It’s impossible to recreate Jaws but people keep on trying. It usually doesn’t work and even the sequels to the original film are failures (though the 4th entry did, reportedly, buy Michael Caine quite the nice house). Most shark films are unwatchable but a few have snuck through. The Shallows is a harrowing little thriller, one that showcases what Blake Lively can actually do onscreen. The Meg is just dumb fun and I love it for that. 2024 has gifted us with Under Paris, another ridiculous Jaws ripoff that plays totally sincere and manages to eke out a fairly watchable creature feature by a hair.
And much of that comes from the structure of the movie! Sure, we’re trying to get a triathlon in the Seine cancelled instead of a beach closed but the premise is the same. That cocky, self-assured mayor is up against a scientist and a cop that want to save lives. The main thing we’re missing is Robert Shaw but I think it’s Under Paris‘s self-awareness that kept them from trying to recapture lightning in a bottle.
Xavier Gens (Cold Skin) is no stranger to the creature horror film. His previous excursions with demons and creatures of “not-the-black-lagoon” have had their fair share of ups and downs and Under Paris is no different. This film gets more leeway for allowing itself to be ridiculous with a more natural premise, rather than his previous films that tried to have a realistic take on the supernatural. It’s a wonderful way to construct a movie, particularly when Gens and his co-witers (Yannick Dahan, Maud Heywang, Yaël Langmann) start off by having a giant shark attack occur at the gigantic island of garbage floating out in the Pacific. Having our shark be mutated by chemicals from this region of the world is unrealistic but something you could buy for a movie and I have to admit, I rolled with it.
That garbage patch is being scrutinized by the research team of Sophia Assalas (Bérénice Bejo). Together with her husband and a few other scientists, they’re tagging sharks and other animals to study the effects that the chemicals are having. What they didn’t plan for was Lillith, a mako shark that is twice the size it should be (and only getting started).
Cut to three years later. Sophia is working at an aquarium in Paris and you can guess why she’s doing this alone. She’s contacted by Mika (Léa Léviant), whose ocean preservation activist group has found Lillith’s tag in the canals of the Seine and has already eaten one local. Sophia leaves Mika and her girlfriend, Ben (Nagisa Morimoto), to their own devices as they try to free the shark and return it to the sea. Sophia isn’t as gung-ho about saving Lillith after what happened and is more concerned with preserving the lives of Paris citizens. She’s recruited by Adil (Nassim Lyes), a local cop that decides to help her.
Oh, and there’s a triathlon that the Mayor of Paris (Anne Marivin) is hoping will allow her to court the Olympics. So we can’t cancel. Ooo, and I forgot to mention that their is significant amount of unexploded ordinance at the bottom of the river lingering from WWII. It’s not a spoiler, they call that shot very early.
Nothing is less than ridiculous in Under Paris but each moment is played deadly serious, which makes for an excellent time. The CGI shark is pretty wonky and it takes awhile for the horror to kick in but whoo, when it does it is worth the wait. There are three major confrontations with Lillith, starting with the opening sequence, and the finale battle is just le spécial. There are wobbly moments but each performer is giving their all and no one feels out of place, making for a fun ensemble cast with a good A & B plot separation/collision.
Under Paris is ridiculous, bold, and just a roller coaster of a good time. I threw it on at 8am on a Monday morning and I have zero regrets. You’re going to have a great time with this one and I hope you all give it a whirl!
Under Paris is currently streaming on Netflix.
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