Sadly Over-hyped

not horrible nor great

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

There was a point when I started watching more shark movies when I decided that I should stop trying to compare these movies to Jaws, because there's no point to it. Instead, I try to make more comparisons with the first sequel: Jaws 2. But as it turns out, movies like The Last Shark make me miss Jaws 3, which was horrible, but at least it has more production value than this cheapo. This movie feels like the filmmakers took Jaws and got rid of everything except the essential elements. Some reviewers have even pointed out similarities to Jaws 2, like a scene with a helicopter. This is really the same plot as Jaws and that makes it more tiring. Vic Morrow and James Franciscus are the stars, but they are simply there; they don't come out as great characters. They, like most of the cast, simply seem to be going through the motions; I mainly noticed this when I watched how both Franciscus and Morrow seemed pretty calm about the governor leaving the beaches open, even though they disagree. There was also a group of teens that I found super annoying, although there was a small moment when the governor smacks his son in the face for stealing his boat to try to kill the shark himself while putting his friends in danger that made me laugh. The shark looks absolutely horrible, even when compared to the sharks in Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge. Sometimes, it's a stupid-looking miniature, sometimes it's a big animatronic shark, and sometimes it's stock footage of a real great white shark, which is actually where the shark looks scariest, mainly because the footage is so grainy, even though it doesn't match in quality with the rest of the footage. There is a funny subplot however where this TV reporter keeps trying to get footage of the shark even though people are getting eaten on camera. Bottom line, don't even think of watching this reeking mess even if it is because it rips off Jaws. You'd be better off with Jaws 3.

This movie begins with several teenagers enjoying a day at the beach with one particular person practicing for a wind surfing contest which is scheduled to begin in a couple of days. Fate has other plans however as a great white shark happens to be in the area and crushes the surfboard and devours the young man in the process. Later, after examining part of the surfboard a knowledgeable boat captain identifies the teeth marks found upon it and tells the leadership of the local town what is responsible. Unfortunately, the local mayor by the name of "William Wells" (Joshua Sinclair) has no plans for stopping the race because it would have an impact upon his political plans. So he devises a plan to keep the shark out of the area but what he doesn't count on is the incredible size and power of the creature which manages to get inside the cove in spite of it all. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie I will just say that as a "Jaws clone" this movie totally lacked originality and imagination. As a matter of fact, if one were to fuse parts of "Jaws" with other parts of "Jaws 2" it would greatly resemble this particular film—minus the better acting and special effects. Naturally, there were a few slightly different scenarios here and there but for the most part it pretty much adhered to the same general themes presented previously. In any case, while there is only so much one can do with a story involving a large shark--other than having it devour those in the area—the similarities to the earlier films just mentioned were much too obvious to be easily ignored or dismissed and as a result I have to rate this movie accordingly. Below average.

This movie is a pretty darned good flick! When it first came out, it was a hit with audiences here in the US. It made almost 20 million before Universal won a law suit and had it banned. Why did they do this?When watching this film, I only saw maybe a few "Jaws" references. When one looks at the movie "Cruel Jaws" (another Italian pseudo-sequel), one can actually see the blatant "Jaws" rip-off and copyright infringements! My God! That one even stole scenes from "Jaws"!However, this one bears NO SIMILARITY to the movie "Jaws". The plot may be similar but having a similar plot does not constitute copyright infringement. Just look at the movies "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "The Puppet Masters" for goodness sake!There are no similar characters except maybe the Quint character. However, Vic Morrow's character in "The Last Shark" and Robert Shaw's character in "Jaws" are actually direct opposites! I really see NO resemblance."The Last Shark" did not copy any lines (unlike "Cruel Jaws") nor did the mayor of Amity in "Jaws" go out in a darned helicopter to kill the blasted thing!Universal sued to gain a monopoly! That's the bottom line! They saw that this movie was well received and began earning quite a bit of money! Oh, hell no! Universal can't allow another shark movie to match "Jaws" in revenue!Watch both movies back-to-back and you will see that they bear NO resemblance in story or characters. They may share a "spiritual" connection but that is all they share. I wonder if the judge who sided with Universal was pressured??? Wouldn't doubt it! Many judges today would laugh at Universal and throw the case out immediately! Monopoly, monopoly, monopoly!

I got a laser disc of this movie with very high quality and I instantly loved it. James Franciscus and Vic Morrow do great, and Franciscus does excellent in the end with his emotion. This movie is still a jaws rip-off but is still pretty original, and steals no footage from other movies. The only thing I didn't like about this movie were the terrible special effects. In some scenes, the shark looks horribly fake-but in others, it looks realistic. When people get eaten, some times they get pulled under the water. Although there will be occasional parts with disembodied limbs that are very, very fake looking. Other than that, the movie is great.