'Deep Blue Sea' (1999)



When I saw that 'Deep Blue Sea 3' is out on DVD soon (and I know it's on Prime right now but... DVD's cheaper) my first thought was something along the lines of, 'Three? I didnt even know there was a Deep Blue Sea 2...' My second thought was pretty much, 'it's been too long since I watched something utterly ludicrous involving sharks' so... Here we are then at the start of 'Deep Blue Sea Watch', a three post feature that doesn't need an awful lot of explaining, if any ;o)

Way back in 1999, I was off on long term sick leave and was given a free cinema pass by my then wife. That was how I got acquainted with 'Deep Blue Sea', acquainted several times as it happened; it's great having a free cinema ticket but I found out the hard way that if you don't pace yourself, you're going to end up seeing the same film over and over again... That's probably why 'Deep Blue Sea' was never really a film that I watched loads when it came out on video etc. It had been years since I watched it last so I was interested to see how 'Deep Blue Sea' would go down this time round. Not to badly as it happened...

They're playing 'God' over at the Aquatica Research facility, increasing the brain size of Mako sharks so that protein samples can be harvested which may help cure Alzheimer's Disease. After a shark escapes the facility and attacks a boat, executive Russell Franklin is sent to the facility to determine whether the potential benefits of keeping Aquatica open outweigh the risks. And what kind of risks could there possibly be, keeping three sharks with enlarged brains safely under lock and key...? Well... Quite a lot actually if the sharks have grown more intelligent and are ready to take the chance to put their own plans into motion...

Just read that last sentence again. How crazy does that sound, sharks making plans? Welcome to 'Deep Blue Sea' a film where every scene aspires to that level of crazy and more often than not, hits that target. The end result though, is a surprisingly engaging sci-fi/horror/thriller that is really easy to get into and even easier to forget that it's based on really vague science and people being really, really stupid at all the right moments. Would you sit down and have a smoke next to a shark that might be sleeping? Would you deliver an awesome speech without checking how close you were to the water (and didn't we all jump, back then, when the inevitable happened)? Of course you wouldn't but this bunch of intrepid businessmen and scientists all do and I don't get it but it all seems to just work.

Maybe it's because all the actors take it so seriously and will deliver the cheesiest of lines with absolutely no hint of irony whatsoever (yes, I'm looking at you Jacqueline McKenzie, Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows and well, everyone really but those three in particular). I'm a sucker for that, fall for it every time so can definitely see me doing that here.
For me, I think it's more likely to be the little chills I get watching those sharks hunt our 'heroes' down tight, flooded corridors and the way that the director ekes a little more tension out of the film by directing our attention at one spot and then doing a little sleight of hand to get us jumping when shit happens just when we least expect it. There's loads of that here and when you add in all the explosions, there's a lot to be tense about.

'Deep Blue Sea' has to be one of the silliest films that I've ever watched (and I watched 'Zombie Tidal Wave' so that's saying something) but it's so engaging that if you're anything like me, you'll forgive it's faults, settle down and just enjoy all the crazy stuff happening. Maybe I won't leave it so long next time :o)
Right, that's the easy one watched; let's see how the next two films fare...

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