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Sky Sharks (Umbrella Entertainment) DVD Review
Released by: Umbrella Entertainment
Released on: December 2nd, 2020.
Director: Marc Fehse
Cast: Barbara Nedeljakova, Eva Habermann, Thomas Morris, Lynn Lowry, Tony Todd
Year: 2020
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Sky Sharks - Movie Review:
In the tradition of modern day 'wacky Nazi' movies like Iron Sky comes director Marc Fehse's 2020 picture, Sky Sharks. The premise? A team or geologists currently working a dig in the far flung reaches of The Arctic uncover a massive old Nazi warship named Der Himmelsfaust, long thought lost after the Germans lost the Second World War, lodged inside a huge iceberg.
Our intrepid scientists thaw this behemoth and discover that the ship contained what would have been the Nazi's secret weapons, created by the Reichsflughaie, the kind that, had they been unleashed upon the world, would surely have turned the tides in favor of The Third Reich. These weapons of destruction are, of course, rocket powered monsters piloted by mutated soldiers and supernatural super-soldiers, the victims of genetic experiments conducted by Nazi scientists concerned less with the morality of their experiments than with giving Hitler the win!
Dr. Klaus Richter (Thomas Morris) is the scientist who was behind all of this. In the years that have passed, he's immigrated to America and started using his genius for less diabolical work. When he learns that the Sky Sharks have been unleashed upon the world, he and his foxy daughters, Angelique (Barbara Nedeljakova) and Diabla (Eva Habermann), team up to put a stop to them once and for all.
This one opens with a pretty insane sequence where the Sky Sharks attack and then board a passenger-heavy airliner (look for Lynn Lowry as a nun here!) that ends with some insane gore, and it's pretty fun. Yeah, the whole thing is done with CGI, there's virtually no practical effects work on display here at all - and that will understandably irk some genre fans - but once you get past that and accept the fact that this thing is basically just one big digital cartoon, you can have quite a bit of fun with it. Nothing in this film is meant to be taken seriously. There's plenty of gratuitous nudity loads of hokey digital carnage on display and the acting is in keeping with the film's over the top style. Low key isn't a term that applies here.
While digitally rendered set pieces rarely have the same type of tension as those done using real people on real sets or locations, the scope of some of what we see happen in the picture is, admittedly, impressive. Again, this is all being done with tongue placed firmly in cheek, and the movie definitely has a strong sense of humor to it, but even with that said Fehse and company manage to conjure up some genuinely cool imagery here. The very concept of Nazi super-soldiers flying through the skies on airborne war-sharks is as cool as it is stupid, and the film does a pretty decent job of milking the idea for all its worth.
Sky Sharks - DVD Review:
Sky Sharks arrives on Region 4 encoded DVD from Umbrella Entertainment in anamorphic 2.35.1 widescreen transfer. This was shot digitally, so grain and print damage are non-issues here. Detail looks pretty strong throughout for a standard definition presentation. Some minor compression artifacts are noticeable here and there but otherwise, no complaints. Colors and black levels are solid as well.
The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is pretty strong, with good channel separation throughout the movie. The track is quite active and makes the action scenes a bit more fun. There are no issues with any hiss or distortion and the track is balanced properly. There are no subtitle options or alternate language options provided though the passages that are spoken in German have 'burned in' English subtitles on the screen when those moments occur.
There are no extra features here, not even a menu screen.
Sky Sharks - The Final Word:
Sky Sharks is a perfectly enjoyable slice of junk food cinema, campy and goofy by intent and not afraid to wallow in exploitative elements for effect. Umbrella's disc is barebones, but it looks and sounds pretty nice. This is a fun watch for those who enjoy cinematic nonsense!
