As concepts go, Deep Blue Sea's might be described as your basic no-brainer. "It's kinda Jaws meets Alien meets 28 Days Later" drawls Finland's answer to Michael Bay, Renny "The Marlin" Harlin; "Kinda, Samuel L meets uber-babe meets blond surfer dude meets wacky ship's cook with these cool one liners" he adds redundantly as the next Woody Allen Project is quietly shelved and the studio's finance director reaches for his corporate cheque book. Who said modern cinema was formulaic?
On the bright side, such sparse imaginative furnishing does leave room for putting ones feet up, getting in some popcorn-related girth enlargement, and deriving passing amusement from betting on who is gonna get scragged next.
And, believe it or not, working out who is live bait is no mean task, mainly due to a moment of inspired plotting early on, where a prominent member of the cast is sent for a figurative and literal early bath. Streuth, is no one sacred.
The plot? Ho, hum. Well, let's call it a premise rather than a plot. Marine-based scientists developing a cure for Alzheimer's genetically engineer huge, hyper-intelligent, hyper-aggressive mako sharks for ooh, something or other. Hey, what could happen next?! Can someone smell fish?
Actually Deep Blue Sea is not that bad for a brainless action movie. Harlin the Marlin at least copies effectively; so while the audience may be forcibly reminded of Alien, it could be a lot worse - it could be being reminded Alien Resurrection. Harlin also keeps us on tenterhooks with some well-paced action interspersed with a totally gratuitous yet very welcome shot of Saffron Burrows stripping down to her grundies. Once the fan has proverbially been hit, the audience finds out lots of lovely things about various cast members, which keep us at least half on the side of the tooth team; all things considered, just as well. Chomp, chomp.
So it depends what you want. Big it may be, but Deep Blue Sea is certainly not clever. Jaws was based on Enemy of the People; Deep Blue Sea well, isn't. On the positive side, the sharks are lovely (no floating rubber in this film); the action is well paced and there is a certain, knowing, disaster movie tongue in cheek. Is this enough to salvage the wreck? Just about.
On the bright side, such sparse imaginative furnishing does leave room for putting ones feet up, getting in some popcorn-related girth enlargement, and deriving passing amusement from betting on who is gonna get scragged next.
And, believe it or not, working out who is live bait is no mean task, mainly due to a moment of inspired plotting early on, where a prominent member of the cast is sent for a figurative and literal early bath. Streuth, is no one sacred.
The plot? Ho, hum. Well, let's call it a premise rather than a plot. Marine-based scientists developing a cure for Alzheimer's genetically engineer huge, hyper-intelligent, hyper-aggressive mako sharks for ooh, something or other. Hey, what could happen next?! Can someone smell fish?
Actually Deep Blue Sea is not that bad for a brainless action movie. Harlin the Marlin at least copies effectively; so while the audience may be forcibly reminded of Alien, it could be a lot worse - it could be being reminded Alien Resurrection. Harlin also keeps us on tenterhooks with some well-paced action interspersed with a totally gratuitous yet very welcome shot of Saffron Burrows stripping down to her grundies. Once the fan has proverbially been hit, the audience finds out lots of lovely things about various cast members, which keep us at least half on the side of the tooth team; all things considered, just as well. Chomp, chomp.
So it depends what you want. Big it may be, but Deep Blue Sea is certainly not clever. Jaws was based on Enemy of the People; Deep Blue Sea well, isn't. On the positive side, the sharks are lovely (no floating rubber in this film); the action is well paced and there is a certain, knowing, disaster movie tongue in cheek. Is this enough to salvage the wreck? Just about.