Dan Bruines

"We aren't just walking away from this - we're walking away from who we are. And that's not the right thing to do." 

-Dan to Chase Landon, Jurassic Shark III: The Revolution

Dan Bruines
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Portrayed by	Ben Meunier
Appearances	Jurassic Shark Jurassic Shark II: The Retribution Jurassic Shark III: The Revolution (cameo)
Status	Deceased - Shot by Marcus Callum
Location (at time of death)	Walking Trail

Dan Bruines was a supporting character in the Jurassic Shark trilogy. He is portrayed by Ben Meunier. Dan was largely responsible for gathering many of the people together to join the hunt for the original shark. During the hunt, Dan was badly wounded by the shark, and Chase Landon believed he died. However, Dan recovered from his injuries and went to live with his grandparents for some time. 

During the Retribution Incident, Dan returned upon hearing of recent events with the sharks. After reuniting with Chase Landon, Dan helped Brett Nelson fight a hammerhead shark; after Brett's death, he tried saving Chase from Quinn Freeman, who was killed by Russell. Dan then participated in the final fight against the hammerhead, which was ultimately destroyed.

The incident fueled the public's distrust of the Shark Hunters. Dan and Jimmy Clark later met with Chase, who told them of his plans to disband the Shark Hunters, though they convinced him to keep fighting. Over the next few months, however, the InGen employees fought the Shark Hunters and killed most of them, including Dan, who was killed by Marcus Callum.

Biography

Jurassic Shark

Dan Bruines makes his debut in the Jurassic Shark film when he is sent by Chase Landon, who realized the predicament of the shark in the walking trail, to find Drake Matthews, a kid who is a shark expert. Dan manages to find out that the shark is a great white shark, and he invites Drake to go searching for people to come on the hunt with him. The two invite Billy Trenton and Cooper Culman. Afterwards, Dan and Drake have a meeting about the hunt with Nate Williams and Billy. As the meeting begins, Chase confirms his participation in the hunt as well.

The following day, the hunt begins, and the shark is immediately found in the walking trail. Chase, Dan and Drake climb a slope to escape from the shark, and Dan retreats to find everyone else while Chase battles the shark. After the brief battle, Chase and Drake find Nate, who states that Dan had seen the shark heading for his cul-de-sac neighborhood, and they set off to find it, yet they are unsuccessful. On the next day, Dan continues on the hunt with Chase, Drake, Anna Shelby and Alexa Murray. Dan splits up from the rest of the hunters and begins searching on his own, and is not seen for several days until Chase asks Billy if he'd seen Dan. Drake is sent by Chase to look for him, to which Drake finds Dan lying in the bushes, being pulled off by the shark to be eaten.

Jurassic Shark II: The Retribution

In the film's sequel, Chase reveals that Dan survived his ordeal with the shark from the first film, and that he's been recovering from his injuries. Outside of the film, it has been confirmed that Dan was living elsewhere for a time, likely traumatized by his nearly-fatal encounter with the shark. He later decides to surprise Chase by returning to the cul-de-sac, as him and his parents returned to visit someone in a nearby neighborhood. Dan chose to meet with his old friends, although he had been unaware of the Retribution Incident. 

Dan first appears in the film when he returns to the cul-de-sac during the chaos in which the sharks are freed by the InGen employee. He is greeted by a bike gang in the cul-de-sac, before heading to Chase's house and obtaining a broomstick to use as a weapon. He then meets Russell and Gabe, and as the two walk off, he gets involved in a duel with the Bull Shark. Eventually, he fatally stabs the shark through the head, and it dies. Afterwards, he is said to have met with Chase, who decided to make sure that the Bull Shark was dead while Dan searches for Eddie, who also dies soon after. As Dan searches for Eddie, he finds Quinn, who hopes to stop the park from opening. As Dan explains how he doesn't know what he's talking about, Chase arrives and says that the Bull Shark escaped, and in that moment the Bull Shark assaults Quinn. Dan and Chase retreat, with Dan believing that they should save themselves. 

Later, Dan allies with Brett to fight the Hammerhead Shark behind Chase's house. After battling it for several minutes, they hide inside a recycling bin, which the shark can't fit its head through. As Brett crawls out of the bin, the shark kills him, having been above the bin. Dan, horrified, runs off to find Chase. After finding him, they split up to search for the Hammerhead. Quinn calls Dan on his walkie-talkie, much to his surprise, and tells him to come find him. Dan finds Quinn behind Chase's house, missing an arm and holding a gun. Quinn explains his motives on wanting to kill Dan and Chase, and he holds Chase hostage. Despite attempting to sacrifice himself, Quinn chooses to kill Chase first, but he is shot dead by Russell. 

Afterwards, Chase, Dan and Russell regroup with Gabe and Jimmy to fight the Hammerhead Shark at Chase's swingset. For some reason, Dan disappears during the battle, and is not seen for the rest of the movie. However, it is confirmed that he survived the Retribution Incident. Like his fellow Shark Hunters, Dan's future and reputation have both become uncertain. 

Jurassic Shark III: The Revolution

With the public now aware of the InGen employees and their sharks, the Shark Hunters were scattered apart, with Russell and Gabe leaving the organization, while Chase, Dan and several other people sought to keep the group together. As several years go by, there are no signs of the employees, keeping the public at peace and the Shark Hunters at a high level of uncertainty. 

In 2016, Chase organized a meeting with two of the remaining Shark Hunters - Dan and Jimmy. Fearing the employees may return at any moment, and ashamed of all the people he's gotten killed, Chase apologizes to Dan and Jimmy and expresses his desire to disband the Shark Hunters. Dan tries convincing Chase to continue the fight, but Chase refuses to, and departs. Dan catches up to Chase, who looks down at Bradford Cul-De-Sac. He persuades Chase to keep the group together as there are still enemies to fight. With the support of Dan and Jimmy, Chase eventually agrees, fortifying the Shark Hunters once more. 

Some time later, Simon Williams ordered the InGen Separatist Force to hunt down the Shark Hunters and their allies. During the chaos, Dan was shot and killed by Marcus Callum.

Dan appeared on a set of cards held by Simon, and later Russell, with the card indicating his cause of death. When Gabe Reynolds goes off in search of the Bombshark, he finds a propaganda poster deep in the woods with the faces of the Shark Hunters and their associates, including Dan, who is labeled as "deceased".

Trivia

• Originally, the character's name was Mike Bruines. Both names were created by Ben Meunier. 
• In Island of Doom: Jurassic Park, Dan, or "Mike", was based off of Alan Grant. 
• Ben Meunier was very reluctant to film the first movie most of the time, as he was annoyed by the other actors while he got in various fights with Jon Meunier, the actor for Chase Landon. Eventually, Ben's character was killed off entirely. When the second film began production, Ben was more interested in being in the film, and so he was brought back. 
• Ben was initially set to return as the character in Jurassic Shark III: The Revolution in what would have been a larger role. This would have also made him the only character to appear in all three Jurassic Shark films, although the day after Billy Trenton was confirmed to return, Scott confirmed that he was not going to be appearing. This was a result of Ben's lack of communication with Scott about the film.