DEEP BLUE SEA (1999)
Grade: B-
Director: Renny Harlin
Screenplay: Duncan Kennedy, Donna Powers, Wayne Powers
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, LL Cool J, Stellan Skarsgard, Michael Rapaport, Jaqueline McKenzie, Aida Turturro
The Irwin Allen Disaster films of the 1970's (THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, THE TOWERING INFERNO) opened up a stream of celluloid denominated as the "High Concept" movie: the films that Speilberg and Lucas later energized, injecting them with character and emotion. Producers like Jerry Bruckheimer (THE ROCK) took the notion, stripping it of distinct characters (transforming them into types), and jacking up the noise with well-oiled, frenetic, glossy "products" (CON AIR, ARMAGEDDON). (To be fair, Speilberg and Lucas did the same thing later in their careers). The films could be described as nonstop vivacity punctuated with one-liners in order to give the audience time to breathe. Of late the High Concept movie has been slowly shifting back into the High Concept B movie.
DEEP BLUE SEA certainly fits snugly into the latter category. It's the kind of flick Roger Corman would bank roll if he had the money, a JAWS rip-off turned bombastic action adventure, Irwin Allen with only the disaster. Of course Roger Corman already made the definitive JAWS-rip-off, PIRANHA. How does DEEP BLUE SEA compare? Let's just say it makes PIRANHA look downright Speilbergian. I'm not referring to the effects (of which DEEP BLUE SEA clearly has PIRANHA beat) but a little something called a script. DEEP BLUE SEA's screenplay is written by three (count em 3) over paid Hollywood screenwriters, and they've actually included a line in which Samuel L Jackson proclaims, "I don't like heights, especially falling from them". Yes, it's gonna be a dopey ride.
Fortunately, the director Renny Harlin seems to be aware of the stupidity he's promulgating, and he toys with our expectations. Like in the opening where a group of attractive teens are attacked by a maniacal shark. Just when we think we know how the scene will resume, Harlin tosses us a curve.
Harlin doesn't adhere to the typical slasher formula. Throughout the flick we never know when or who will become shark food.
And the cast he has assembled to play the shark food is an eclectic one. DEEP BLUE SEA continues a current trend in big Hollywood films by populating its ensemble with art house regulars like in ARMAGEDDON and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Thomas Jane (THE VELOCITY OF GARY) plays the buffed, masculine hero with a perpetual scowl. We know Jane is a real man because he rides those damn sharks as if they were harmless horses. Saffron Burros (MISS JULIE) plays an impossibly attractive doctor who strips down to her bra and panties in order to electrocute a shark (or something). Swedish actor Stellen Skarsquard (INSOMNIA, GOOD WILL HUNTING) is on hand as "one of the most brilliant men ever". He plays the part with meticulous menace for no discernable purpose. Samuel L Jackson tones down his bad-assness, looking downright respectable with a beard and spectacles, and Michael Rappaport (ILLTOWN) acts jittery. The actor who gives the most optimal performance isn't even an actor: It's rapper LL cool J. He plays the part of Teach like a hip Doctor Dolitle, trading insults with his foul mouthed parrot. Teach is never a genuine character (no one is) but he is amusing comic relief because LL plays him that way. And these "High Concept" flicks rarely get the comic relief right (remember Phillip Seymour Hoffman in TWISTER). Other than LL (it just seems better than referring to the man as Cool J) nearly every one (even Oscar Nominee Sam Jackson) comes across as relatively stiff. But of course going into a movie about killer sharks we aren't expecting nuanced performances.
What Harlin does, is deliver an innumerable amount of cheap thrills. Sharks charge forth like aquatic bulls, explicitly munching on their prey. There is much running, many explosions, and excessive shouting of the word, "NO!" The pace is so fast and furious we don't have time to register minor flaws (like the entire plot, which I wouldn't even begin to get into).
Such a large number of these big adventure films are so horribly made, it takes a movie like JAWS or EMPIRE STRIKES BACK to show us how effective they can be when done correctly. Those films were masterful character-driven adventures: exciting, thrilling, and involving. DEEP BLUE SEA isn't on that level, nor is it a tedious bore like DAYLIGHT or TWISTER. Its characters may evaporate from your mind as the credits role, but Harlin, after two abysmal failures, has finally provided us with a reasonably entertaining 105 minutes that insults only a little. And did I mention Saffron Burrows stripping down to bra and panties?