Netflix Original Movie ‘Thrash’ Is This Year’s Summer Shark Thriller

Action movies are a genre that on the face of it seem easy enough to crank out. You mash together a somewhat believable premise with a dash of underlying danger and personal challenges. You add just enough backstory to the characters to make the audience care what happens to them. Add a few wry jokes and some over-the-top stunts and “Shazam!,” you have yourself a hit action film.

But if you have spent anytime watching these movies, you know that there seem to be a thousand different ways to screw things up. Filmmakers can lean too much in the direction of backstory, the textbook example of that being the movie Pearl Harbor. Which had an absolutely jaw-dropping 30-minute action sequence bookended by long stretches of rom-com storytelling.

In recent years, the rise in new technology has led to a number of films that are filled with so much over-the-top glitz that audiences never have the chance to care for the characters. Or the film crams so much story in the film that it pushes out everything else. I’ve watched the film Moonfall at least three or four times and I still couldn’t tell you what happened. The movie - like many recent action films - just turns into a display of meaningless action porn.

Netflix has done a good job in recent years of cranking out solid B-level action movies which might not be fine art. But they are a fun rollercoaster ride for audiences of nearly all ages.

Thrash is the latest film from producer Adam McKay, whose last Netflix film Don’t Look Up attempted to illustrate what might happen when scientists warn the world the Earth might be headed for a disaster and everyone chooses to pretend it is fake news.

That movie was everything Thrash is not. The story was often heavy-handed, the cast was filled with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep. As much as I appreciated the premise of the film, it never really resonated with me. And based on the reviews I read after it premiered, I was not the only one who responded to the movie in that way.

Thrash is an entirely different kind of action film. Written by and directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), this film features a small cast of actors who you might somewhat recognize, but aren’t big enough stars to take you out of the story as it unfolds.

The premise is remarkably straightforward. A hurricane so powerful that it might as well be the mythical Category 6 storm delivers a direct hit on a small town in South Carolina. And thanks to demolished levees, driving waters and a conveniently demolished tanker full of blood from a nearby meat packing plant, the town is not just flooded, but filled with hungry sharks.

Yes, the premise is a bit convenient, but it’s so well executed that you barely notice. The characters are nicely framed in a way that makes their struggles instantly identifiable. 

Whitney Peak plays Dakota, a young woman who has turned into an Agoraphobic recluse after the unexpected death of her mother. Phoebe Dynevor is Lisa, a pregnant woman recently dumped by her fiancée who finds herself trapped in a flooded car. Djimon Hounsou (Dr. Dale Edwards) is a Marine Biologist who is struggling to get back to rescue his niece Dakota. And Alyla Browne, Dante Ubaldi and Stacy Clausen play three children who have foster parents so evil that you’ll be rooting for them to become shark snacks.

I’m not going to give away any more of the plot. And to honest, the story doesn’t matter all that much. Thrash is a non-stop thriller that never takes a breath and never has a false note.

If this was the 1980s, Thrash would be the shark film of the summer and the studio would already making plans to crank out Thrash 2: Shark Storm. But this is 2026, so all you have to do is to turn on Netflix.

As a wise man once said, “It’s A Wonderful Life.”