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Under Paris

For over two decades, “Jaws” was essentially the one and only shark movie. The quintessential story of man vs beast in the waters off Amity Island, it was one of the biggest movies of its time and invented the summer blockbuster. With it’s iconic music, thrilling shark scenes and nail-biting suspense, it cemented itself as an instant classic, scaring people away from the water forever. It’s sequels started okay, then quickly went downhill.

It wasn’t until 1999, that director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) decided to bring sharks back to the mainstream, with “Deep Blue Sea.” This time, the sharks were test subjects at an underwater science lab. They flood the facility, forcing its inhabitants to swim through the water, where they were picked off one by one.

In the early 2000’s, a few more shark movies popped up, but the legacy of Jaws was still strong, and it seemed most filmmakers dared not try to dethrone it.  Until someone thought it would be a good idea to combine sharks and tornados.

“Sharknado” was the movie so, so bad it was so good, launching a franchise and catapulting it’s lead man – former “Beverly Hills 90210” hunk Ian Ziering – back into star status. Those movies knew what they were – terrible in every way, but the public lapped them up. Fortunately, this did not kill the sub-genre of shark movies, as there were a few strong contenders released over the last decade, most notably “The Shallows” and “The Meg” just scraping in. But Sharknado started a trend where sharks were combined with just about every setting, location or natural element imaginable, giving us such titles as "Shark Exorcist", "Ghost Shark" and "2-Headed Shark Attacks” to name only but a few. There way more with far worse titles believe it or not?

Sharks have always been a fascination, in equal parts pure fear and complete adoration. Little do many people know, shark’s are not evil monsters that go out of their way to chase people and kill them. Rather, they are just animals, doing what the only thing they were designed to do – survive. And for sharks, that means swim, reproduce and eat. Mankind hasn’t helped this purpose by trying to cull sharks in areas where people have been attacked, or even worse, allowing sharks to be hunted and butchered in the millions by the black market, selling their fins for soup, or other “apparent” healing properties to the rich and greedy.

This is one of the themes explored in our latest shark movie to enter the growing genre, “Under Paris.” Filmed in France, starring resident actors and throwing French subtitles at you faster than you might be able to read them, this Netflix exclusive feature was released at an interesting point on the calendar. At the time of writing this review, the 2024 Paris Olympics have just come to an end. Overall, a finely run event, but certainly one of the controversies was the quality of water in the Siene; the long, picturesque waterway that winds through Paris and hosted the triathlon event. Dozens of athletes from around the world swam it’s waters, and the race was on to make sure the quality of the water was up to scratch before the games.

Prior to the Olympics, swimming in the river had been banned for 100 years due to years of pollution. Organisers poured $1.5 billion into cleaning it up. It was a case of too little too late for some atheltes, as Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffren fell ill after his swim, causing him to miss the Closing Ceremony.

This is the focus of our movie, where the Mayor of Paris is adamant the triathlon will go ahead, as a showcase for the upcoming Olympics, claiming it’s clean and safe, even if a shark has been spotted in the Siene. On it’s tail, is scientist Sophia (who is familiar with the said shark, which she had encountered in the ocean as part of a study). She lost her whole team to the beast, and despite her grief, still wants to study the creature as it has somehow adapted to fresh water and made the rivers and underwater catacombs of Paris its new home.

The film has a dramatic focus that is worthy of your consideration, as it explores society’s impact on the environment, how this impacts sharks and their importance in the ecosystem. So much damage has been done, a real threat is posed to sharks and our big, feisty shark in question named “Lilith” is pissed off. Even if some of the environmentalists want to protect her to the extent they’re willing to get into the water to do so, they need to realise a shark is still a fish – and a fish has gotta eat!

And get eaten many people do, in bloody and graphic fashion, creatively using the famous locations of Paris as the scene of the bloodbath. Events get a bit out of control towards the end, as a severe case of irony plagues the city just as the triathlon is getting underway, and the sharks are making a splash. And in a shocking ending that spells disaster for Paris, this film hints at a sequel, which if the reasonable quality of this film is maintained, could be a good time at the movies. Think sharks swimming through other cities of the world; New York, Sydney, London, Chicago? The possibilities are endless.