Deep Blue Sea

Sharks and Humans and Scares, Oh My

Main Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Michael Rapaport, Thomas Jane

Director: Renny Harlin

I really love Jaws. That horror/big beast flick set the standard to which all other sharky-fun-gobbling-folks must meet (even if “Bruce” didn’t work eighty percent of the time). Could an up and comer surpass the classic? Maybe. Another great one may come along and chomp up Jaws like so much chum. Sadly, not Deep Blue Sea. It’s a minnow.

Susan McAlester (Burrows) is a dedicated, type A executive in charge of a facility called Aquatica. She has a problem, and it begins with M. Yes, money. It’s running out, and she hopes to convince a financial executive named Russell Franklin (Jackson) to pump in some funds to keep her scientists working. As it turns out, they are experimenting on sharks. more specifically, their brains. She hopes to. well, I won’t spoil as to why.

Oh, sure! Sharks are well known for their mental acuity. Okay, so they are big, fierce, and stupid. But apparently those at the facility are big, fierce, and smart. Which team would you bet on: sharks or humans? I thought so. Easily out-thinking and out-planning the poor humans for most of the movie, the sharks have a rum fun time hunting and stalking their pray. So how do they get the humans into the water? There are ways.

Standard horror/stalking fare, with the added complication of taking place in water (although there are, of course, dark hallways and pregnant silences while the character looks nervously around, directly before a sudden attack), it’s not too bad. It at least entertains, and doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is. Faint praise, but praise indeed.