MANEATER

US, 2022, 87 minutes, Colour.

Trace Adkins, Nicky Whelan, Shane West, Jeff Fahey.

Directed by Justin Lee.

This is a small budget shark film. One commentator noted that it is really for shark film completists!

The setting is Maui, a holiday resort, a location for fishing. Early in the film, a young woman goes out on her surfboard and is attacked, mauled, killed by the shark of the title. Her angry father, fisherman, Trace Adkins, is determined to hunt down the shark even if it is against local legislation. A professor, Jeff Fahey, explains who the shark is and why it is behaving like this.

In the meantime, there is a group of tourists, a young woman, Nicky Whelan, marriage disappointment, on a holiday paid for by her large number of friends. They go out on a boat, camp on the beach. A lot of discussion about their stories.

However, there is quite a deal of shark action, including the deaths of those on the supervising boat, then most of the holidaymakers, finally a confrontation where the young woman acts as a bait and Trace Adkins shoots at the shark. Not entirely successful, and the need for a further confrontation.

There have been lots of shark films of varying quality – this is just another one of very average quality.