There’s something about natural disasters and sharks that, separately, make for compelling films, but when combined together should be an automatic slam dunk. That’s exactly what Netflix’s latest straight-to-streaming offering Thrash promises, as a Category 5 hurricane isn’t the only thing to worry about, with great white sharks lurking in the floodwaters ready to wreak havoc.

Sadly, as fun as the premise is, Tommy Wirkola’s film struggles to conjure anything particularly memorable amid its abundance of subplots. Of course, there are the characters central to the story: a pregnant woman named Lisa (Phoebe Dynevor), Dakota (Whitney Peak), who is crippled by agoraphobia, and her uncle Dale (Djimon Hounsou). They make up the “core three”, alongside a trio of neglected foster kids and other side characters the film expects you to root for.

There is also an abundance of additional side characters who, from the outset, you know exist purely as shark bait. Beyond a brief introduction to the central trio and some shallow attempts at generating emotional attachment, there isn’t much for the audience to latch onto. As a result, it becomes difficult to invest in anyone or anything that’s actually happening.

Perhaps the biggest issue, and what will likely pull audiences out of the experience, is how predictable it is from the outset. It feels telegraphed who the survivors will be, so even when those characters appear to be in peril, the tension doesn’t quite land. There’s also a constant stream of baffling decision-making on display. From the beginning, where the adults of this South Carolina town dismiss the storm despite its ominous build-up, to Lisa disregarding her baby’s future by going to work on the day it hits, it’s all rather contrived and serves more as a means of pushing the plot forward than as thoughtful writing.

To its credit though, Thrash manages to remain engaging when it leans into the natural disaster elements. The sound design, in particular, is a highlight, with the rumbling storm powerful enough to feel like it could burst speakers at home. The cinematography, capturing the murky floodwaters, is another really strong element, keeping audiences guessing as to where the sharks are and who might be next, which does create some genuine tension along the way.

Despite the far-fetched nature of events and the lacklustre script, the lead performances from Dynevor, Peak, and Hounsou feel believable, as though they are genuinely experiencing the terror unfolding around them. With stronger material, this could have resulted in a very different outcome.

Instead, Thrash feels like a massive missed opportunity. It aims to be a Jaws-lite, but without any real emotional investment, it was doomed from the get go never quite living up to that ambition. That said, as an easy background watch and a way to end the endless scrolling of Netflix’s catalogue, you could do an awful lot worse this weekend, with the few thrills it conjures proving just about enough to keep things ticking along.