Garda (officer) Lisa Nolan (Ruth Bradley) has been assigned to a few weeks of duty on Erin Island in Ireland, and she's coming in to take the legal reigns of the community while the local police chief is on vacation. The deputy she'll be working with, Garda Ciaran O'Shea (Richard Coyle), is a hard drinking local a little sore about not being given the responsibility of police chief duties while the boss is away, but he's so hungover - if not drunk - most of the time that it doesn't really matter. So, O'Shea sets out to show Lisa the ropes, but things aren't quite what they normally are on the island - a large pod of dead pilot whales washes up on the beach, covered in deep gashes and scars; people's heads are found missing their bodies; one of the town drunks keeps talking about a sea monster he's got taking a bath in his bathtub. As the two policeman start to investigate, they realize they've got problems that are from out of this world!
I love creature features. There are some bad ones out there, i.e.,
Squirm,
but, when you think of movies like
Critters, Tremors, Slither, Gremlins - these are gems, great movies that all follow the same plot but are easy to watch, fun and funny, and almost always entertaining.
Grabbers slides nicely into this category. A close blend between
Tremors and
Slither, the film's story is the basic one - aliens land (or splash, in this case) into a small town and wreak havoc among the locals. From there, you've got various bits of interaction between the islanders and the aliens themselves until there's finally a big stand off, and the humans show the aliens that you don't mess with Earthlings. This is what the best of the creature features do, and this is what
Grabbers does. The flick goes a step further, too; it throws in a bit of a high-concept - you gotta drink to stay alive. This an intriguing, promising way to change up the routine. Unfortunately, the drinking stays too limited and contained during the first act to allow the idea to serve as the springboard it could have. The characters that DO drink in the opening bits of the movie have good stuff (Lalor Roddy or 'Paddy' has some really funny lines), but the real drinking and consequential shenanigans don't start until the last half of the film, which feels like missed opportunities. There are some other problems with the film, too. The opening act has a LOT of scenes, so you're constantly moving from one thing to another, sometimes to only spend a minute or two with a character before moving on to something else. Also, we see the main alien of the film way too early. Something that works so well with
Slither is that every time you see the main alien, it is changing. There is something knew about it, something fresh. With
Grabbers, the main alien is seen early on, and it remains the same for the remainder of the show. This ultimately takes away from the impact of the creature, leaving the last half of the film not as good as it could have been. These are all just downfalls, though; things that should have been done differently. There are lot of things that are done right. Casting is one of them. Coyle, as O'shea, is good. He's always had strong comedic timing (his character in the British TV show 'Coupling
' is hilarious), and he continues to work those chops here. Bradley is good, if a little simple and lackluster sometimes, but the real shiner is Lalor Roddy, whose dialogue and attitude are nearly always worth a chuckle. The CGI in
Grabbers kicks ass, too. The practical creature effects are creative and good, but the CGI is flawless, save one little scene near the end that the creators smartly, quickly cut away from. The main alien design will trigger connections to a major Hollywood sci-fi flick just released, and I can't help but think that Jon Wright and his team are cursing the H-wood pic for maybe stealing some of their design. Another good part of the flick is the scenery. Shot almost exclusively in Ireland, the film is full of expansive, beautiful shots that allow for the setting to become a character itself. You can tell Wright knew what he was working with because he uses a lot of wide, panoramic shots of the coast, hillside, and flatlands within in the country. Some really beautiful capturing. And finally, the film is just fun. It's not technically great; it often feels rushed and abrupt (esp. the love story); and the dialogue - European slang and Irish-isms like shite; feckin'; shandy's; 'I'm pissed'; 'the fittest' - is rushed and sometimes difficult to understand. (I'm an American; what can I say?) Still, the movie moves along nicely and is fun to watch, with some good laughs. Coyle sells it, and it seems like everyone else involved is genuinely having a good time as well.
So, if you wanna watch a movie that inspires some complaints but is still a good, solid creature feature, have a grab at
Grabbers. It's not great, but I think you'll have a good time. An' if ye don't belee' me, well jus' go havuh look fer yeself, ya stubbern bahstird! It's on Netflix!
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| I'll take a shandy of what he had! |
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