Deep Blue Sea (1999)

 

How things have changed for this film. When 'Deep Blue Sea' first came to theatres, it was pretty much lambasted all across the board for being too silly. Then fast forward several years and most people's opinion of this one has mellowed.

Not that this is suddenly a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but there is no denying that this film is just a good time and several scenes have entered the collective consciousness for being so batshit insane you can't help but laugh, rewind and watch it again.

So yes, I'd say that makes this one qualify for cult status.

The plot is incredibly simple yet effective: a young scientist wants to find a cure for Alzheimer's. To do this, she wants to use brain protein from sharks, because sharks apparently don't suffer this horrid disease. They also make the claim that sharks don't get cancer, which is not true, even if it doesn't happen often (as far as we know, that is). Now of course, because these scientists are impatient for results, they have genetically modified three sharks to harvest more protein. Their brain mass has increased, which also resulted in the sharks becoming quite a bit smarter than regular sharks. 

Who knew tampering with nature would yield bad results? Well, everyone except those present in films, of course, as in the real world we've had plenty of cautionary tales on this subject. 

And so with a minimal crew, a violent storm outside and an underwater base, the chase is on as parts of the base get flooded, two of the smaller sharks enter the building and hunt down our band of merry protagonists as they get picked off one by one. Who will make it until the end? And will beast triumph over man?

This film borrows all the tropes from films that did the same thing and sometimes better. Of course, the most obvious reference is 'Jurassic Park', as that is truly a massive benchmark for stories of this type. There are others as well, but you can clearly spot the similarities. The story also plays out much as one would expect. So why is this so much fun then?

Easy: the characters and events are so ludicrous and played so tongue-in-cheeck it's almost self aware. Saffron Burrows is the hardnosed scientist who says bugger all to conventions in order to find a cure for Alzheimer's; Thomas Jane is the stoic hero figure; Samuel Jackson the businessman come to see if his money is well spent and so on and so forth. In all fairness: you won't give a rat's arse about any of these people anyway. But the action is well done and cool to watch, the dialogue is perfectly cheesy at times yet delivered with all the seriousness of a grand drama and several scenes will remain imprinted on your brain.

If you haven't seen this one, I won't spoil it, but there's one involving a rousing speech and a pool that will make you jump and then cause you to burst out into uncontrollable laughter. 

Director Renny Harlin knows how to entertain us, that is for sure. Does he make the 'best' films? No, but give the man credit for delivering entertaining work.

And last but not least: even though the CG is pretty iffy and hasn't aged all that well, the animatronic sharks look absolutely stunning. They are clearly all makos, as they appear to have had just one mould, but their movement, puppeteering and look all feel genuine and the little details such as the correct shape of the teeth and face are most excellent. You'll have to forgive them for using the same mould for a tiger shark, as tiger sharks look nothing like makos, but that is a minor fret. 

It is not a masterpiece, but it sure as hell is a cheesy and fun classic in its own right.