: non-stop, white-knuckle excitement, and in that regard, it does its job well. Dangerous Animals moves along briskly, not wasting any time in establishing its dynamics; the sadistic, shark-worshipping Tucker (played by Jai Courtney) and our spunky heroine, the improbably named Zephyr (played by Hassie Harrison). She gets taken captive aboard his boat to be the latest sacrifice for his weird shark-oriented belief system. Escape attempts, fighting back, near-misses, someone who suspects something is wrong, everything you'd expect to be here, is here. Some directors might want to inject such a story with heavy-handed themes and moral lessons, but not Sean Byrne. This is as lean and mean as a shark. If you've turned this on, it's for visceral excitement. This is a popcorn movie if there ever was one, and that's all it's trying to be. Are there some improbable plot elements? Sure. Is the CGI glaring and ugly? Unfortunately, yes. Could it have used one or two more kills? Absolutely. But it's still a fun movie, it doesn't have higher ambitions, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. I'm satisfied with that.