Writer: Rob Grant, Mike Kovac
Director: Rob Grant

Harpoon is one of those films that should have been a B-movie, but through some impressive performances and competent, if overly stylistic directing, it ends up becoming a combination thriller/dark comedy that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Hot-tempered rich-kid Richard (Christopher Gray) takes his girl, Sasha (Emily Tyra), and his best friend, Jonah (Munro Chambers), out for a day-trip on his yacht, The Naughty Buoy to apologize for accusing them of sleeping together. When they get stranded in the middle of nowhere, it starts a downward spiral into a blood-soaked, gore-filled final act.

It’s a great balancing act by Grant: he takes the script just seriously enough to make it an effective thriller, but not so seriously that the comedy doesn’t resonate. The movie starts with a line from Aristotle about friendship, but it’s very clear, very soon, that not only don’t they like each other, we don’t like them much either. Still, it’s tense, and funny, sometimes both at the same time, and there are enough twists and turns to make it interesting. Grant’s direction is stylistic, but mostly in a very fun sort of way, although it occasionally seems a little too “cutesy” for its own good.

IMDb has this one at a neat 6.0, and that’s just about where I would put it, too. There’s a lot of crap out there with actors you’ve never seen being directed by someone you’ve never heard of. It’s easy to pass up a film filled with unknowns. This is not one of those films. Do yourself a favor and check it out if you get the chance. It’s not going to change your life, but it will entertain you for the evening. (running time 1:23)