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Danger In The Sea by John Stoneman
Danger In The Sea by John Stoneman
Compelling. Enlightening. Contemporary. None of these words describe Danger in the Sea, a trilogy of supposed 'factual' films offered by Carlton Video, two of which focus on sharks and shark-related perils.
In truth, my enthusiasm for shark documentaries - bar those made by the likes of Paul Atkins, Howard Hall, Peter Scoones and a selection of other cinematographers - has been eroded by routinely predictable format and content. And having now viewed the first two films contained in Danger in the Sea, this disillusionment is further cemented.
Indeed, the titles of the two shark films - Sharks: The Killing Machines, followed by The Unreasoning Shark - sound like throwbacks to all those quasi-scientific TV films produced immediately post-Jaws. Even more lamentably, what appears on screen merely reinforces the choice of silly titles. Sharks, frankly, deserve better from film-makers in the 21st century. So do their audiences.
The plot is a clichÃ?d one, following the roaming 'project' of a film-maker (John Stoneman) and biologist (Alan Emery) to investigate why sharks sporadically bite folk. Along the way, we bypass - by two decades or so - much contemporary knowledge of shark behaviour and biology, with a dose of erratic editing chucked in for good measure. This is all largely inexcusable.
Lately, wonderfully crafted efforts have raised the benchmark of this genre considerably, notably the BBC-National Geographic's wildlife special Great White Shark (1995). If filmmakers don't aspire to match or better such 'industry standards', they shouldn't even bother taking off their lens-caps.
Poorly framed shots of white sharks from inside shark cages; efforts to entice what Carlton describes as 'bloodthirsty' Caribbean reef sharks into an on-screen frenzy and some antiquated scientific factoids summarises what these two films are about.
Sharks might well have thought it was safe to go back in front of the cameras after Great White Shark, but Carlton has shown that money-guzzling monsters inspired by Jaws still lurk in the production houses. Ian K Fergusson
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Danger In The Sea by John Stoneman, Carlton Video (020 8207 6207). 75min, £10.99.
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