From my favorite movies..

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Blistering performances.

The expectation one has when one plunks "Piranha" in the DVD player, is that it will be a monster-horror film about the flesh-eating fish of the Amazon. In any of these old monster films, we necessarily have some uneventful part of the story to watch, that sets the stage for the scary parts. But I watched through more than half of this film with no sign of ever getting to the monsters. And the plot to that point was near total boredom. It was a struggle to keep watching. I got well into the part when the "bad guy" comes on the scene. The character, Caribe, played by William Smith, is supposed to add some mystery and fright to the film, but it's quite mundane. After I gave up on the film ever amounting to much, I read some other reviews and see that there is very little in it at all about the fish. Apparently, it turns more into a dark mystery-horror film. But don't take my word. This film is so slow and uninteresting that I gave up on it.

Having watched 'Piranha, Piranha' just last night, when I look at film sites online about it, and see all of these so-called cinephiles so upset because they felt the title was a ripoff (don't worry, I'm not going to give any spoilers), and that the film is an unenjoyable mess, 'to each his own', I say, for I really enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong, it's no 'Piranha', 'Jaws' or 'Moby Dick', but for what it does have, and what it does try to do, I give full marks for.Like Jack Palance and Henry Silva, William Smith is one of those presences that no matter how much you hate, you have to respect, and deep down inside, no matter how good you are, or think you are, you wish you were. Nothing phases them, and they're in complete control of their destinies. If someone bothers them, they are eliminated, and if they want someone, they reach out and grab them. This is one of those films that fully endorses that mythology, in Smith's character, Caribe.The film is an intriguing blend of 'Deliverance' and 'The Most Dangerous Game'. It's no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be. And it's no ripoff to Dante's thriller, because it came out six years beforehand (and three years before 'Jaws' made this type of movie so popular). What is very difficult for me to grasp is that around this same time, in an even more desolate area of South America and with even more temperamental actors, Werner Herzog was making a masterpiece in 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God'...

The movie is great for Venezuelan tourism, birds, birds and more birds. Only 1 piranha. Nice scenery. The only highlight was the alligator seen during a very long and boring motorcycle race. The end when Caribe drowns is a definite Hollywood prop. There is no definite storyline. It goes from Venezuelan scenery to a rip off of easy rider to diamond mining and a ruthless hunter going crazy for some reason who gets it in the end. A very low budget movie that could have been filmed anywhere with outtakes of Venezuela. William Smith is a very talented actor that has made some very good movies. Like all actors they all need to have at least one bad film Don't waste the $5.00 on the DVD.

Desperately seeking diamonds, a band of adventurers discover that life in the wild is not all fun and games. After traveling throughout the land on motorcycles and seeing several scenes of birds, they stop at a local pub to drink heavily and absorb the culture. As they become engulfed into the culture and the land, they gather the aid of a hunter named Caribe that has not only mastered a bike race, but also harbors a darker plan. When they arrive to their destination the sight of diamonds turns to dust as these friends are forced to play prey and predator with an evil that wears a familiar face. William Gibson directs this poorly acted, scripted, and pause-ridden suspense thriller that is easily lost in the shuffle of modern day cinema. The low budget is very obvious as Gibson riddles the film with overlapping scenes of birds, birds, and more birds to fill time. We are even shown unending scenes of diamond mining and bike racing, leaving nothing to develop characters or story. We are even shorted on the title of this film as there are only two mentions of the flesh eating fish. Back-stories are underdeveloped leaving us a lack of emotion for the main characters and building an emotionless climax that only gave us hope that the film was over. Nothing was worth saving in this film, unless you enjoy studying birds from different countries (outside of the one that the film takes place). Gibson missed the entire focus of this film and the final result reminds us of a preschooler's first collage where there were tons of images, massive amounts of glue, and no real structure.Grade: * out of ****