Deep Blue Sea (1999)

Directed by Renny Harlin

Produced by Akiva Goldsman, Robert Kosberg, Tony Ludwig, Don McBain & Alan Riche

Starring Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Rapaport, Stellan Skarsgard, LL Cool J

You can almost hear the conversation between the Village Roadshow and Warner Brothers executives in your head when you watch Renny Harlin's "Deep Blue Sea". And it probably goes something a little like "Hey! I've a hundred million dollars to throw around, any ideas what to do with it?" "Yeah, why don't we remake 'Jaws', but give it a Frankenstein-styled spin (I can't imagine the money men using the word "Promethean") and set it on an isolated research station?" "Hey, great idea, but we have to beef it up a bit, because the 'kids' won't buy 'Jaws" these days!" "Okay, well let's get that crazy Swede Renny Harlin to direct, 'coz 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' did BIG box office y'know!" A personal assistant chimes in with "Didn't you guys see 'The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane'?" before drawing the unanimous response from all present of "What are we paying you for? To pour coffee or for your 'informed opinion'?" Said PA continues to pour coffee while the execs expound ludicrous ideas of appealing to the hip-hop crowd by casting LL Cool J as the cook, spending extravagant amounts of money on overblown CGI effects, and drafting in that guy from "Free Willy" to build the shark…which swiftly grows to three sharks. After much backslapping, a contract is inked with the sub-clause of procuring box-office champ Samuel L. Jackson for that all important audience draw-card. With such a thin premise, it's a wonder it worked at all, let alone as well as it actually does.

The plot? Oh yeah, there is one but it's about as lightweight as the CGI effects. Aboard floating marine research station Aquatica (I kid you not!), Dr. Susan McAlester (Burrows) has been playing God with the DNA of Mako sharks, enhancing their genetic makeup in a search for a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Her wary offsider, and professional shark hunter, Carter Blake (Jane) has barely managed to keep her mutant creations at bay, but when one of the monster fish escapes McAlester raises the attentions of her corporate sponsors. Russell Franklin (Jackson) is dispatched to the station to cast a keen eye over his investment, and the work of the good doctor.

Once aboard, he meets up with McAlester's fellow scientists, Janice Higgins (McKenzie), Tom Scoggins (Rapaport), Jim Whitlock (Skarsgard), and the "ship's cook" Preacher (Cool J) before copping an eyeful of what his money has been spent on. Cue the biggest Mako shark you've ever seen, a rather nasty "accident" with Whitlock, and a monster typhoon. An attempt to airlift the injured Whitlock out of peril results in disaster, and things begin to look pretty bad. Could things get worse? Well, the genetically enhanced monster sharks could always break free of their pen and start looking for lunch, couldn't they? Then again, they could also start displaying the exact level of intelligence they harbour attributed to the scientific fine-tuning they've had from modern day Frankenstein, McAlester.

That's it really, the rest of the film becomes the usual cat and mouse game between sharks and human participants that we've become accustomed to of the slasher genre. It's a simple matter of pontificating who's next on the sharks' menu from there on through to the climax. From the above, you'd probably assume that I enjoyed Harlin's big budget opus about as much as having teeth pulled, but I concur. As big, dumb and cliched as it turned out to be, it actually turns out to be a wildly entertaining no-brainer. Composer Trevor Rabin ("Armageddon" and "Gone In 60 Seconds") had a tough act to follow for a signature shark theme post John Williams' "Jaws" theme, but actually came up with a composition that is instantly unforgettable (it's quiet, melodic, and infuses a sense of menace with amazing stealth). Harlin, too, manages a fairly tightly paced rollercoaster ride that he happily refers to as "a big budget horror film", which is a big plus on the back of some of his earlier misfires.

Although, his proud boast that the audience will "not be able to tell the difference" between CGI, Walt Conti's animatronic and actual sharks comes a little prematurely. Um, sorry to say Renny, but the end result is painfully obvious. Conti's sharks are marvels to behold, but the copious CGI sharks are actually quite dreadful, and they move completely unnaturally. But the cast are good, and there's a few surprises along the way that many (myself included) won't see coming. That said, Duncan Kennedy and Donna & Wayne Powers' script manages to dredge up just about every cliché of the horror genre, some so painfully telegraphed that you'll groan out loud that such plot devices are still used in modern cinema. Heading off alone to retrieve some inconsequential item while the sharks are prowling about anyone? All the same, one plus is, that for a major studio picture, it is surprisingly gory. Cool score, big action, and buckets of blood…yeah, I can be pretty easily pleased sometimes!

Hey, it's a Village Roadshow disc, so there's little more to say than it looks eye-poppingly stunning and sounds fabulous. Letterboxed at its theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35 and anamorphically enhanced, clarity et al is pin-sharp and lavish throughout. There is only one audio option, and that's window-popping room-destroying Dolby 5.1, but with a film this big would you really want anything else? Apart from a DTS 6.1 ES track, that is. A presentation this good really makes me kick myself that I missed this one on its original theatrical run, but more fool me, hey? The disc presentation actually makes such a big-budget, over-blown, bombastic exercise a mercifully tolerable night's entertainment, which is no mean feat considering my non-commercial leanings. Sort of like being forced to suffer through Aerosmith when I'd rather be listening to an old Damned album…

Extra features are pleasingly good. Audio commentary by Harlin and Jackson is entertaining and informative, even if Jackson does bail about three-quarters of an hour into things. Harlin's direction of the viewer to exactly what is CGI enhanced during the film is one his commentary's many surprising revelations, but he makes it pretty clear that he was never making anything more than a crowd-pleaser, which is refreshing in his honesty. There's also five deleted scenes with optional commentary by Renny, that serve to flesh out characters before they get munched. Two documentaries are also thrown in; "When Sharks Attack!" being the standard "making of" featurette, and "The Sharks Of Deep Blue Sea" a fascinating behind the scenes look at Walt Conti's remote controlled behemoths. I bet Roy Arbogast and crew are kicking themselves at the advances in technology since their fledgling efforts back in '75! Things are rounded out with Cast & Crew biographies, a Photo gallery and the theatrical trailer. I reckon that adds up to a pretty funky package, don't you? :)

Shark movies hold a special place for me, as I lived for seventeen years of my life in Australia's most prolific shark region (the lower South West coast), having been witness to the capture of deep sea killers the size of small cars. I have to admit, they are a creature that scares me only slightly more than the notion of a long-term relationship, and hence any cinematic excursion with even a hint of a shark in it can frighten the billy-o out of me! So you can imagine what the premise of three such monsters chowing down on an international cast did for me. That, Trevor Rabin's ultra-creepy score, and Harlin's commercial direction all added up to one truly chilling night's viewing for this tiny fish. It's big, it's dumb, but given half a chance it will definitely scare the willies out of you. If Hollywood keeps these sort of shenanigans up, I may just avoid beaches for the rest of my life…and it's not like I don't need the traditional Aussie tan!

Review by M.C.Thomason