THRASH - Furia dall’Oceano: hurricane and sharks, but it's not Sharknado

Hurricane Henry, Category 5, is about to hit the fictional town of Annieville, South Carolina, and the storm brings with it something unexpected. Sharks, to be exact: aggressive bull sharks, dragged into the flooded streets by the tsunami-like surge that has engulfed the small town. In the chaos that quickly erupts in the streets, with these marine predators now sowing panic among the inhabitants already shaken by the natural disaster, several characters move about, each grappling with their own misfortunes.

We find Lisa, a woman nine months pregnant who seems to be giving birth in the midst of the commotion; Dakota, a girl suffering from agoraphobia since losing her parents; Dale, a marine biologist and shark expert as well as the young woman's uncle; and three orphaned siblings living with their adoptive parents on the outskirts. The struggle for survival will thus take on different shades, as the sharks lurk in those increasingly invasive waters...

Gallery

Echoes and New Ideas

A cross between the Sharknado saga and the water-logged town of Crawl (2019)? Perhaps it's too simplistic to define Tommy Wirkola's new work this way, but it's certain that common elements with the aforementioned are not lacking. It's not a tornado that directly flies sharks onto land, but rather the sea that invades and conquers miles and miles with the fury of out-of-control waves; and the dynamics involving the various characters recall Alexandre Aja's underrated film, even if there it was crocodiles threatening the safety of father and daughter. 

Wirkola, a Norwegian director best known for the insane zombie diptych of Dead Snow and for the surprising Violent Night (2022), where he transformed Santa Claus into a war machine, has made a self-aware film that already carried a challenging title like THRASH - Furia dall’Oceano. A film that lands on Netflix after a rather troubled production journey, which saw Sony forgo a theatrical release: now the project has the opportunity to relaunch via streaming, and its first place in the top 10, at the time of writing, seems to have repaid the investment.

A noisy and deliberately over-the-top operation, starting with a screenplay that repeatedly emphasizes its comedic soul. THRASH - Furia dall’Oceano lightens the tension in favor of fun, boasting a bursting vitality, translating into a handful of sequences that possess the right dose of adrenaline. The fact that one of the protagonists is pregnant and that childbirth is imminent adds further fuel to the fire, raising the bar of absurdity in a story that wisely never takes itself too seriously.

A Spectacle to Take or Leave

The good special effects, with the town invaded by this wall of water that continues to rise, making even the hypothetically safe upper floors potential inescapable traps, and a conscious management of the action dynamics justify a narrative skeleton that, all things considered, is barely a sketch, solely interested in putting the unfortunate characters in front of that growing danger. A double danger, precisely, given not only by the risk of drowning but also by the presence of these ravenous creatures lurking underwater, ready to devour anyone who unfortunately comes within reach of their lethal jaws.

The cast, numerous and heterogeneous, performs its task with the right suitability for their respective roles, whether these are destined to be cannon fodder or empathetic vehicles of sorts. Whitney Peak builds a credible Dakota, naturally managing the arc of someone who, afflicted with agoraphobia, finds herself forced to face the situation head-on; Phoebe Dynevor embodies the most tragicomic figure of the pregnant woman, while Djimon Hounsou, in the role of guest-star, lends his charisma to the figure of a no-nonsense, sui generis scholar.

The initially introduced environmental subtext, on the consequences and dangers of climate change now evident to all - denialists aside - then gets lost in the more playful soul of an imperfect but entertaining operation, if approached without too many expectations.