Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Shark Attack 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 17, 2019

'Shark Attack 2' is currently only available as part of a two-disc, eight-film 'Meg-A-Shark' collection from Echo Bridge. The set also includes 'Toxic Shark,' 'Shark in Venice,' 'Malibu Shark Attack,' 'Hammerhead,' 'Shark Attack,' 'Shark Attack 3: Megalodon,' and 'Shark Zone.'

Cape Town, South Africa. Samantha Peterson (Nikita Ager) is hunting the shark that killed her sister. An entrepreneur, Michael Francisco (Danny Keogh), captures the shark, a Great White, and turns it into an amusement park draw. It is a major hit. But when the shark eats a park employee and escapes from captivity, a man named Dr. Nick Harris (Thorsten Kaye) must lead the effort to reel the shark in for good.

Shark Attack 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The picture looks good, but there's a problem with it. More on that in a moment. Generally speaking, though, the film-sourced image appears to be in very nice shape, maintaining a film-like aesthetic and holding to a light and complimentary grain structure. A few errant splotches and speckles interfere but are never really dense or distracting enough to warrant more than a passing mention. Details fare well. Facial features are adequately complex in close-up, and various environments -- from a boat on the ocean to park attraction locations -- are crisp and pleasantly revealing. Colors enjoy a healthy depth and contrast that seems dialed down just a little to give the movie a lighter feel, but essential primaries pop with pleasing definition and saturation. Black levels and skin tones are fine.

The problem is that the image occasionally slows down, with various scenes appearing to go into some choppy slow-motion cadence while audio -- music, dialogue -- remains flowing at regular speed. There are several first-act timestamps to share where this occurs: 8:54, 10:20, 11:00, 11:40, 15:50, 23:33, and so on...it got to the point that each instance wasn't worth writing down when it became painfully apparent that the problem would persist. It was replicated exactly at the same timestamps on a different player connected to a different television than the primary review setup, so it's not an issue with playback on a particular device. It all but ruins an otherwise strong viewing experience; the score would have been around 3.5 had it not been for the jitters.

Shark Attack 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 track is active and much more agreeable than the mess of a listen that was the Shark Attack presentation. Surrounds pick up a good deal of information, even if clarity and definition are not stellar. Music is appropriately loud and engaging, offering good foundational clarity but not much intimate detail. Action scenes don't have much to offer in terms of precision detail, but essential clarity is good and the effects are fine when paired with the aggressive music. There is also surprisingly good depth. Some ambient effects filter through the fronts and rears alike. Dialogue is clear and nicely detailed from the front-center position.

Shark Attack 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No extras are included.

Shark Attack 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shark Attack 2 isn't bad for the genre and Echo Bridge's Blu-ray would rate highly were it not for the unfortunate jittery video presentation. It's difficult to recommend with such a fundamental flaw getting in the way of an otherwise good presentation.