Megalodon Rising

"I know what's happening."
"What?"
"Megalodons."

release year: 2021
genre: giant shark drama/action
viewing setting: home streaming 8/19/25

synopsis: Giant sharks have an on-again, off-again fight with a U.S. Navy destroyer plus some Chinese warships..

impressions: This was Asylum Entertainment's followup to their 2018 mockbuster Megalodon. While entertaining, it had the same issues of most low-budget productions: far too few people present (in small, dark rooms) to make you believe they're actually manning a large naval warship (or whatever vessel the plot involves.) Other notable things: three sharks this time...a subplot with Chinese espionage...a captured scientist who's really stubborn...an asshole executive officer...repeated instances of "this is your last chance to cooperate" with absolutely zero ramifications when they don't...an admiral whose command headquarters is a small, dark, cramped room filled with computer monitors, and whose actions consist of fiddling with a gaming joystick and typing on a keyboard...no actual scenes of the sharks destroying the Navy port...the sharks attacking people on a beach (which should be impossible given their size)...idiots thinking that small-arms fire will hurt the sharks...a "warning shot" fired at a shark to distract it...inconsistent shark size.

acting: Wynter Eddins is the ship's captain, and she does a pretty good job being mostly tough yet also human when she needs to be. O'Shay Neal is the aforementioned XO who perpetually looks like he's up to no good. Lisa Ellee is some kind of sonar officer, and Luke Charles Stafford is some sort of communications officer, and Meg Cashel is some sort of navigator; all three have small but memorable roles. Freda Yifan Jing is the captured Chinese scientist lady. Tom Sizemore was unrecognizable due to age (and wear and tear) as the old admiral.

final word: Worth seeing, but it's not as polished as the movies that inspired it.

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