Deep Blue Sea | | Cast : | Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, Jacqueline McKenzie | | Director : | Renny Harlin | | Studio : | Warner Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 28, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | February 03, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 14, 2005 | | Summary | My Shark is an honor-student at Aquatica High | Content
 | There's a splendid little scene in "Deep Blue Sea" that sums up the film's grisly, malicious atmosphere perfectly.
It's captured in one well-turned line of dialogue delivered by an earnest young researcher, looking out over the a glassy, glittering ocean that conceals the research station Aquatica's submerged shark pens: "beneath that placid surface glide monsters."
As if to lend counterpoint to her words, huge, zeppelin-like shadows slice silently beneath the surface.
I'm going to cut to the chase here: "Deep Blue Sea" is no classic and is marred by a simplistic plot that has no qualms about tossing aside key characters, and a few quirky bits of CGI. That said, this razor-toothed gilled terror grabbed me amidships in a death bite, shook me around, and hauled me down under the ocean.
I think a lot of the effect "Deep Blue Sea" had on me has something to do with the fact that sharks bother me---they bother me A LOT. I've never been bodysurfing in the islands once without thinking that some sinuous hulk is gliding beneath my naked feet, that any moment a hurling 20 foot locomotive of flesh and cartilage and teeth---oh yes, always teeth---might come up from the Deep to tear into my guts, to rend me in pieces, and to push its lustreless black dead eye into mine even as it begins to eat me alive. "Deep Blue Sea" takes that fear and runs with it.
THE PLOT: Perky young English genetic research scientist Dr. Susan McCallister (played to pouty perfection by the plummy Saffron Burrows) has blinded 'em with science! Now her team of scientists at the oceanic research station "Aquatica" has broken the Harvard Accord (no turning man-eating sharks into Einsteins, guys!) and is splicing and dicing the brain matter of huge mako sharks in an effort to combat Alzheimer's disease.
Venture capitalist Samuel L. Jackson picks the wrong time to check up on his investment. A freak storm and one seriously flawed rescue attempt later, the talented and gifted school of sharks gets into the station and spends quality time with the researchers.
THE CHARACTERS: Samuel L. Jackson makes a morale-boosting fighting-St. Crispin's Day-speech right out of Henry V---too bad his guys are fighting sharks, not Frenchmen. Burrows proves beauty really is skin deep. L.L. Cool Jay gets medieval on a shark in his kitchen. Thomas Jane wrangles sharks and tries to avoid getting wrangled. Stellan Skarsgard gives a shark a hand. And Michael Rapaport---no, I'm not gonna tell you, you're just gonna have to see for yourselves.
Lots of blood flows into the water. Can you say 'feeding frenzy'?
MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't break the Harvard Accord. Talented & Gifted does not equal Nice.
SHOULD YOU FRY THIS FISH? You bet. I gave it 3 stars for some spotty, clunky script devices and an odd bit of CGI (you'll know it when you see it), but the fact is that director Renny Harlin has served up an amazingly tasty little dish that is gruesome, totally shocking, and remorselessly brutal---much like a shark!
Director of Photography Steve Windon ("The Patriot") has a good eye and the movie looks good both in its sweeping ocean vistas and claustrophobic interior shots. The scene where a shark with attitude gets out of hand in the research bay is worth the price of admission alone, and there's even a choice little sequence where the characters do, in fact, get trapped between the "Devil" and the deep blue sea.
The real stand-outs here are the special effects. Between top-notch CGI, and engineered prosthetics, Harlin has liberated the killer shark from the limitations of inferior special effects, and his brutal mako assassins are light years away from the dumpy, slow-moving Bruce of "Jaws". These sharks hurtle through the water like locomotives, closing on their prey with sleek, brutal, terrifying efficiency.
"Deep Blue Sea" isn't deep, but it is sober, ruthless, technically precise, and relentlessly gruesome. Now stop reading and go spend a few jolly hours with some big new dorsal-finned buddies.
JSG |
| Rating | | | Date | June 29, 2005 | | Summary | Fun action flick | Content
| It's important as a reviewer to get biases out of the way. The fact is I love shark movies. Ever since watching Jaws years ago, I have been hooked. Which is why I get excited when a decent shark movie actually pops up.
Honestly, this isn't that great of a movie. It has all of the action cliches, and the sci-fi try to play God and get screwed in the process plot. Add some intelligent sharks to the mix and it's definitely a recipe for a B grade horror film. But honestly, with the exception of the stellar Jaws, what shark movie isn't a B grade horror film?
What it does do is keep the tension going. And there are some moments of shock and surprise in it. I loved the "we must pull together and not go quietly into the night" speech that gets cut brutally short. That was a genuinely fun scene because it was almost tongue in cheek. In all action movies, you have this point where someone has to rouse the morale of the group and to have this individual torn in half midway through the speech is just a perfect nod to that.
Overall, there are some great moments in it, some cool special effects, and the sharks are well done. A silly premise, no doubt, but fun. And with the mostly straight to video crap fests of shark movies, it's nice to see one that isn't half bad. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 22, 2005 | | Summary | Deep Blue Sea | Content
| I would write a longer review, but I wouldn't waste my time. Here's the good things about this movie and the bad things.
Good Things
1. Only two people survive at the end (thank you, sweet Jesus!)
Bad Things
1. Acting
2. Writing (from the writers who gave you the more intelligent "Italian Job"
3. Directing (From Renny Harlin who gave us "The Exorcist 4")
4. Samuel L. Jackson's sad performance, along with the comic relief of L. L. Cool J.
5. Thomas Jane's ("The Punisher") tough guy/good guy/hero act
6. Saffron Burrow's (I have no idea where she's from) who is in the movie a doctor, she is dumb enough to go back in the water.
7. The Visual Effects
8. The music (which was stollen obviously from John Williams who did the music to "Jaws)
9. The so-called famous scenes (via, Stellen Skarsgarrd being thrown through a glass window underwater by a shark, or, Michael Rappaport being torn apart, or were both of them just fine and alive watching their DUMMIES being torn apart)
10. Did I mention VISUAL EFFECTS? Oh, I did? Sorry, I just need to say it again because they sucked!
If any person under the age of 10 who is allowed to watch this movie, watch it. Everyone else stay away.
And if any judges from the "Golden Rasberry Awards" are reading this, why the hell didn't you possible nominate this film for worst picture? |
| Rating | | | Date | June 16, 2005 | | Summary | It's craptacular | Content
| Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here we are again with another shark attack movie. You will get plenty of suspense as well as plenty of human munching fun, but that's about it. In the end this is not much more than any other monster movie with people getting trapped somewhere and are being hunted by a creature, only this time it's a shark. While Deep Blue Sea does touch on some interesting concepts and maybe even sends us a message or two, all of that good stuff gets drowned out (Is that a pun?) by the so-called horror elements of the movie.
The plot is admittedly interesting, until you ask yourself why are they getting themselves in this situation to begin with? They experiment on sharks to get their brain juice. So they make a giant shark so they can get more brain juice from it? Why not just get brain juice from a bunch of normal sharks? Problem solved. Of course that would make too much sense and would of course kill any plot for the movie in the first place. You end up with just another pick-off-the-characters party so prevalent on the horror genre. The plot twists you do get, especially at the end, but don't make much sense. Add to that the fact the movie falls into your predicable disaster movie elements and you have a movie that is a yawner for those who want a little bit of intelligence in their movies.
Intelligence is definitely lacking here. The script just can't move beyond the moment. The writers should have went a different direction and try and put more depth in the story. Character development is extremely weak, except for the cook. He's the most colorful character there. Some scenes seem to be made just so they can throw in a shark attack. I mean it gets really old to always have a shark conveniently around every time the people are trying to get out of their predicament (and into the water). It's like the sharks come out of nowhere. If makes for extremely lame horror, especially the Samuel Jackson shark attack scene. That just screamed a cheesy and cheap shot at shocking the audience.
Okay at least the sharks look awesome. The animatronic sharks in Deep Blue Sea are the best I have seen. I have to tip my hat to the realism they were able to accomplish with them. The computer animated sharks on the other hand weren't so realistic. They weren't bad mind you... just not as good as the animatronics. What they do terribly is the explosions. For one they are obviously done digitally, and they don't look very real at all. The other problem with the explosions is that they are always way too big for what's actually being blown up, which is another factor in how unreal they appear.
Deep Blue Sea falls short on many levels. The predictable situations, corny shark attacks and flagrant lack of any real story keep it from doing any better from just being mediocre. I will admit they do succeed in building the suspense here and there, but that's just not enough. If you are a major horror or monster movie fan you might not mind the shortcomings since they are prevalent in the genre. If you want anything, just anything, more than just a cheap scare then don't bother. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | GOOD | Content
| Deep Blue Sea was an entertaining movie, I loved it. The sharks didn't look real but who cares. The movie was still good and was backed up with an awesome cast and script to it.
Overall this is an A+ movie |
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