[REVIEW] ‘Under Paris’ Best Shark Movie Since ‘Deep Blue Sea’ Maybe Better

Put away any thoughts about shoddy CGI or clunky swimming shark animations, Lilith the shark in Netflix’s Under Paris is a real bitch and makes Jaws look like a guppy having a tantrum.

Director Xavier Gens (Hitman, Frontier(s)) isn’t pretending to change Spielberg’s vision of Jaws in his new movie Under Paris. In fact, he directly rips off the plotline of that classic film almost to a T. However he ratches up the suspense, death count and even throws in elements of a disaster film for his version. It’s a nail-biter filled with spectacular showstoppers, jump scares, and spectacular visual effects that Speilberg couldn’t accomplish in 1975.

The Netflix film follows Sophia (Bérénice Bejo), a marine biologist who studies sharks. She is especially interested in one she has tagged and named Lilith. On an expedition to get a tissue sample of Lilith to understand why she has grown so huge in such a short time, tragedy strikes. Some time later Sophia, still traumatized by the event, is contacted by the Paris Police Department in regards to a corpse they found along the banks of the Seine that looks like it was attacked by a shark.

Meanwhile, the mayor is rubbing her palms together over the $1 billion swimming event scheduled to happen in the river with over a thousand participants. It’s a publicity stunt aimed at shining a light on how Paris has progressed over the years.

Sophia and a young environmentalist learn that Lilith has made her way into the Seine, Paris’ waterway, and into the underwater catacombs where she is making a nest. With the help of the police, Sophia tries to avert the impending manslaughter.

There are really thrilling elements to Under Paris that are borrowed from such movies as Alien and Pirhana. The cinematography is so crystal clear that you can see every little piece of trash floating beneath the surface of the dirty river and every scar on Lilith’s gray shark skin as she swims by. This is made even more intense by the sound design which is so crisp you can hear the crunch of tendons separating from the bone when Lilith takes a bite of her victims.

Bejo does a great job of portraying a traumatized victim of Lilith’s terror. Although there isn’t much for her to do in the film other than warn people about an imminent massacre. Still, we care about her as much as we did for Chief Brody during his ordeal.

The kills are general shark movie tropes and perhaps ineffective to our desensitized spirit, but Gens knows how to build suspense, and just like Speilberg did, puts our nerves on edge without being gratuitous with the gore. But be warned, there is blood.

As far as special effects, these are the best sharks I’ve seen in a long time. While they might not be as good as a Wes Ball movie (Kindom of the Planet of the Apes), they are real enough to not pull you out of your suspension of disbelief. Sharknado and its ilk are a six-year-old’s crayola drawings compared to Under Paris’ fish.

The real treat comes at the end of the movie when all hell breaks loose. You’re thinking, they’re not gonna go that far. It’s a surprise out of left field which will make you feel guilty for believing it could actually happen.

Overall, Under Paris is an exciting and sometimes silly shark movie, but Gens, his cast, and his FX team manage to freshen up the genre amid the chum others have been giving us over the past 50 years.

Under Paris is now streaming on American Netflix.