Deep Blue Sea (DVD) > Reviews > Deeps Hitting

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Great effect, fun film
Disadvantages:	None too many

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Memories of watching Jaws when I was just a boy, being taken to the cinema with my dad and my brother, watching this great but terrifying film (as I felt at the time), still come back to me sometimes. The claustrophobic, almost drowning feelings that is invoked, the horrific sights of bloodied limbs falling to the sea bed, of severed heads coming out of the bottoms of boots, and of dangling legs in the sea. The horror that was Jaws, to me, at about the age of ten.

I had nightmares after watching that film. I would not put my feet out of the end of the bed covers, for fear of then being bitten off by sharks…

And this is the evoking feeling that Deep Blue Sea presents you with. I am older and wiser now, and I can laugh at the scenes of razor sharp teeth biting into flesh. But that feeling, that horrific feeling of being hunted, for food, by really big creatures – now, that is there. Memories are stirred… and for the fact it made me just a little bit scared and uneasy Deep Blue Sea is damn good.

So to the plot…

Made in 1999 and directed by Renny Harlin, Deep Blue Sea tells the story of a group of scientists working in the middle of the ocean, researching into finding a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease.

This research involves enhancing sharks brains. But the sharks (with their new enhanced brains and super intelligence) decide they don’t like being cooped up like this and being experimented on and try to get out.

By breaking into the research facility (I won’t describe the inventive way this happens, you have got to see it for yourself), the place is swamped with water and the sharks are on the rampage.

Written by Duncan and Donna Powers, this is a cleverly done movie. One by one, the team are killed and eaten by the sharks. These scenes are shown using wonderful special effects… and fun.

Yes, it is tongue in cheek at sometimes and horrific at others.

Characters…

Saffron Burrows plays Dr Susan MccAllister, the head of the research team. A tough cookie, her father suffered badly from Alzheimer’s and she wants these tests and this research to be a success because of this. Perhaps she wants it so badly that she will cut corners where safety is concerned?

Samuel L Jackson is Russell Franklin, a multi millionaire who has come to visit the centre having pumped lots of money into it. He has come to see if his money is being spent well or whether the research should be stopped. He wants to see results…

Thomas Jane plays a heroic, well-weathered and experienced mariner in Carter Blake. Brilliant swimmer, brilliant…everything, you just know he is going to save the day.

LL Cool J is the expendable chef, Sherman Dudley, faced with death at every turn. A comical character… but is he that expendable?

Also starring…

Michael Rapaport as Tom Scoggins
Stellan Skarsgard as Jim Whitlock
Jacqueline Mackenzie as Janice Higgins

To sum up then…

This is Jaws of the modern day. The effects are great and the storyline is plausible (to some degree). I felt the characters were clichéd, but believable. What surprised and pleased me most was that it does not stick to the Hollywood Way of things – i.e.: not all the good guys make it to the end…

Favourite quote:

Carter Blake: “What you've done is taken God's oldest killing machine and given it reason and will. What you've done is knocked us all the way to the bottom of the Goddamn food chain. That's not a great leap forward in my book.”

Well worth it.

Thanks for reading.

Deep’s hitting… © Borg 2002