User Reviews

This movie tries to combine Mad Max with Jaws and the end product is about what you expect when you see "shark" in a movie title these days. The only thing I liked was the setting, the various boats and mixes of technology made for an interesting setting. Everything else was absolutely awful. The acting was bad, even for a made for TV movie. The writing relied heavily on long over done clichés and tropes and the plot was rather uninteresting. As with all of the latest crop of this kind of film the sound design is overdone and distracting, potentially to make up for the awful writing. It makes the cheesy action scenes even harder to sit through. Overused bargain bin CG adds to the unbearable cringe that describes most of this movie. The main villain is beyond comical, the actor's performance combined with the writing makes his appearances on screen almost comical, but still somewhat painful.

In short, this movie is bad, not "so bad its good" but "Why did I waste 90 minutes of my life on this" bad.

First of all I must say that I was lured in given the title of the movie, as I am a fan of the creature feature genre. And yes, there is just something fascinating and interesting about sharks in particular. But the title alone for the movie had B-movie screaming all over it, and when the SyFy name appeared, I must admit to a 'oh, one of those types of movies!' thought crossing my mind.

But still, I decided to sit down to watch the movie, because it is sharks after all. And who knows, SyFy have been known to make a great movie every now and then. They are rarely, but they do exist.

As for the acting in the movie, well I was familiar only with John Savage, and he is always fun to watch in movies. It was really hard to take Jonathan Pienaar serious in this movie given his body gestures and way of acting, whether it was called for in the script or it was his style, I have no idea, but it sure was annoying.

"Empire of the Sharks" falls prey to the usual SyFy level of special effects and CGI. So don't get your hopes up. The effects and visuals are there and they function well enough for their purposes, but they are not impressive eye candies to behold. And the fact that the sharks were growling menacingly as they were swimming about was just ridiculous.

There was something in the movie that was taken directly out of "Conan". It was the scene where chained people were working some kind of milling wheel. A subtle homage or just a random coincidence? Who knows...

I suppose that "Empire of the Sharks" can best be classified as "Water World" meets "Jaws".

The storyline in the movie was easy to follow and required no complex thinking from the audience; so it is essentially just to lean back and watch the movie here. However, the concept of an army of sharks controlled by someone wearing a pair of gloves was somewhat difficult to accepts as a serious idea.

For a shark movie then "Empire of the Sharks" was not overly impressive or particularly enjoyable. It is just another movies in an endless line of less than mediocre shark movies that clutter the genre.

Right from the start this starts off bad - despite being set in the ocean (sort of Waterworld meets Mad Max) it was obviously filmed on a beach, probably the same set used for the equally atrocious Planet of the Sharks. With the exception of Ashley de Lange, who plays a Carrie-like shark caller, all of the cast, along with the script writer, deserve to be thrown in the ocean & fed to the sharks. The bad acting is painful to watch. Poor CGI. And sharks do not growl!!! Very bad film.

This movie is really "Waterworld" rehashed, with some fantasy and sharks thrown in. The shark movie genre can be said to be bad, but so bad they are good and a bit of fun to watch. Unfortunately this movie doesn't fit into that slot and is just bad on so many levels.

John Savage. He was in Godfather III, Do The Right Thing, The Deer Hunter.

In Empire of the Sharks he plays a warlord in a post apocalyptic water based society who has a mechanism to control man eating sharks.

Along with his cohorts they terrorise other colonies for tributes. However they come across a young woman who also has the ability to control sharks without needing any fancy gloves.

This Asylum production made for SyFy is dismal. It is Waterworld meets Jaws without any campy fun.

The special effects are of a typical low standard. The film is so dull, its running length is stretched because there is not enough story. The acting by most of the cast is bland.

"Empire of the Sharks" its about what you would expect from a Mark Atkins Asylum film. This sequel to "Planet of the Sharks" maintains the spirit many direct to video or TV Asylum movies have had since they started. Its cheaply made, it has some awful acting (most of the acting is bad but it has a few good performances), its absurd and the filmmaking its incompetent but part of me thinks that's intentional.

Mark Atkins got better since "Halloween Night (2006)" which was a delightfully bad "Haloween" rip off, while its is better than that, its still not good in any way, shape or form.

You really need to be in the right mood when you watch an Asylum film, just relax and try to enjoy the movie for all of its flaws, most of the time its not rewarding but maybe you can get a couple of laughs out of it, its hard to find one that actually deserves to be seen and "Empire of the Sharks" certainly isn't.

Have made no secret in the past of intensely disliking, and even outright hating a lot, a vast majority of The Asylum's and SyFy's (near-universally maligned for good reason) output, though there is curiosity as to whether they are capable of making something good and compulsive about their output's badness. Admittedly, both The Asylum and SyFy do have a small group of watchable films and the occasional (big emphasis on that word) above average one, unfortunately outweighed by the lacklustre at best and often dreadful films they churn out.

Before anybody gets defensive, am well aware that films like 'Empire of the Sharks' are not ones to be taken seriously. Have seen my fair share of low-budget shark films, and any other kind of low-budget creature film, and will admit to finding some guilty fun in some of them (i.e. the first two 'Sharknado' films). There are far worse shark films, but is that an endorsement or saying much? Not really.

Take no pleasure in rating films low or leaving negative reviews. Actually always aim to be an encouraging and perceptive reviewer, and 1/10 ratings are extremely rare.

Sadly 'Empire of the Sharks' is just too amateurish to accept as a guilty pleasure, where nearly everything is just poor quality that it's insulting and there is nowhere near enough fun, intentional or unintentional, moments. Was not expecting anything intelligent here, am well versed now to know that it is not that kind of film, but it does feel like it was made by somebody who didn't know how to give a film brains, so much so that it'll make the viewer feel dumb and that is not a nice sensation to feel watching a film.

Cheapness and ridiculousness were taken to extremes here in 'Empire of the Sharks'. Some marginally intriguing, if very silly, ideas but comes off so far-fetchingly that it is impossible to take things for what they're intended to be let alone take them seriously. The whole shark-caller stuff was even sillier than it sounds.

Visually, even when knowing what to expect, 'Empire of the Sharks' still looks really cheap. Any nice scenery that the movie has is difficult to appreciate when the movie is shot in such a drab way and when it's edited so amateurishly that bacon-slicer-like editing looks more refined. Worst of all in this regard are the effects, as it was made on low-budget it would have been forgiven a little if it was not great, but when the effects for the sharks look as if no effort was given in making them without looking so goofy and unfinished-looking that is hard to ignore.

No better news about the sharks' personalities. Not menacing or fun, they're basically bland and for titular creatures they don't feature in the film anywhere near enough. The shark action is nothing to write home about, not enough of it and easily forgettable with no suspense or even unintentional humour.

Writing ranges between incredibly bad to appalling. Any comedy is incredibly forced and is so cheesy it is enough to make the eyes roll in disbelief, while the more serious moments are very awkwardly written and as trite as anybody can possibly go. To describe the story as weak is being too insulting to the word weak, it is a very lethargically paced and thin as ice story with lots of padding that is either badly written or serves no point at all to the movie, other than attempts at novelty value, which falls flat on its face because it all feels so tired. It is not fun, it is not scary and it is not thrilling or suspenseful, it's just nothing but tired stupidity, with silly ideas being ridiculous and muddled in execution.

As for the characters, they are a mix of bland and annoying. Particularly one of the hammiest villains in recent memory. The acting ranges from bored to over-compensating, Jonathan Pienaar is irritating beyond belief especially.

Summing up, awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

There are some TV movies that are good, there are some that are bad. Some are that bad they are good, and some are that good they shock and amaze. 2017's "Empire of the Sharks" is an amazing masterclass of moviemaking that delights and entertains... Hang on, I've been smoking crack again. I meant to say that this is a steaming pile of crapola.

Brief Plot: In a dystopian future where the Earth is underwater a bad guy is about to meet his match.

Detailed Plot: Ian Fien is a nasty SOB that controls a small floating island as a dangerous and menacing warlord. With the majority of the world submerged under water due to events of the past, in this future version of Earth resources are sparce. With his army of trained sharks Fien and his men capture Willow, a mysterious stranger that happens to be the daughter of a "shark caller". She might just be the only person that can inspire a rebellion to overthrow the evil warlords dominion and lead whats left of humanity into a safer future.

Film stuff: EOTS is written and Directed by Mark Atkin, who has plenty of TV Movie titles under his belt, including; "6-Headed Shark Attack" (2018), "Planet of the Sharks" (2016), and "Sand Sharks" (2012). Just to be clear - I've only named the shark based films Atkin's has directed recently, but in fact he has at least 25 titles under his best as director and almost as many as writer. Atkins also worked on the camera and did the editing (along with Marq Morrison. He didn't work on the music, this is by Heather Schmidt, but I'll be honest, when you are watching this film you won't pay attention to the music with how bad the film is. CGI... CGI? Let's just skip that because it looks like everyone else skipped it too. With a runtime that's around 85 minutes, this bad film will feel like it's dragging, even with a 15 rating to spice things up a little.

Cast: John Savage plays Ian Fien, Jack Tompkins is Timor, Ashley De Lange is Willow, Jonathan Pienaar is Mason Scrim.... I could keep going, but to be honest, nobody really stands out in the film. Even those amongst the acting cast who don't give a cheesy performance are hampered by the plot that's been done and recycled many times before and the lacklustre script which could have been written as a colege project by 16 year olds. How did John Savage, who was once in "The Deerhunter" (1978) find himself in this, it must have been some downward spiral for his career.

Wrap up: This super low budget creature feature film is a straight to TV movie which is produced by The Asylum - which explains an awful lot. It's actually a sort-of sequel to "Planet of the Sharks" (2016) which I generously gave 2 out of 10 when I previously reviewed that title, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to this film - hint, I wasn't. Shark films have been done to death and this film really doesn't do itself any justice. In an attempt to combine "Jaws" (1975), "Waterworld" (1995) and "Mad Max" (1979), "Empire of the Sharks" instead pulls its own trousers down and curls out a massive steaming turd on-screen for those unlucky enough to catch it on TV. If the first film was abysmal - this is worse than dire. Instead of wasting money making trash like this, think of the good that could have been done if the production crew had of just donated money to charity or a worthwhile cause instead. Sorry - 1 out of 10. Not even that bad that it's good for a laugh.

We are subjected to countless movies where the plot and circumstances transcend any and all rational thought. But, I find it incredible that anyone could possiblyproduce a story line that is so ridiculous that absolutely NONE of it makes any sense from the outset, nor has any logic whatsoever, throughout. And when I say NONE of it, I mean that absolutely NONE of it. Nonetheless here it is. I will not waste time explaining in detail, nor "spoil" (sic) things for any potential viewer, It would take too long. Enough to say that, regardless of the requisite acceptances by the viewer watching any SyFi movie: the basic plot is simply stupid and every scene and action of the characters defies all reason, (and continuity), even for this type of fiction. NOTHING about this film works, Truly abysmal.

How do people even approve these movies?! The script, the acting, the graphics are absolutely terrible.

The cinematography, acting, and prestige direction is Oscar worthy. The screenplay flows from scene to scene effortlessly and the story moves along in a brisk and original creative way. Another gem from the syfy channel. 1/10

It's just embarrassing. As an actor how would you feel watching this back? Lol, just awful.

It's a mix of Water World and Mad Max with a very light budget! Bad acting, terrible non-existent storyline.

I started watching this without much hope but if you don't pull at strings too much it actually makes you want to see it to the end for what it is about a very good b movie

In the genre of B-crap movies with strange concepts and wanna-be-actors, it's actually not bad. Weirdly enough John Savage's plays the evil bad guy who tries to control this "Waterworld"-world.

The CGI of course is horrible and I have never seen a ship that flies when bombed :-D.

This movie has 1 good shot, everything else is just bad enough that it goes beyond funny bad, just straight back to bad.

Waste of £6, but good if you want to Chuck something terrible on in the background whilst you do something.

I love bad movies. I especially love bad shark movies. But this wasn't the good kind of bad, it was just bad.

Some of the actors were actually not terrible, others were so bad it was painful. The plot on the other hand was confusing. This felt like the third or forth part in a series, not a standalone movie, and it was difficult to follow along with what was happening on screen in any given moment, with a horrible script, monstrously bad half-rendered CGI sharks, and someone decided they should growl for some reason??

In short, even if you love bad shark movies like me, you probably won't like this.

In a post-apocalyptic future, a group of humans growing tired of their subservience to a warlord who controls a group of man-eating sharks sets out to stop him when they realize he's taken hostage a member of their colony that can also control the sharks.

This here wasn't all that bad of a post-apocalyptic shark film. One of the better elements here is the fact that this one goes for the more traditional route of the creature feature genre. The setting of the future with the floating fortresses and the future technology present give this a great build that's part of the storyline here revolving around the search for water controlled by the warlord. This gives the film a kind of starting point that provides the film with the kind of action that works well here, from the opening scenes of the raid on the village giving this one a great burst with their abduction tactics as well as the use of the sharks, the aborted rescue attempt that forces the retreat back into the submarine where they get chased away and the later scenes of them inside the compound trying to figure out the different powers she possesses by having her interrupt their treatments manages to provide this one with the kind of stylistic scenes usually featured here. The attempt to breach the fortress is a lot of fun with the layered attack featuring plenty of different modes of attack giving this one a great build as the different parts being exercised throughout here allow for a great sequence, and when placed with the fantastic finale where they manage to put their plan into action to finally save them is a spectacular finish here that melds the post- apocalyptic action with the sharks into a rather big finale. Continually featuring the sharks or the attempts to rescue the group means this one moves along really nicely and gives this a lot to really like that holds this up over its minor flaws. The main issue to be had here is the fact that there's just so little traditional shark action here with the post-apocalyptic setting that it might potentially turn off more looking for traditional fare. Giving this that setting provides this one with the rather different tone than most others and sets up the different kinds of scenarios that really don't provide the kind of typical virtues here that gives this a different feel. Likewise, the film has way too much lame CGI that provides rather comical scenes here with the sharks under orders from both parties that fill up the screen and really highlight the low-budget with their obvious usage. Still, this one has a lot to really like.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.