Is this movie little more than Jaws brought up to date? Again it features what is probably the world’s most efficient biological killing machine and offers the expected ‘don’t go into the water’ type tension and again we have some pretty sub-standard acting and lots of blood in the water type gore. But that is where the similarities seem to end. Continuing the ‘science messing where it shouldn’t’ theme of many of todays movies the plot of Deep Blue Sea is this:
On an offshore research station scientists are working on a way to regenerate brain tissue in the hope of curing Alzheimer’s disease. It would appear that the most natural hosts for this experimentation are sharks and it is these upon which they are experimenting. However there is a side effect to their work. The shark’s intelligence is dramatically increased by these procedures. They systematically test the electrified fencing for weaknesses, shy away from harpoon guns etc. which is a cause for alarm amongst the scientists. This becomes even more so when a freak storm hits the station causing massive damage and allowing the sharks access to the rapidly flooding underwater complex, bent on hunting down their human captors.
This movie has some good ideas, the special effects are OK and there are a few minor shocks but nothing unexpected. Where this movie fails to impress is with the suspense aspect which is what captivated audiences who flocked to see Jaws. The director seems to have opted for action rather suspense which has produced a movie which is predictable and offers little new over other action movies other than it has sharks in it. This is a shame because the plot idea is a good one, and sharks must be able to offer more than this movie gives in terms of entertainment.
The acting is pretty dire as well. Samuel Jackson is the best known of all here, but it is the biggest surprise of all that he leaves so early into the movie taking with him the only decent performance on show here.
This isn’t exactly a bad movie - it just offers nothing new and is thus makes unremarkable viewing. Given the subject matter you would expect something better on show here, but the movie simply doesn’t deliver the goods. Watch it if there’s nothing better to rent.