Deep Blue Sea [1999] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Renny Harlin's first feature since The Long Kiss Goodnight reinvents the rampaging shark movie for the digital age. Echoing Alien and Deep Rising, a typically motley crew is trapped and terrorised in a remote ocean research station incapacitated by storms. Saffron Burrows' scientist has devised a means of using shark brain-tissue to fight Alzheimer's Disease, but it has the unfortunate side effect of increasing by fivefold the intelligence of the station's three test sharks. Once the sharks escape captivity, their captors become prey and Burrows, along with Thomas Jane's diver and corporate sponsor Samuel L. Jackson, are pursued through the station's maze of corridors. LL Cool J also appears as the most unlikely action-movie chef since Steven Seagal in Under Siege, chanting Biblical passages to his pet parrot and choosing the perfect omelette recipe as his message for posterity.

As the bizarre premise indicates, this is not a film for those seeking great acting or rich narrative complexities, but it does deliver action and effects in abundance, particularly with the state-of-the-art computer-generated sharks themselves. While they'll never attain the iconic status of Bruce in Steven Spielberg's Jaws (still the granddaddy of all screen sharks), Harlin's swift predators are clever enough to open doors and operate an oven. As the water level rises, Burrows indulges in some Sigourney Weaver-in-Alien-style disrobing, there is one of the great surprise-death scenes, shocking and funny in equal measure, and all concerned keep their tongues firmly in cheek. This DVD version also features commentaries from Harlin and Jackson, deleted scenes, a "making of" feature and a documentary on sharks. --Steve Napleton

Model-actress Saffron Burrows plays the researcher; Thomas Jane pulls double-duty as shark expert and action hunk; Samuel L. Jackson's the corporate sponsor who chooses the worst time for an Aquatica tour; and rapper LL Cool J is nicely cast as Aquatica's cook and comic relief. Michael Rapaport, Jacqueline McKenzie and Stellan Skarsgard round out the cast, most of whom are turned into shark food as the makos turn Aquatica into a floating junkyard. Harlin takes devilish pleasure in providing sudden, unexpected shocks--no small feat in such a derivative thriller--and as a series of action set-pieces, Deep Blue Sea never disappoints. It is inevitable that Burrows should end up in her underwear like Sigourney Weaver in Alien, but even then the movie offers a credible reason for the strip-down; that Deep Blue Sea can be simultaneously ridiculous and sensible is just another one of its shlocky charms. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

The explanation for what Harlin was thinking is provided on the special features, where it becomes clear the director wanted to make a movie where he could use modern animatronics and computer generated effects to show graphic shark attacks. The idea was to play with bigger and better toys than Steven Spielberg had when he made "Jaws." Of course, doing so sacrifices the cinematic artistry of Spielberg's film, but that is fine because Harlin is not playing in that ballpark.

There is a plot to the film. Scientist Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) has come up with a way of using the brain tissue of sharks to concoct a way of fighting Alzheimer's disease. The research is underwritten by Franklin's corporation at a giant deep-sea research station, where we have a shark wrangler (Thomas Jane), a cook who is a self-styled preacher (LL Cool J), and an assortment of entree items in the form of Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgard, Aida Turturro, and Jacqueline McKenzie.

But all that matters is that McAlester is playing Dr. Frankenstein and in making the brains of these sharks bigger, she has also made them smarter. Her motives for doing so are quickly forgotten because these super smart sharks want to kill every human being in the station and that is what this movie is about. I bet you can guess who is actually going to survive the slaughter, but that does not detract from the enjoyment of the film either because the fun with "Deep Blue Sea" is enjoying, if that would be the proper world, the way in which the sharks put the bite on the humans.

So, if you know going into this movie that it is about a bunch of super intelligent mako sharks eating a bunch of human beings, then you can dismiss all of the scientific explanations and exposition as just prologue. You do not have to understand it and you can probably get away with even paying attention to it, because once the shark attacks begin that is all that is going to matter with this film. This is not the thinking person's shark attack film.


Pretty bad but highly amusing...   February 22, 2004
Yim
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Not really a great film...the acting is pretty wooden and the accent of the female lead is ridiculous. Even Samuel L Jackson isn't that good...LL Cool J provides a bit of comedy but even his character is a bit bizarre under the circumstances

The plot is interesting but flawed in places, some of the scenes have an awkward effect to them, and the special effects aren't really that special

Having said all that, I do really like this film, perhaps because some bad films are so bad that they are actually good. It's not nearly as formulaic or predicatable as you might imagine and it never fails to make me laugh. It's like another pretty bad film, Lake Placid, although this is better.

Anyway I'd recommend it if it was cheap, for a film to cheer you up


Deep Blue Sea   November 11, 2005
Mr. Graham Young (Canterbury, Kent Great Britain)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Origanally I thought this was prabably going to be just another Jaws movie. But was I wrong this film Has the ability to scare you half to death at same time there are some great action scene's as well. The film ends in the most unexpected way. The sharks in this film are so good you think your actually there the plot twist and turns in ways that total take you by surprise I recommend this movie to any one who wants to watch a truely scarey Shark movie. Deep Blue Sea is a must have purchase because its heart pounding thriller of a movie. For me the exolosions in this movie are out of this world. The extra features for this film are interesting and and worth watching.


Utter tripe. Don't buy it if you have a brain.   June 10, 2003
4 out of 6 found this review helpful

This film intrigued me because people were calling it better than Jaws. They were, to put it bluntly, either lying, blind, or mad. It is cack. Don't get me wrong, I like action films, but this is dire. The story goes from unrealistic to non-existent, the special effects are weak, and the acting feeble. If I were you I'd buy something a little more original. If you want some edge-of-the-seat-horror kind of film try 28 Days Later. It's not 5 star, but it's more unique and original than this laughable effort. If you're still REALLY interested in Deep Blue Sea, rent it or borrow it first to be on the safe side.


Oh dear   December 12, 2004
L. Hoy (Wandering the world)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful

Some films are so cheesey they're funny. Occasionally I laughed at the silly effects (shark leaping out of water and then reversing back, in air, through a hole?!), but most of the time I just felt my will to live being sapped. Despite watching this ages ago, it sticks out in my memory as being that bad a film that, over a year down the line, I will happily waste time writing this in the hope of saving someone a couple of hours of their life.