Deep Blue Sea is a ridiculous movie featuring angry sharks with artificially enlarged brains, biting and smashing their way into a deep-sea research facility, chomping through every B-list and C-list star who gets in their way! Sounds exactly like the kind of movie you’d best avoid picking up on Blu-ray, right? Only if you’re averse to having a cracking good time…
Sometimes I just happen to be in the right mood for some mindless excitement. And on this weekend which sees the tits-and-gore fest that is Pirhana 3D released into cinemas, it seems like there can be no time better than the present to enjoy Renny Harlin‘s 1999 homage to Jaws, Deep Blue Sea. Now, when I refer to it as an homage to Jaws, I really mean that in that in the most superficial of senses – both films are about sharks. Despite Harlin’s best attempts to honour Steven Spielberg‘s game-changing fish film of the seventies, Deep Blue Sea is all bluster and blood, where Jaws was heavy on character and suspense. Also, Spielberg didn’t have CGI sharks.
The premise of the film actually borders on the intelligent – a research team genetically alters the brains of a handful of sharks in order to to develop a potential cure for alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately for the scientists, their experiments have had an unexpected side effect. The sharks are getting smarter. Yep, sounds like a decent setup to me. But when said genius sharks are rendered in cartoon-like CGI, shown plain-as-day in so many action-packed frames, you know the film is going to take a turn from serious sci-fi to campy. But in this case it’s not such a bad thing. Deep Blue Sea is so much silly fun. The performers are, for the most part top notch – Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgård, Thomas Jane amongst others. Despite the admirable list of thespians present to lead us from engaging plot-point to plot-point, the surprising and numerous computer-generated shark attacks turn out to be the highlight of the film in all their bloody and very, very fake glory. But that’s all part of the fun, now isn’t it?
Deep Blue Sea comes to Blu-ray in a colourful and detailed VC-1 encode from Warner. This is a pretty great looking disc, all things considered. Grain is present and consistent, blacks are deep and dark and while you might find some of the longer shots a bit on the soft side, close-ups will remind you how good this high-def presentation really is. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack is quite dynamic, sometimes veering toward the explosive! This one will make your LFE channel come alive, but every now and then at the cost of dialogue. Prepare to ride the volume on your remote.
All of the bonus material on the Deep Blue Sea Blu-ray disc has been ported over from the previously issued DVD from many years ago. The two brief featurettes cover various aspects of the film making process, while the commentary track from director Harlin and actor Jackson fills in the blanks (though Jackson drops out about half way through when his character…um…ceases to be involved with the story anymore…Was that a spoiler?) Five decent deleted scenes and the theatrical trailer round out the disc.
Deep Blue Sea is a fun movie. It’s well-paced, has some thrills, and may keep you guessing. It’s certainly no classic, and you won’t remember much the next day after seeing it, but you could do much worse for a night of movie-watching.