Plot
A mutant strain of giant piranha
escape into the Amazon and head down river, eating everything in their path on
their way towards Florida.
Review
It's hard to review a film such as Mega Piranha.
I mean come on, just look at what I'm up against here. On one hand the film does
it's job well in that it's ridiculously over-the-top, uber-cheesy, makes no
sense whatsoever and just bombards the viewer with anything and everything in
the hope that something sticks. On the other hand, it's ridiculously
over-the-top, uber-cheesy, makes no sense whatsoever and just bombards the
viewer with anything and everything in the hope that something sticks. It's a no
win scenario for some, a winner takes all scenario for others. Mega Piranha
follows hot in the heels of other such 'Mega' monster films and could well be
the worst of the lot.....although that's like saying you'd rather die by
electric chair than lethal injection.
Not coincidentally made at the same time as
Piranha 3-D, the Asylum deliver another of their truly atrocious
‘mockbusters’ slap bang with all of the usual nonsense and hokem. Don’t worry
about the story. Or script. Logic? That doesn’t exist. Physics – yeah whatever.
They’re all inconsequential as these films are on a completely different playing
field. Not even daft drinking games can make these films enjoyable. I read it
somewhere else that Mega Piranha can best be described as a 'hyperactive'
film and that is true. There's not a moment's let up in anything and the film
has been edited to the point of nausea. There's no suspense building, slow
build-up or gradual picking up of the pace - everything is light speed from the
opening scene. Scenes are not dragged out for any more than basic necessity.
Characters shout and rush their way through dialogue in order to move onto the
next scene as quickly as possible. Images of mutant piranha, explosions,
helicopters and military guys running around like headless chickens are there
one minute, gone the next. There’s no point in even trying to sit back and enjoy
everything because you won’t get chance. It’s just rapid fire filmmaking at its
most basic. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that epileptics have been banned
from watching this - if you're not prone to fits before watching, you're sure to
be afterwards/
The effects for the piranhas are feeble but it was to be expected. Funnily
enough, these piranha don't have wings to fly (Piranha 2: The Spawning,
I'm looking at you) but that doesn't stop them from gracing the air like eagles,
soaring through the sky and then slamming down into their victims on dry land
(which then begs the question of how they manage to return to the water). As the
film goes on, the fish get bigger and bigger due to the incomprehensive science
mumbo jumbo so that by the time the film nears its conclusion, there are piranha
leaping into the side of buildings and taking down battleships. It has to be
seen to be believed. Like the case with the majority of these cheap and cheerful
monster flicks, the story spends most of its time with the human villains, this
time a Venezuelan general and his army of guerrillas. As I always state in these
type of film, human villains simply take up unnecessary screen time. If I want
to see commandos and South American mercenaries fighting each other, I’d watch
an 80s action fest. It turns out that I came here to see mega piranha fish and
I’m being denied that chance.
Paul Logan is the muscle-bound hero of the piece and he must have strained his
vocal cords when he was bench pressing in the gym because he sounds terrible.
It’s like he’s trying to channel the spirit of Arnie but without any sort of
charisma and less of the muscles (though the guy is still stacked). 80s pop
singer Tiffany stars as the token female scientist and its hard trying to
picture her as some sort of intellectual when she spends more time positioning
her silicon-enhanced chest towards the camera. Truth be told, in such films like
this, the low quality of acting talent is hardly the worst crime committed given
what else is on display. A mute would have as much trouble with the script.
Verdict
Mega Piranha is a terrible film but
trying to tear it apart is an impossible task since it's this very nature that
the film embraces. It’s just ninety minutes of pure insanity, full of examples
of bad filmmaking at its most explicit and does it care? It wears this like a
badge of honour on it’s sleeve.
