Animal loving humans (Eagle Vs. Shark (DVD))

Name: Ailran

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Eagle Vs. Shark (DVD)
Date:	02.10.07 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sweet, funny, offbeat and different

Disadvantages: A bit twee in places

Eagle Vs. Shark has been compared to the American cult sleeper hit Napolean Dynamite. For me this isn’t a good thing as I found Dynamite to be boring and, in the main, crap; Wes Anderson’s exquisite Rushmore having ploughed a similar furrow a number of years beforehand. EvsS does have some similarities to Dynamite, in the sense that the two main are a couple of geeks, fringe of society people who don’t quite fit in with what people consider to be ‘normal’.

Eagle Vs. Shark tells the story of Lily, she lives with her brother and works for Meaty Burger. The highlight of her working day is at 12.05 when Jared comes in. He works for and computer game selling shop (like Game) and looks like a refugee from an 80’s hard rock band.
She is very plain and a little bit strange. He, like most guys, doesn’t have a clue that she likes him. He is more interested in the other girl working there, in fact he gives Lily an invite to a ‘Come as your favourite animal’ party he is hosting to pass on to her colleague.
This she does but when she sees the invite in the bin she decides to take it herself and go wit her brother. She goes as a Shark, Jared is an Eagle, hence the strange title of the film. Her prowess as ‘Fight Man’ (a kind of Mortal Combat rip off computer game) impresses Jared and now he has really noticed her things begin…

EvsS was made in New Zealand, but has the spirit of a great American indie film albeit it with much better locations and scenery. Genre wise it is a romantic comedy, one with a bit of a difference though, and it does follow a lot of the stereotypes you would expect from such a film. Still by not concentrating on the kind of people most of these films do it is a refreshing change. It takes two unusual people, and their friends, and makes you laugh with them rather than at them.

The prime essence of a film about geeks and the like is to make you like them before making you laugh at their antics. EvsS does this, Jared & Lily are two people you can relate to, that you can like and want their relationship to bloom and succeed, unlike a lot of American Rom Coms where you are not really bothered, even if you are enjoying the film.

There is more than just a rom com side to EvsS though, as Jared wants revenge on his high school bully and has been trying to do this for 12 years now. This shared storyline makes the film in general work much better. There is more of a reason for certain parts of the storyline occurring than there is in most similar films.
If you have seen the trailer for this you may think that it is going to be very twee and quaint, something that the film doesn’t actually manage to become, it does get close at times but generally avoid this by just being so damn funny!

A lot of comedies these days seem to be created around the thought that the basic idea they have is funny and all the writers have to do is create a few funny scenes to fill out the idea and a great comedy will be created. EvsS works the other way round, the better way in my opinion, as the writers seem to have decided to just write an amusing little story and let the comedy come out of that rather than create scenes for the purpose of amusing the viewers. They let the comedy come from the situations and the characters that the story creates rather than forcing things too much.

EvsS should become the new sleeper hit, it is fun, amusing, has a couple of great characters and some laugh out loud scenes, but it will all depend on how many people get to see it and spread the word. Sadly it will get a very limited release and the word of mouth from people who see it will hopefully lead to a big success on DVD when it is released. Even though it is in English it will be too small, too indie and too ‘foreign’ to get shown anywhere but very large and Arthouse cinemas. If you get the chance go see this, it is a little gem of a film that deserves to get all the acclaim Napolean Dynamite built up because it is a much better film!

Summary: Romance and revenge in New Zealand