Writer: Siti Munawirah Mustaffa

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Watch this if you liked: “Piranha” and “Raging Sharks”

What puzzles the reviewer the most while watching a film as insignificant, unnecessary and unforgivable as "Bait" is not the tsunami, the shark, or the car's ability to turn itself into a 'submarine' for the world's most annoying couple in existence ever. Rather, it's the main casts who obviously are Australians, yet they humiliate themselves by trying to speak with a failed American accent. Is it because their characters are supposedly American expatriates or because the director thinks the audience would be incapable of grasping a single word uttered by an Aussie? The reviewer wonders.

Regardless of whether or not we happen to be shark-harks, there is one single fact, which we all should unanimously agree upon: 1975's "Jaws" is the only horror fin flick that works. Sadly, "Bait" doesn't. What seems like a harmless idea of projecting a story of a sudden tsunami in the land of kangaroos, koalas, and surfer dudes that leads to a shark invading a supermarket might seem funny to some, but it's painfully agonizing for many.

If Jamie Foxx and David Morse can't even pull off a good scene in Antoine Fuqua's "Bait" in year 2000, what are the odds for a bunch of C+ rated actors such as Xavier Samuel, Phoebe Tonkin, Julian McMahon, Alex Russell, and worst of all, Cariba Heine to take over? As predicted, the current "Bait" remains to be a holocaust.

Now, the "it's so bad that it's actually good" phrase may be used on so many film flops but unfortunately for "Bait", it's a different matter. It's a tough luck for director Kimble Rendall who was unable to prove even the least of charm in this film. In a film where all characters are simply just brutally daft, the only thing that keeps your excitement running is to see them getting devoured by the shark after the first thirty minutes of the show.

The shoddy effects are also very much "Oh, so unconvincing!" that they make 90's "Mortal Kombat" looks like "Inception". Low budget might be a decent excuse a decade ago, but it's already stale in 2012.

Suffice to say, it's time for filmmakers to finally put a halt to these rotting corpse of ideas that only worked during the 70's and 80's because the combo of amateur actors, an absurd storyline and a script that gives a nail on a blackboard effect is turning filmgoers into bulimics. A few scenes in "Bait" might trigger a few snickers, but that only happens when you're not in the right state of mind. Should any masochist be desperately looking for a tasteless joke, it's best if he/she goes for "Epic Movie" instead.

Cinema Online, 20 September 2012