With Hollywood doing its absolute hardest to push 3D as the future of film, it’s always nice to see a filmmaker use it for what it is: a gimmick. An impressive gimmick for sure, but a gimmick nonetheless. Alexandre Aja’s new film Piranha 3D doesn’t try to take itself too seriously; in fact, I think that may be an understatement. Throwing out all semblances of coherence and character development, it relies on gore and over the top visuals to maintain the viewer’s attention span. Does it work? Yes, it does. Is it worth paying the ridiculously inflated 3D price to see it? No way.
There’s a lot to enjoy here if you’re a fan of camp and gore. Jerry O’Connell overacts like his comeback depends on it as the movie’s version of Joe Francis (known here as Derrick Jones). Scenery chewing does not even begin to cover it. Christopher Lloyd emerges out of whatever hole he’s been hiding in for what amounts to a cameo, but what a cameo it is; his explanation of what these mysterious vicious piranha are is the funniest thing in this movie. He doesn’t even try…it’s just Christopher Lloyd channeling his Doc Brown zaniness and it’s excellent.
Outside of that…well, it’s what you’d expect from a B-movie. The acting is absolutely horrible, a somewhat main character disappears into thin air, the plot itself isn’t followed (especially the supposed romance between the two teenage leads which was absolutely unnecessary) and the characters are paper thin. Odds are, though, if you’re spending money to see a movie called Piranha 3D, that’s not what you want; you want gore. There’s plenty of it, over the top and super violent, but also old style. The big 10 minute scene of the piranhas attacking the spring break party was a thing of absolute B-movie beauty; outside of the piranhas being CGI, the gore was all done with simple effects and as I raised myself on the work of Tom Savini, it was a joy to see.
Spending the 15 dollars to see two actors ham it up and an excellent 10 minute piranha gorefest, though? I wouldn’t recommend it. Maybe back in the day when 3D wasn’t as expensive this would’ve worked, but since Hollywood wants to take the medium legit, movies like these that lack any substance aren’t worth the price of admission. If it comes out on DVD/Blu-ray with 3D glasses, though, definitely check it out. Just save your money at the cinema and pay off your car loan instead.
