Starring Craig T. Nelson, Kim Cattrall,
Colm Feore, Cress Williams, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Reilly Burke,
Blu Mankuma, Matthew Carey, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Michael Michele.
Directed by Stuart Gillard. (1998, 176 min).
Peter Benchley will always be
synonymous with Jaws, of course.
For a long time afterwards, he wrote a
variety of other books no one cared about. It wasn't until fairly
late in his career that he must have realized he'd never escape the
shadow of Jaws. His last two novels, Beast and White Shark, had him
revisiting what made him a household name in the first place...sea
critters with nasty dispositions. While Beast follows the Jaws
formula pretty closely, White Shark ventures into sci-fi territory,
involving the military playing around with genetics to create
monsters
Once again, Hollywood came calling and
both were adapted into television miniseries. White Shark was
retitled Creature, which is actually more accurate since the title
beast isn't exactly a shark.
A few decades ago, the government tried crossbreeding sharks with other species, including humans, one of which escaped. 25 years later, marine biologist Simon Chase (Craig T. Nelson) is studying sharks near the now-abandoned research facility. He's later joined by ex-wife Amanda (Kim Cattrall) and teenage son Max. Soon, local islanders begin dying. At first everyone blames a pregnant great white lurking around, and inexplicably hold Chase responsible for not telling them about it (A shark in the ocean? This must be YOUR fault!).
But for Chase, the evidence doesn't add up to a shark being the culprit. After a few more locals become lunch, he and Amanda learn about the experiments once conducted at his lab. They contact the Navy, and Admiral Richland (Colm Feore), who was present when the creature first escaped, shows up with a batch of Navy Seals. He intends to kill the creature and destroy all evidence of the old experiments. Meanwhile, the creature begins attacking people on land. Because it's half-shark, half-humanoid, its got arms & legs to go with all those fins and teeth.
A few decades ago, the government tried crossbreeding sharks with other species, including humans, one of which escaped. 25 years later, marine biologist Simon Chase (Craig T. Nelson) is studying sharks near the now-abandoned research facility. He's later joined by ex-wife Amanda (Kim Cattrall) and teenage son Max. Soon, local islanders begin dying. At first everyone blames a pregnant great white lurking around, and inexplicably hold Chase responsible for not telling them about it (A shark in the ocean? This must be YOUR fault!).
But for Chase, the evidence doesn't add up to a shark being the culprit. After a few more locals become lunch, he and Amanda learn about the experiments once conducted at his lab. They contact the Navy, and Admiral Richland (Colm Feore), who was present when the creature first escaped, shows up with a batch of Navy Seals. He intends to kill the creature and destroy all evidence of the old experiments. Meanwhile, the creature begins attacking people on land. Because it's half-shark, half-humanoid, its got arms & legs to go with all those fins and teeth.
 |
| "See? I TOLD you not to put-off cleaning the pool!" |
At three hours, Creature is way too
long for its own good; the same story could have been more
economically told in half the time. Speaking of story...since you've
read this far, you are obviously open to the outrageous premise.
Things get goofy at times, both aided and hampered by the creature's
appearance. Created by the great Stan Winston, it's suitably detailed
and gruesome when bursting from the sea. However, watching it lumber
around on land like the Creature from the Black Lagoon might illicit
a chuckle or two.
Still, there's new stuff showing up
weekly on SyFy that's far worse. Despite its overlength and
occasional silliness, Creature remains pretty entertaining for a
made-for-TV movie, with serviceable performances, decent attack scenes and
some jackass characters whose violent deaths are well deserved (okay,
maybe not the cute little seal). It's not gonna make anyone forget
Jaws, but you knew that already.
EXTRAS: None
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...LIKE CAT CHOW
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