Plot
Searching for a cure to Alzheimer's disease a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the bait as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.

Release Year: 1999

Rating: 5.7/10 (57,413 voted)

Critic's Score: 54/100

Director: Renny Harlin

Stars: Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson

Storyline
A businessman sinks $200 million into a special project to help fight brain cancer. As part of this project, medical biologist Susan McAlester rather naughtily figures out a way to genetically enlarge shark brains, so that cancer-battling enzymes can be harvested. However, the shark subjects become super smart and decide they don't much like being cooped up in pens and being stabbed with hypodermics, so they figure a way to break out and make for the open sea...

Writers: Duncan Kennedy, Donna Powers

Cast:
Thomas Jane - Carter Blake
Saffron Burrows - Dr. Susan McCallister
Samuel L. Jackson - Russell Franklin
Jacqueline McKenzie - Janice Higgins
Michael Rapaport - Tom Scoggins
Stellan Skarsgård - Jim Whitlock
LL Cool J - Preacher
Aida Turturro - Brenda Kerns
Cristos - Boat Captain
Daniel Rey - Helicopter Pilot (as Daniel Bahimo Rey)
Valente Rodriguez - Helicopter Co-Pilot
Brent Roam - Helicopter Winch Operator
Eyal Podell - Boy #1
Erinn Bartlett - Girl #1
Dan Thiel - Boy #2

Taglines: Welcome to the endangered species list.

Official Website: Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. (alternate) |

Release Date: 28 July 1999

Filming Locations: Fox Baja Studios, Rosarito, Baja California Norte, Mexico

Box Office Details

Budget: $78,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $19,107,643 (USA) (1 August 1999) (2854 Screens)

Gross: $164,648,142 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 105 min

Trivia:
LL Cool J performed the rap song Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin) over the end credits.

Goofs:
Factual errors: After Susan electrocutes the shark while in her underwear, she looks at the research data that has been destroyed by the electricity. It has been burned and shows carbon stains as if it had been in a fire. This could not have happened while in water and the data probably would not have been damaged at all from an electric charge in the water.

Quotes:
The Parrot: Fat butt... you got a big fat butt!
Preacher: Any of your nonsense and we're gonna have tiny little drumsticks on the menu tonight.

Fun and entertaining

Rating:

After the opening scene of *Deep Blue Sea*, in which (predictably) a shark terrorizes a quartet of partying teenagers on a boat, I decided I was in for a crappy movie. A crappy movie that would contain basically every movie AND horror movie cliche I could think of. I was right. And wrong.

I will say that the premise for this movie is great: super-intelligent sharks. Sharks are bad enough, but...smart sharks? Immediately you have terrifying possibilities running through your mind. The sad fact, though, is that this is one of those movies where the screenwriters (and I can't believe it took three people to come up with this) threw some dice and picked which character was going to die next. That's what the plot boils down to: things go wrong; someone dies. More things go wrong; someone else dies. And so on. People whom you couldn't care less about die. People who you really don't want to see die die.

The people are an interesting band of characters. The female scientist, pleasing to the eye and the ear (I'm a sucker for accents), is utterly consumed by her research. (And for all you testosterone-driven males, she does strip down to her underwear in one scene.) Samuel L. Jackson goes about saying his lines as president of a pharmaceutical company. I just love the way Michael Rapaport talks: he's welcome in any movie. LL Cool J deftly provides the comic relief and was clearly the audience favorite. Sure, there are some other characters, but pretty much everyone's one-dimensional, as expected.

I think I've bashed this movie enough. It's time to get to the crux of the argument: this is an entertaining movie. As soon as the movie entered the lab facility, I became completely immersed in the film. As the movie progressed, I didn't think about how long it had gone on and mentally calculate how much was left. Once the trouble started, the movie grabbed me and never let go. I was not perhaps literally on the edge of my seat, but no outside thoughts penetrated my mind. It's not that the movie is scary or anything; it's that it's suspenseful. Predictably suspenseful, but suspenseful nonetheless. There is one scene in the film (I cannot conclusively tell whether it falls nearer or the beginning or the middle because, as I said, I lost track of time) during which I sensed the ENTIRE AUDIENCE jumping out of their seats. At the risk of getting off on a tangent, the sharks were believable. And the speed at which they moved unnerved me. They did succeed at their purpose: to keep a continual shudder running through my body. Let's just say you couldn't get me within ten miles of that facility. Oh, look, I did get off on a tangent, just great. At times I of course found myself wondering why some of these characters were so unbelievably stupid in their actions, but it's all part of the fun. And that's what I ended up deciding about this movie: it was fun. Blood-soaked, cringe-inducing fun.

Comments: