A review by Brooks Rich
Happy summer. Welcome to the first installment of our summer exploration of one of my personal favorites genres, shark movies. Sharks are an enduring fear for some people. Go swimming in the ocean and you might run into one of these bad boys. Yeah this is a real life monster and they have a legacy in cinema. Now there is clearly a king of these films that is so far above the rest it's not even a contest. Jaws is not just the best shark movie ever made but is one of the greatest films ever made. I am not talking about Jaws today. I'm talking about the totally awesome and unfairly maligned Deep Blue Sea from 1999, directed by Renny Harlin and starring genetically engineered sharks, Thomas Jane, LL Cool J, Safforn Burrows, and Samuel L. Jackson. Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen this film. I have to talk about something concerning Samuel L. Jackson later because it's impossible to talk about this film and not mention that.
At an underwater facility scientists are harvesting the protein complex from sharks brains to try and combat Alzheimer's. However the sharks are getting smarter as a result from this experiment and soon hatch an escape plan and pick off the cast one at a time. It's a shark movie. That's what they do.
This movie is so stupid but so wonderful at the same time. The sharks don't always look great. Late '90s CGI is rough. The science makes no goddamn sense. It's ridiculous but who cares? It's a movie where giant mako sharks eat people and good God do they eat people. These kills are brutal as it always should be in a shark movie. The best shark movies at the very least take the sharks seriously and this film is no different. These sharks are scary and brutal. Of course it has that scene. SPOILER ALERT. Samuel L. Jackson is giving an impassioned speech, rallying the crew, and a shark reaches up and grabs his ass. Drags him into the water where he is quickly ripped to pieces by another shark. Completely awesome. It's now one of those legendary movie deaths. It's probably overshadowed this movie a little and that's a damn shame. This is a great time.
Renny Harlin is one of my favorite directors. He's hit and miss but between this, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Die Hard 2, and his best film, Cliffhanger, he's a damn good director. Sure he has a notorious bomb in the '90s but it was his then wife Geena Davis who was the sacrificial lamb for Cutthroat Island.
This is just a good time. Yes there will be at least two films covered in this special summer feature that are actually good cinematic experiences. But this film is just a damn good time. Check it out.
Happy summer. Welcome to the first installment of our summer exploration of one of my personal favorites genres, shark movies. Sharks are an enduring fear for some people. Go swimming in the ocean and you might run into one of these bad boys. Yeah this is a real life monster and they have a legacy in cinema. Now there is clearly a king of these films that is so far above the rest it's not even a contest. Jaws is not just the best shark movie ever made but is one of the greatest films ever made. I am not talking about Jaws today. I'm talking about the totally awesome and unfairly maligned Deep Blue Sea from 1999, directed by Renny Harlin and starring genetically engineered sharks, Thomas Jane, LL Cool J, Safforn Burrows, and Samuel L. Jackson. Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen this film. I have to talk about something concerning Samuel L. Jackson later because it's impossible to talk about this film and not mention that.
At an underwater facility scientists are harvesting the protein complex from sharks brains to try and combat Alzheimer's. However the sharks are getting smarter as a result from this experiment and soon hatch an escape plan and pick off the cast one at a time. It's a shark movie. That's what they do.
This movie is so stupid but so wonderful at the same time. The sharks don't always look great. Late '90s CGI is rough. The science makes no goddamn sense. It's ridiculous but who cares? It's a movie where giant mako sharks eat people and good God do they eat people. These kills are brutal as it always should be in a shark movie. The best shark movies at the very least take the sharks seriously and this film is no different. These sharks are scary and brutal. Of course it has that scene. SPOILER ALERT. Samuel L. Jackson is giving an impassioned speech, rallying the crew, and a shark reaches up and grabs his ass. Drags him into the water where he is quickly ripped to pieces by another shark. Completely awesome. It's now one of those legendary movie deaths. It's probably overshadowed this movie a little and that's a damn shame. This is a great time.
Renny Harlin is one of my favorite directors. He's hit and miss but between this, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Die Hard 2, and his best film, Cliffhanger, he's a damn good director. Sure he has a notorious bomb in the '90s but it was his then wife Geena Davis who was the sacrificial lamb for Cutthroat Island.
This is just a good time. Yes there will be at least two films covered in this special summer feature that are actually good cinematic experiences. But this film is just a damn good time. Check it out.
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