Jason versus Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives

There's been a lot of great fakes in the history of entertainment. Orsen Welles' War of the Worlds broadcast being one, The Curse of the Blair Witch -- a clever marketing tool for The Blair Witch Project -- another. Chalk up the Discovery Channel's Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives as the latest entry in the "genre."

To the flick's credits, it's one of the better mockumentaries. In fact, 99.9 per cent of it is pretty damn believable. It looks, feels and plays out like a regular Discovery Channel documentary, which is probably why so many people were pissed right off when they found out they'd watched 90 minutes of bullshit. And that disclaimer at the end flashes by so fast it might as well have been a spoof on The Simpsons.

But the makers use some good, solid science and documented fact -- not the U-Boat photo by the way -- to back up their fishing story. And the actors portraying the "cast of characters" do a bang-up job. In fact, this is one convincing tale, which is the whole point to be sure.

But if the events depicted in this flick were real, we'd have heard about them long before the episode premiered on Shark Week. It's just too big for one network to contain. The fact so many people bought into it shows we're too eager as a society to believe what we see on TV, even if the source is reputable.

For that reason alone, Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, rates a Good. The rest of the show is a fun ride as well.

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