Deep Blue Sea

Rating:
Summary: some really mean sharks
Review: I thought that this movie was great to see evne though they didn't use the great white sharks for this movie just like in JAWS, I own this movie along with lake placid, and other shark movies, so I watch this movie so on, and forth. It was really fun getting ot see those makos breaking throught steel doors to get to the people, and it was like these sharks were on the ultimate sea rampage.

Rating:
Summary: My Shark is an Honor Student at Aquatica High
Review: 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.

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 and Michael Rapaport---well, 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-knotch 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.


Rating:
Summary: Makes Jaws look like a relaxing fishing trip.
Review: This film is increadible, mainly because it has no respect for it's cast. Anyone can die in this film. Someone who's the main character one minute is shark food the next. Although Renny Harlin took the 'special effects' option instead of building up real suspense, it works. There are some real shock moments in this film.

Basically it's Genetic Modification gone bazerk, super intelligent sharks, modified for the purpose of curing a disease, turn against their creators in a frenzy of snapping jaws and red-water scenes. I know, it's not the most in-depth plot review but that's it really, which doesn't matter because the great content makes up for the barely existant story.

The cast is great. Saffron Burrows shows that she is more than just cleavage as the meddling scientist who went too far, while Thomas Jane succeeds as the action hero (Even though he falls down about 50 times) and LL Cool J is surprisingly good as the comic relief/chef. Although he's playing the token 'cowardly character' Michael Rapaport gives a good performance, Stellan Skarsgard and Samuel L Jackson are both very talented actors who are good in any film and Jacqueline McKenzie gives more than just a creadible performance, watch the deleted scenes to see her at her best.

I would reccommend this film to anyone who likes a high tension thriller with plenty or guts'n'gore, but it belongs in anyone's DVD collection. It's in mine ;).

Sweek!

Rating:
Summary: Best shark film ever
Review: Simply put, deep blue sea is the best shark film in my opinion that I have ever seen, it is even better than Jaws. Great special
effects, shocks and good acting.

Rating:
Summary: Deep Blue Cheese
Review: Deep Blue Sea had a monument of potential and they dropped the ball by becoming over-engrossed with shark attacks and sudden deaths of likeable characters, and unrealistc parts. It's too bad, because I thought the sharks were cool in this, and Saffron Burrows was a joy to see because I thought her character came a long way up until the director makes a real bone head mistake in the end with her.

Deep Blue Sea is about super smart sharks that are being used to find a cure for Alzheimers. Saffron's character is motivated to find a cure from these sharks because she lost her father to it. This is good, gives her character an emotional connection to this film, a point for this pretty lady to be here. As predictable as night will come, the sharks get loose and start eating everybody in the study facility.

I really don't see the point going over the characters that much because the majority of the characters had no development at all. It's interesting how this film begins with Saffron Burrows and Samuel L. Jackson as the lead characters, the film practically following those two around. About mid way through the film, the point of view shifts almost entirely to the shark trainer guy, Carter, and we know nothing about this dude. This is just terrible directing and character view point. So now, we have no idea who the main character is!

Then the sudden death of one of these main characters, mid way through, during a lengthy speech just ruins the film. It's too sudden, and because his character was taken so early it was as if his character never contributed to the film at all...except for the speech. Before a character, a main character mind you, should be killed off he/she needs to contribute first so when the person dies it doesn't make us say..."OK, um, what happened?" In other words, it just confuses us not scares us.

Plus, my favorite character in Saffron, who is developing during this entire film gets the shaft in the end. This is totally uncalled for. I wish I could go into more detail but I've been instructed not to give away important, specific things. But it is very disappointing and very unnecessary, but again this director real had no idea of the potential he had because he was too obsessed with the sharks.

There's too much sudden shark attacks. All these worthless characters have no point to the film, they are just there for future shark bait. You need characters to contribute to a film, to have a point. They shouldn't be there to fulfill the director's surge for carnage.

I give it two stars because it is suspenseful and it can be scarey at some points, and I do like the story, even though no character establishes him or herself as the main character. So because it does these things well enough, I give it two stars which means it is worth watching, but I assure you this film is not very satisfactory. It kills off too many well liked characters.

The only reason why you would like this film is if you are one of those that likes any film that scares you or provides thrills. But if you want substance, and character development that isn't cut short by a shark's jaws, then you better go see Jaws again because it is still the king of sea horror films.

Grade: D+

Rating:
Summary: Too flawed to be non-stop fun.
Review: I'm being quite honest when I say I truly wanted to like Deep Blue Sea. I went into the film with some fairly high expectations of pure summer action/suspense entertainment because of the mostly positive response it was getting from critics. Plus, it's been a long time since we've had a fun shark movie so I was ready to embrace this with open arms.

Alas, it was not to happen, and I should have known. After all, even though Renny Harlin can prove himself skillful in directing action sequences, he fails to inject genuine suspense and often goes too far over-the-top in a movie that mostly takes itself seriously. This is not Lake Placid (which is quite a good thing). Deep Blue Sea isn't terrible by a long shot, but it's not the breakneck paced thriller I was hoping for.

Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) is in the process of creating a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. With the help of a crew working in an underwater habitat, they use the brain material of sharks to get this job accomplished. However, the side effect was that the sharks (3 of them) grew smarter as a result of the experimentation, and they break loose, creating hell as they begin to prey on the group of survivors, who are trying to find a way to get topside.

Deep Blue Sea is a movie that should have been dripping with suspense and action from every corner. Instead, what we get is the occasional "jump-in-your-seat" shark attack that only offers momentary jolts. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are some exciting moments, but not enough to cover the entire running time of 105 or so minutes.

This is director Renny Harlin we're talking about, who's made almost nothing but big-budget duds (Cutthroat Island, Cliffhanger, Die Hard 2). Considering the fact that Deep Blue Sea may very well be his best movie only goes to show he isn't that accomplished a director. He's all about the action, and there are moments in Deep Blue Sea when it works. L.L. Cool J.'s encounters with the sharks are often tense and surprisingly humorous, and there is a flooding scene with the characters trying to escape the sharks by climbing a ladder that remains a fairly memorable setpiece

However, there are plenty of moments that don't work, either. One of the "main characters" sudden departure feels quite obvious in the middle of his "we will survive if we stay together" speech, and the end result is not only bloody, but also quite cheesy. The over-the-top finale is probably the worst, and the less description about it, the better.

The special effects are sometimes effective, just like the action scenes (as I think of it now, a lot of things are sometimes effective and sometimes not). The animatronic sharks are convincing and realistic, but CGI is far worse-looking than what you may have thought was dated in Jaws. The sets are appropriately well-fashioned, and the constant scenes of flooding do give the film a little added tension.

The performances are also a mixed bag. Samuel L. Jackson as the man funding the whole operation is very good (as always) and it's a pity he isn't in this film more. As I think of it, as soon as his presence is gone, that's when the film's true downslide began. Saffron Burrows is also good as the scientist and heroine of the picture, but a stupid move on the filmmakers' part in the finale ruins any of her development (which isn't a whole lot to begin with, but is significantly more than anyone else). Also decent are Stellen Skarsgard and Jacqueline Mckenzie. LL Cool J is fun to watch when he's making fun of his situation, but is a bit irritating when he's preaching (he plays a religious cook, is this a case of miscasting?).

The two performers that are not so good are Michael Rappaport and Thomas Jane. Rappaport often goes so far over-the-top in his role you have to wonder who he thinks he's chewing the scenery from. Now, as for Thomas Jane as the shark wrangler, did this guy graduate from the school of acting from Christopher Lambert? For that matter, the two of them look so alike I was wondering if they were related. But back to his performance; Jane is so wooden it's almost laughable. There's even a moment when he pops out of the water and starts screaming in such an unconvincing manner, I found myself chuckling. Jane is perhaps the worst thing about this film and he actually gets the second-most amount of screentime!

The script is dumb, no doubt about it, with some cringe-inducing dialogue and laughably bad science. But, to give all involved in the film credit, everybody seems to know that and doesn't take the story too seriously, which is actually a good balance. If it had reached the campy levels of Lake Placid, this would have been a disaster so points must be awarded to the fact that the tone does usually maintain the same, that is until the over-the-top finale.

There are also some other points in the film that hurt it. Trevor Rabin's score is a little overwrought and fails to bring about the needed excitement. There's also a scene that almost plays an ode to Alien, in which Burrows strips down to her underwear to electrocute a shark. Sure, Burrows is a very good-looking woman, but it's a gratuitous moment.

No one ever said Deep Blue Sea had to be masterful, but it's often too goofy, and thus prevents it from being the extremely entertaining action/thriller it could and should have been. What we do get is still quite watchable and does offer some entertainment, but a quick fix isn't satisfying enough.
** 1/2 out of *****

Rating:
Summary: Suprisingly good!
Review: This is a Sci-fi horror action thriller about a research center in midocean, a team of scientist researchers ( Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, Saffon Burrows, Michael Rappaport and Aida Tutturo") have conducted an experiment. An experiment that makes Sharks into super intetelligent beasts that start to turn the facility into a watery nightmare.

Good special effects, good acting, and intense gore with heart-pumping action makes this worth watching.

Also recommended: Resident Evil, Jaws, Eight Legged Freaks, Return of the Living Dead 3, Re-Animator, Deepstar Six, Leviethan, Frankenstein, The Fly ( 1986), The Hulk, Scanners, The Thing ( 1982), Link, Starship Troopers, Aliens, Total Recall, Day of the Dead, Lake Placid, Pirahna, and From Dusk Till Dawn.

Rating:
Summary: Teeth - and some other reasons to avoid the ocean
Review: From the time I was little, sharks have always fascinated me because of the fear they manage to conjure up. To illustrate that, simply go take a walk on the beach, finding yourself a school of swimmers. Then, at the top of your lungs, begin yelling shark and see what sort of reaction the people in the water have. This simply shows you their propensity for being seen as the consumers of human cattle ignorant enough to swim within their domain, and that activity has always been a highlight of my evenings. With movies ranging from the great to the cheap, from Jaws to Shark Attack, keeping me company, I thought I had seen it all, too. Still, Deep Blue Sea proved I hadn't. The reason I say this is because all the sharks in all of these movies were nothing because, in the end, the humans struggling against them were debatably smarter. They were always able to outthink the mysterious monsters from the deep, somehow thwarting them with a minimum of risk. Well, not this time.
While trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's at Aquatica, undersea laboratory and host to many a delectable minds, a group of scientists decided that they would use sharks as a potential cure. In order to do so, they genetically-alter their brains, making it possible to get their miracle, and the fruits are soon apparent.
Unfortunately, however, this potential salvation comes with a few side effects.
The sharks, once passive hunters of the deep, have gotten smarter, bigger, able to see blood in the water and not scent it?, and they seem to enjoy feeding on human hosts as things begin to turn ugly. Their aggressiveness, it gets harder and harder to control, and the parameter separating them from people and predator, it seems to get a whole lot smaller.

When I first rented this movie, I expected less out of it than I received and, in the end, I went ahead and purchased it. Why? Well, there were a few reasons, and they went outside of LL Cool J's constantly annoying acting. Basically, it was the sharks themselves, prizefighters in the field of carnage, as they stunningly toyed with the range of food left for them to dine upon. The CGI effects made them move quicker, rend better, and seem at home as they made Aquatica their underwater playpen. Added to that was the fact that these sharks weren't your run-of-the-mill tanks with teeth. Their actions would instead appear stealthily sometimes, planned out in ways that people never wants sharks to plan things out, and it soon became clear who was running the show.
This negated the low points in the movie, including LL and the heavily overplayed religious theme that he introduced into the mix and a few of the other characters playing in the fold. Also negated were a few of the escapes that, well, left me feeling as though the sharks were ripped off, that humans aren't smart enough to pull off anything that daring, but that's fine.
The sharks are vindicated time and time again.

If you've yet to see the movie and enjoy watching people as they try their best to avoid something that totally outclasses them in a watery element, then I would recommend this movie. It has everything you need, from the graphic gore of people being overhauled by what seem to be cities of teeth to the humor (unintentionally added, of course) in LL's themes song - get this - My Hat is Like a Shark's Fin. It's a fan favorite in my household, with everyone laughing about it and sometimes catching ourselves warning people to step because, like LL, our hats are like shark fins, too.
Yes, it has it all, inlcuding a couple of parts I didn't expect, making it all the more fun.

Rating:
Summary: Deep, but not so wide
Review: "Deep Blue Sea" is one of those monster flicks that makes an attempt at being an intelligent man's horror film. The genetically-altered, Alzheimer cure-all mako shark idea was a good one, and a little more unique than most creature films, but in essence this is a man-screws-with-nature-nature-screws-back sort of tale. There are a couple of suspenseful moments, and the makos look great throughout the majority of the film. Other reviewers accuse the acting as being standard and weightless, but remember that this is a creature feature and the first rule of this genre is that the creature is the star. I found nothing terribly wrong about the acting, and much like "Anaconda," this film has a token rapper(LL Cool J) who does a good job. The rest of the cast is fairly standard, but none of their performances are that bad. Samuel L. Jackson gives "Deep Blue Sea" a solid actor, and he seemed to enjoy his time on screen in this film. Thomas Jane is another standout who plays the heroic lead, although little is left for our hero to save. Saffron Burrows does an excellent job as the good-meaning, yet slightly mad scientist who you really want to see get bit by a mako.
Overall, this is an above-average flick. It isn't as cheesy as "Lake Placid," and it doesn't make the sharks quite as smart as the raptors of "Jurassic Park" fame, but it takes parts of both of these films and combines them with a little suspense and terror a la "Jaws" and serves up a fish dinner that just about anyone can enjoy.
Also, notice the nod given to "Jaws" during Jackson's initial landing at Aquatica.(Hint: Check that license plate)

Rating:
Summary: Jaws on Steroids
Review: Director Renny Harlin is best known for his action flicks like Die Hard 2 and The Long Kiss Goodnight. In Deep Blue Sea he combines his trademark action with horror. Centered on genetically enhanced sharks, it's tempting to compare it to Jaws. Indeed, the opening scene pays homage to the classic shark flick, but that is where the similarity ends. Actually, DBS reminds me more of a Michael Crichton movie with its science gone bad storyline. The story takes place on a research laboratory in the middle of the ocean. Researchers are using the brains of live sharks to harvest a protein that is a potential cure for Alzheimer's disease. In order to harvest sufficient amounts of the protein, the lead scientist genetically enhances the shark brains to increase their size. This has the effect of making the sharks "smart". The result is sharks that will do anything to escape captivity.

The action starts early and never lets up. Stranded in the lower levels, the station survivors are picked off one by one as they try to make their way to the surface. Harlin provides ample "sudden" attacks by the sharks to provide several shocking moments. Notable cast members include LL Cool J, Samual L. Jackson, and Michael Rapaport. Model Saffron Burrows takes on the "Sigourney Weaver" heroin role. Deep Blue Sea benefits from the advances in FX since the Days of Jaws. A combination of CGI and animatronics are used to provide convincing sharks.

The disc has some nice extras including a making of documentary, deleted scenes, and commentary from Renny Harlin and S.L. Jackson. The picture is presented nicely in widescreen format. There are quite a few loud noises to give your surround system a workout and it comes across well in Dolby 5.1. If you own Jaws, this movie makes a nice companion piece. Recommended.