French Netflix film “Under Paris” attempts to have and eat its cake, and that is sort of amusing to me. On one hand, it wants to be a serious shark flick like Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” (1975), whose greatness still makes nearly all of subsequent shark flicks totally unnecessary to say the least. On the other hand, it also wants to be as preposterous as “Sharknado” (2013), and it is a bit shame that it does not go further with its utterly outrageous story premise during its second half.

The opening part of the film establishes the lasting personal trauma of its marine biologist heroine. When she is studying a certain big shark along with several colleagues including her husband in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Sophia (Bérénice Bejo) does not worry that much despite some alarming signs just because she cares more about her research. Of course, this eventually leads to a devastating incident which kills nearly all of her colleagues including her husband, and she is still reeling from her immense trauma when she is working in Paris three years later.

On one day, Sophia is approached by a little underground environment protection organization which has been tracking down and monitoring that big shark in question during last several years. To her disbelief, the shark is actually somewhere inside the Seine River of Paris, and it seems to adapt itself somehow to the freshwater environment of the river, while quite ready for any prey to enter the river.

After confirming its existence in Paris, Sophia naturally approaches to the local police, but, not so surprisingly, nobody believes her words at first. As a matter of fact, they are more occupied with preparing for a big sports competition which will soon be held on the river, because this big public event may boost the chance for Paris to be selected for the upcoming Summer Olympics as its mayor has eagerly hoped.

At least, after some investigation into the river, Adil (Nassim Lyes) and his police colleagues come to realize that there is indeed the shark in the river. They and their boss naturally try to warn the mayor along with Sophia, but, of course, the mayor does not listen at all, while quite insistent about having the big day for her and her citizens as scheduled. As a result, Sophia and Adil must find any possible way to prevent a catastrophe to be caused by that big shark, which turns out to be more formidable than expected with some hidden surprises.

As Sophia and several other main characters look for where the shark is exactly hiding somewhere inside the Seine River, the movie becomes more preposterous while maintaining its serious attitude as before. At one point later in the film, we get a tense sequence unfolded in the middle of some old underground space below Paris, and director/co-writer Xavier Gens and his crew members generate enough amount of tension for us to suspend our accumulating disbelief about the plot for a while at least (How the hell such a big shark like that can swim freely along those narrow underwater tunnels?).

Like “Jaws”, the movie knows well that it is usually better to show its shark as little as possible. After the opening part, the shark is just briefly glimpsed here and there during a number of following key scenes, but that is fairly enough to keep us on the edge, and the frequently turbid quality of the Seine River brings more fear and anxiety to these scenes (How can possibly the shark overcome this heavily polluted environment?).

In addition, the movie gives a few characters we can care about. After getting to know more about Sophia and her trauma and guilt, Adil becomes more sympathetic to her as a guy who turns out to have his own trauma and guilt from the past, and they become a bit closer to each other as working together more for stopping the shark. Bérénice Bejo, who has been more prominent since her Oscar-nominated turn in Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” (2011), provides some emotional gravitas to not only her character but also the story, and Nassim Lyes dutifully supports her as filling his archetype role with enough presence.

When it eventually goes all the way for shark attack, the movie does not disappoint us. I will not go into details on what is unexpectedly revealed during the last act, but I assure you that you will be quite amused by its outrageous aspects as well as the deliberate unrealistic qualities of its visual effects. Although the ending is a bit too anticlimactic compared to what has been so wildly presented right before that, it shows the possibility of a sequel, and the possible sequel may provide us more preposterous fun if it is really produced later.

Overall, “Under Paris” is not good enough for recommendation, but you will probably admire how it competently handles its outrageous story promise. According to my inconsequential 4-star rating standard, “Jaws” gets 4 stars, and a few fairly enjoyable shark flicks like “Deep Blue Sea” (1999) receive 3 stars at least while many others are placed way below them. Because “Under Paris” is somewhere between being these two groups, I give it 2.5 stars, but I will not deny that I had some fun and amusement at last night, so I will let you decide whether you will watch it or not during the upcoming weekend.