Peur bleue

If 'Jaws' and 'Alien' had a baby, that baby would probably look a lot like Deep Blue Sea', a big, loud, dumb action movie that doesn't try to pretend to be anything else. It's short on logic, the dialog is dumb, most of the actors don't seem to be trying very hard, and the science is dubious at best, but despite all that, 'Deep Blue Sea' manages to entertain.

The plot of the movie is simple: a group of scientists at an undersea research facility are on the verge of discovering a cure for Alhzheimer's disease. How? By meddling about with the brains of live sharks (don't ask). Things are going swimmingly, until Mother Nature grows tired of having some of her creations tampered with. One typhoon and several gratuitous explosions later, the scientists find themselves cut off from the surface of the facility and at the mercy of a group of sharks that are smarter than the average fish. It seems that those meddling scientists made the sharks smart, and they're about to pay for their folly. With the base flooding and sharks roaming the corridors, the survivors find themselves in a race for survival.

For the most part, 'Deep Blue Sea' works fairly well, and there are some good jolts and action sequences, but at the same there's nothing here that's particularly fresh. However, there is one death that is so unexpected and surprising, you might find yourself hitting the 'back' button on the DVD remote to make sure you weren't seeing things.

'Deep Blue Sea' is not an actor's movie, but most of the cast acquits itself fairly well. Rapper LL Cool J does a good job with what could be a clichéd character (the religious man who struggles with his faith under dire circumstances), and injects the role with humanity and humor. He also has a very memorable encounter with a shark in a kitchen. Thomas Jane has the 'action hero' part, and he's solid, but unspectacular. Saffron Burrowes is okay as the lead scientist, and she's not above stripping down to her undies if the situation calls for it. But once again, no one will be watching 'Deep Blue Sea' for the acting. The sharks are the stars, and everyone involved with the movie knows that.

'Deep Blue Sea' is not a classic movie, but it delivers in its own modest way. If you can't get enough movies about people and the sharks that eat them, you can do much worse than this.

Im going to keep it short.

This movie should be awful, but actually it is really entertaining, whenever it is on TV I watch it without hesitation. Not the best special affects or acting for that matter. LL Cool J's acting is like the movie, poor but entertaining.

Overall the movie isn't the best, but it is definitely watchable and thoroughly entertaining, it keeps you wanting to watch more because its very action packed.

If first time watchers are reading this, I would say definitely watch it. :)

After the opening scene of *Deep Blue Sea*, in which (predictably) a shark terrorizes a quartet of partying teenagers on a boat, I decided I was in for a crappy movie. A crappy movie that would contain basically every movie AND horror movie cliche I could think of. I was right. And wrong.

I will say that the premise for this movie is great: super-intelligent sharks. Sharks are bad enough, but...smart sharks? Immediately you have terrifying possibilities running through your mind. The sad fact, though, is that this is one of those movies where the screenwriters (and I can't believe it took three people to come up with this) threw some dice and picked which character was going to die next. That's what the plot boils down to: things go wrong; someone dies. More things go wrong; someone else dies. And so on. People whom you couldn't care less about die. People who you really don't want to see die die.

The people are an interesting band of characters. The female scientist, pleasing to the eye and the ear (I'm a sucker for accents), is utterly consumed by her research. (And for all you testosterone-driven males, she does strip down to her underwear in one scene.) Samuel L. Jackson goes about saying his lines as president of a pharmaceutical company. I just love the way Michael Rapaport talks: he's welcome in any movie. LL Cool J deftly provides the comic relief and was clearly the audience favorite. Sure, there are some other characters, but pretty much everyone's one-dimensional, as expected.

I think I've bashed this movie enough. It's time to get to the crux of the argument: this is an entertaining movie. As soon as the movie entered the lab facility, I became completely immersed in the film. As the movie progressed, I didn't think about how long it had gone on and mentally calculate how much was left. Once the trouble started, the movie grabbed me and never let go. I was not perhaps literally on the edge of my seat, but no outside thoughts penetrated my mind. It's not that the movie is scary or anything; it's that it's suspenseful. Predictably suspenseful, but suspenseful nonetheless. There is one scene in the film (I cannot conclusively tell whether it falls nearer or the beginning or the middle because, as I said, I lost track of time) during which I sensed the ENTIRE AUDIENCE jumping out of their seats. At the risk of getting off on a tangent, the sharks were believable. And the speed at which they moved unnerved me. They did succeed at their purpose: to keep a continual shudder running through my body. Let's just say you couldn't get me within ten miles of that facility. Oh, look, I did get off on a tangent, just great. At times I of course found myself wondering why some of these characters were so unbelievably stupid in their actions, but it's all part of the fun. And that's what I ended up deciding about this movie: it was fun. Blood-soaked, cringe-inducing fun.

I have read all of the other comments about Jaws vs Deep Blue Sea and no one has mentioned the biggest connection of all. THE LICENSE PLATE THEY TAKE FROM THE SHARK IN DEEP BLUE SEA IS THE SAME ONE THEY CUT OUT OF THE SHARK ON THE DOCK IN JAWS.

Fun film with a good story, great pace and action. One of the best shark "tales" you will encounter. Its not Jaws, but it's pretty high up there. 8/10