Creature (1998)

 

Based on a book by Peter Benchley, this mini-series made for tv (of course) tried to capitalise on the moderate success of another one of Benchley's writings. Maybe you have heard of it? A small story called 'Jaws'? No idea why it took so long for someone to adapt another of the man's writings to screen, but you can't win them all, I guess. 

In stark contrast to 'Jaws', which was ever so slightly more realistic (well, except for a shark being a total psychopathic killer with a voracious appetite), there is little realistic about this tale. But it sort of includes sharks? 

We start off on a small island and a shady military base. If this sounds familiar and overdone, get ready for a whole heap of that during the course of these three hours. Some high honcho is invited to a secret experiment to weaponise dolphins. They crossbred them with great white sharks. No idea how that is supposed to work; the film doesn't care either. But the doctor has created something else, something even more sinister that escapes, kills the doctor and is then dragged out into the ocean by a soldier who for some reason can't let it die. 

Yes, that is pretty important to the plot, and I'm sure you already know how everything connects. You have seen films before. 

25 years later, and doctor Chase is studying great white sharks. In the Caribbean. They don't normally come there, except to have babies. So fortunate for this researcher. Of course the locals aren't too happy on his protecting the sharks and when some arsehat fisherman is killed, they all blame the scientist for knowing there was a great white in the area. But he does discover that the victim was all mangled and that this is not consistent with how a shark attacks and feeds. 

Because of course it isn't. 

Things get even worse and more tense as a young boy is killed and the scientist's son is able to tell that this shark of sorts looked all gnarly and odd. They even get attacked on their ship and then realize this creature has claws.

Yes, it turns out that underneath the former military base, there was a secret lab, because there always has to be a secret lab, right? 

Right?

Anyway, with some quick yadda-yaddaing it is discovered that this doctor Bishop back in the day figured out a way to fuse DNA from several creatures in a fashion that no one has been able to do since. Convenient. And what's worse, he mixed shark and human DNA, thus creating said creature that is now learning and adapting and even has become amphibious in what is probably the most "What the fuck?"-scene in this series. 

Now it might seem as if I like to harp on this one, and it is true that there is a lot wrong with the thing, but in all fairness: it doesn't do a bad job for a tv-series. The book itself wasn't that great to begin with, so it isn't always easy to work around problems that a story already has. Heck, ever read the book of 'Jaws'? It's pretty awful, actually. That was saved by a great director and bizarrely enough by technical problems. This is way more mundane and stock. I'm not kidding: every character here is so predictable you can set your clock to it. There are a couple of decent actors, especially Craig Nelson, Kim Catrall (whoof!) and Blu Mankuma, but everyone else is either passable or painful to watch. But they aren't helped by pretty inane and predictable dialogue. 

There's the asshole poacher, the gruff and cynical police chief, the evil army guy: you know the drill. But this film/series does do a few things right. Especially the first part is mysterious and tense enough to keep you invested. It all falls down in the second half, though. You can tell they could have turned this into a fast-paced, silly but highly enjoyable monster romp of about two hours, but as this is three hours long, the second part is downright boring and drags enormously. 

What also deserves praise, are the creature effects (suit and animatronics) of the creature by Stan Winston's Studio. It looks damn good for something constructed on a TV-budget. And the creature is played by Brian Steele, who does this sort of thing wonderfully. Heck, you'll recognize him just by certain movements he always does in whatever suit he's in. This film also has probably the best animatronic shark ever, in a short scene where Craig Nelson is freeing it from a fishing line early on. It looks extremely realistic. 

It is most definitely not the best tv-series out there, but if you like creatures and sharks and want to see something that is almost good, then give it a go. Just remember that part 2 is boring as all fudge.