Deep Blue Sea (1999)
Director: Renny Harlin
Starring: Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J
Primary genre: Science fiction
Secondary genre: Horror
Renny Harlin was the European action equivalent of American John McTiernan in the 90s (“The Hunt for Red October” (1990), “Last Action Hero”, (1993), “Die Hard with a Vengeance“ (1995)). Despite one major minor financial misstep (“Cutthroat Island” (1995)), the Finnish director had amassed an impressive resume of thrilling actioners boasting explosive action sequences, Guinness noted stuntwork and hard R-rated violence. To put it mildly, his command of adult spectacle was unparalleled (“Die Hard 2” (1990), “Cliffhanger“ (1993), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996)). While “Deep Blue Sea” does dive into Harlin’s familiar waters, it can be seen as an outlier bringing him back to his horror roots (“A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master” (1988)) backed a decade later by a much more generous budget and experience.
This B-movie with A+ production values features a zany premise which the script (thematically at least) takes rather seriously - a cure of Alzheimer’s rests in the minds of genetically enhanced Mako sharks. Although, the film does not delve really deep down in the ethics of it all, it does attempt to present a (superficial) case about research behavior despite being far away from the appealing heights of similar movies (e.g., “Jurassic Park” (1993)) in a non-erratic way. Like any story that stiches together threads of man playing god and creatures being unwillingly subjected to experiments in an isolated facility, it’s a cinematic recipe for a looming disaster. As such, beloved (and naive) scientists and crew are being chomped into tiny little pieces across the claustrophobic setting of Aquatica: kitchens, hallways and bedrooms used to be mankind’s safe spaces; once the water comes pouring in, they become tight arenas for survival.
“I hate to interrupt this moment of burgeoning intimacy but can we get the fuck out of here?”
Harlin delivers a double combo of nightmare fuel visuals for man’s primordial fears of the unknown sea (i.e., thalassophobia) and its scary beasts. At moments, it is quite confrontational and Harlin stages several distinct set pieces of humans-vs-sharks with impressive mastery, gnarly animatronics, spatially aware production design - a shaft escape is particularly tense - and water, lots and lots of water invoking a real and visceral sense of danger for both the characters and actors making the film even more impressive by today’s lame standards of action shooting. Trevor Rabin’s traditional score (former guitarist of “Yes”) goes overkill to highlight the pulse pounding proceedings and (several) jump (i.e., shark) scares while the sound mix in a stroke of genius is so loud that has these Makos moving and attacking like underwater rockets causing real shock value.
Throughout all this progressing chaos, the most obvious quality benchmark is Spielberg’s “Jaws” (1974) but that’s unfair. Spielberg’s movie focused heavily on drama and not cheap horror relegating the villain of the piece - a great white shark - in the background until it was necessary for him to emerge. Harlin’s templates however, are Spielberg’s other monster vehicle, “Jurassic Park” (1993) and Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979) only he exchanges the raptors for the fastest and most ancient predator on our planet, mako sharks and a space vessel for an underwater research facility.
Remarkably the script plays against and in favor of conventions to wreck havoc among expectations of who is going to make it with mostly relatable individuals and a surprising lack of action hero cliches. Although these (arrogant) scientists and blue collar workers are not pop culture material, they remain well-defined; a few throwaway lines further perpetrate some short of depth as opposed to establish the traditional horny teenager trope who doesn’t respect nature or society. A retrospective examination elevates “Deep Blue Sea” from the pile of creature features: from its small (and unforced) diverse cast, unsexualized (and script wise), smart female characters and limitation of Americanisms, Aquatica feels like an actual facility where normal people work. The actors give reliable performances enjoying being part of a thunderous rollercoaster rider with LL Cool J (yes) and his parrot coming close to be fan favourites.
Perhaps the only dated aspect is the use of the late 90s CGI. While it might have been state-of-the-art back then, a quarter of century does not do it any favors although truth to be told, it injects extra charm into the film. Going too harsh on this expensive B-movie would be a pointless tactic. Factually, “Deep Blue Sea” is and remains the second best shark flick in cinema history. It is exactly what you want from a story discussing genetically enhanced sharks at exactly the right amount of running time. Anyone carrying greater expectations is delusional. So grab your gear and enjoy its beautiful claustrophobic cinematography (by Stephen F. Winton) with a big bucket of pop corn and don’t think too much about it.
B-movie greatness
+Great jump scares
+Rabin’s solid score
+Excellent production design
+Awesome stuntwork and waterwork
+Engaging set pieces
+These sharks are nightmare fuel
-Silly premise
-Needed a bit more human chomping