By Steve Mezo
Todays pick is one that I would have written myself if thirteen year old me were asked. And I mean this as the highest compliment possible because outside of what the Antihero did early on, everything else would definitely have been thought up and typed.
This one has it all! Magic Ninjas, a Giant Shark, a Wereshark, a Zombie, Shrouded Cult Members and more blood spraying than a GWAR show. It has the standard storyline of a Antihero being hired to protect a village and find some kind of retribution for things that they've done in their past. But the movie has absolutely no problem with immersing you into it's universe.
Another thing I really liked about it is the CGI, because Sci-Fi Channel had turned me off to constant okay CGI sharks being pumped out. Especially after seeing amazing work from Hammerhead Productions that were done by Jamie Dixon, Dan Chuba, Thad Beier and Rebecca Marie when they decided to form their own production company in 1994, then getting their names and faces out there from their work on Deep Blue Sea (1999).
But the CGI Shark in Ninja VS Shark did the job even in HD. I can't be a complete snob with the look after growing up with stop motion and Bruce's mechanical embodiment. But there is a big difference with the detail alone in what went into past CGI sharks VS this one.
Like I said the story is pretty standard to the ones that a lot of us older fans watched on Black Belt Theater when we were kids or early Westerns and The Mandalorian now. But the crew did an excellent job of making me root for the good guys and keeping me entertained.
The only thing that could have made it any better was if it came with a free two dozen Hot Wings delivery.
