If there’s one thing audiences never get tired of, it’s a good shark movie. From the legacy of Jaws to the gloriously absurd Sharknado franchise, the genre has proven it can thrive on both terror and chaos. Thrash lands somewhere in between, delivering a storm-fueled survival thriller that trades camp for urgency, even if it occasionally flirts with over-the-top moments.
At the center of the film is Lisa, played by Phoebe Dynevor, who is nine months pregnant as a Category 5 hurricane tears through her coastal town. It’s an immediately gripping setup. Trapped in her car, FaceTiming her mother while floodwaters rise and escape routes disappear, Lisa becomes the emotional anchor of the story. The film smartly leans into her vulnerability, raising the stakes in a way that feels both visceral and deeply human.
Meanwhile, Djimon Hounsou brings gravitas as Dale, a shark expert who quickly realizes the storm has unleashed something even more terrifying than the weather itself. Flooded streets have become hunting grounds, with bull sharks and great whites navigating the chaos. The film taps into familiar fears we’ve carried since Jaws, but grounds them in a more contemporary threat: climate change.
That thematic weight is something Hounsou himself connected with deeply. In an interview with Black Girl Nerds, reflecting on the film’s message, he emphasized how much the world is changing and the damage being done to the planet through fossil fuel use. He pointed to humanity’s ongoing mistreatment of Earth, noting that his awareness of climate change was shaped in part by attending a United Nations global warming conference about a decade ago. That real-world understanding helped inform his performance, even as he admitted his knowledge of sharks was limited. It’s a perspective that aligns seamlessly with director Tommy Wirkola’s approach, subtly weaving environmental commentary into the film’s high-stakes survival narrative.
Whitney Peak adds emotional depth as Dakota, Dale’s niece, who is grappling with the loss of her mother. Her decision to risk everything to save Lisa feels less like heroism and more like healing. While the film never explicitly spells it out, there’s a quiet poignancy in watching Dakota try to save someone else’s mother when she couldn’t save her own.
Tonally, Thrash walks an interesting line. It doesn’t fully embrace the camp of Sharknado, but it’s not without its lighter moments. A handful of one-liners and shark-related puns feel tailor-made for social media, offering brief moments of levity amid the tension. Still, the film’s undercurrent of environmental anxiety gives it more weight than your average creature feature.
That said, the film isn’t without its flaws. There are moments that stretch credibility, like mysteriously powered homes in fully flooded areas or instances of clear plot armor where characters survive situations that feel, frankly, impossible. These lapses can pull you out of the experience, especially in a film that otherwise tries to ground itself in realism.
Even so, Thrash succeeds where it matters most. It’s engaging, suspenseful, and knows exactly what kind of ride it wants to be. This is a popcorn movie through and through, one that keeps you leaning forward, occasionally laughing, and fully entertained from start to finish. If you’re looking for something to throw on this weekend, Thrash is an easy pick. It may not reinvent the shark movie, but it delivers a tense, storm-soaked thrill that’s worth diving into.
Thrash is now streaming on Netflix.
