Review #111: Deep Blue Sea (1999)

There's not a better way to kick off the Holiday Season than to sit down and review a shark movie. Huh? A little out of season? Well, maybe. But if you've ventured out into the stores and hit some of those early holiday sales, then you could probably can relate to the frenzy of shoppers swarming around the stores like sharks.

Statistics would show that more people die in stores do to holiday craziness than the number of people who die in this movie. Also to bring in the holiday spirit, this was my first ever DVD in my collection. I received it for X-mas. So it's in my holiday spirit!

Cast/Notable Credits:
Renny Harlin (Director): A Nightmare On Elm St 4: The Dream Master

Thomas Jane (Carter): The Mist

LL Cool J (Preacher): H20

Saffron Burrows (Dr. Susan McCallister): Wing Commander (1999), Troy (2004), The Bank Job (2008)

Samuel L. Jackson (Russell Franklin): The Exorcist 3 (1990), Jurassic Park (1993), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Lakeview Terrace

Jacqueline McKenzie (Janice): The 4400 T.V. series

Michael Rapaport (Tom Scoggins): Metro (1997), Hitch (2005), The War at Home & Boston Public T.V. series

Aida Turturro (Brenda): The Sopranos T.V. series

Stellan Skarsgard (Jim Whittlock): The Glass House (2001), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004), Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 (2006 & 2007)

Erinn Bartlett (Girl 1): Little Nicky (2000), The Benchwarmers (2006)

Trailer:


Plot: Looking for a cure for Alzheimer's disease, scientists turn an old military submarine facility into a shark pen as they genetically alter three sharks in hopes of studying their brains to find a cure. Lead scientist on the project, Dr. Susan McCallister, conducts an "ahead of schedule" experiment on one of the sharks, the Gen-1 shark (a.k.a. The Big Mother F*cker Shark), in a desperate move to impress the company's head and save the project from being cancelled.

During the experiment, the Gen-1 breaks free and also breaks the underwater lab's big window, flooding the facility, trapping the scientist under water, and allowing the sharks to move freely in submerged parts of the facility. Chaos, deaths, and a lot of fun follows as the scientist try to get back to the surface for safety. Along the way, we learn that the scientists violated genetic laws and enhanced the sharks beyond their normal capabilities making them bigger and smarter. They were even smart enough to get this lady down to her undies in the film (Saffron Burrows pictured right).

Best shark movie since Jaws! Period.

Okay, I might be a little biased here, but I don't care. I LOVED IT! Maybe tied with Jaws 2, but it's still a great movie. Sure there may have been a few plot holes such as:

-Sharks don't swim backwards
-When a high level member of management comes down to give the final vote of confidence, businesses do not usually send everyone home and run off a skeleton crew for the weekend
-And they wouldn't do this during a tropical storm
-When a Coast Guard Helicopter crashes...usually a follow up crew goes to investigate
-A trio of sharks don't usually "triangulate" and coordinate with each other when hunting humans
-Sharks don't fling metal objects at high rates of speed at glass windows

Outside of those "minor" plot holes and a comedy of human errors that leads the scientists to their situation, the film kicked some serious butt. What would you expect from a shark movie with that type of premise? Yeah. That's what I thought.

My Best advice: Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Three words to live by: Suspension of Disbelief. Live it. Learn it. Enjoy it. And you will love this movie.

It's an All Star cast in the film, but Thomas Jane by far stole the show. He plays Carter, who is like a professional shark wrangler or something like that. He's a convicted Felon who has been given a lighter sentence by the courts in exchange for his services aboard Aquatica. He is one of four likable characters in the film. Surprisingly enough, none of them are the "mad" scientists behind the operation. Samuel L, LL Cool J and Michael Rapport are the other three. Isn't that a Big Mother F*cker Shark?

The film also provides many scary "jump" sequences in the film. As the sharks swim through the flooded underwater parts of the facility, the audience is left in doubt of the shark's whereabouts. This creates some kick a** sequences in the movie. I personally have two favorite ones: * Highlight to Read *

1. LL Cool J crosses paths with one of the sharks and retreats to his flooded kitchen. He climbs on a metal rack to get out of the water. His pet parrot is floating on a metal bowl in the water close to him. He slowly reaches down in the water to retrieve the bird, and the shark blasts out of the water at him. That scene was pretty cool.

2. Samuel L bites the dust. Trapped at the bottom of the facility, the scientist bicker about what to do next, and then Samuel L steps in a gives one of those uplifting inspirational speeches. He is standing next to a lagoon pool ranting off on his speech and then...BAM! One of the sharks comes out of the pool and chomps him in half and drags back through the pool and into the ocean. My friend Bookie and I saw this at that theater and he jumped in fright during both scenes. I think he might have even wet himself. :)

Overall, the film had some humor, suspense and pretty good special effects. They storyline was somewhat plausible (as in looking for Alzheimer's cure) but it also may have been a little bit too far fetched in the series of events. But it's still worth checking out if you haven't already.

In the end we learn that PETA was right. We shouldn't be testing on animals after all. Score one for PETA. Unless you WANT to see murder and mayhem courtesy of some genetically enhanced killer sharks. Honestly PETA should be using these types of movies to make the world conscious of it's wrongdoings on animals.

Deep Blue Sea is one of my personal favorite movies to watch. Despite some "possible" flaws in the story line, it's a very enjoyable shark movie to watch. Who knew that the director from A Nightmare on Elm St. 4 would go on a do so many descent movies?

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on July 28, 1999 and made $73.6 million at the Box Office ($19.1 million opening weekend)
-Original ending had LL Cool J dying and Dr. Susan living