***
Cast: Saffron Burrows, Samuel L. Jackson, LL Cool J
Director: Renny Harlin
Rating: M
Review: Russell Baillie
Well, it is a shark movie and right from it's opening two-bass-note theme music it's brazenly sticking its head in the mouth of a certain other finned monster flick.
But say this for Deep Blue
Sea - for all its regurgitations (golly, yet another underwater variation on Alien), it has a better class of explosion than we've seen this blockbuster season.
One particular moment should have entire cinemas saying AAARGH! in terrified unison. A lower-case version of the same phrase might well be directed at the story setup.
Scientists are working at a semi-submerged laboratory doing research on a shark's brain extract to help Alzheimer's sufferers (who of course won't remember Jaws anyway).
A shark escapes and gets into a bit of yachtie-worrying. Rich guy (Jackson), who funds the operation, insists on a visit. Things go bad and it's down to deciding which of the characters will be the entree, main, or leftovers.
At least the menu is unpredictable enough to keep you guessing and tense. It certainly tops Titanic for the number of scenes involving running down flooded corridors and taking deep breaths, and you have to look in some pretty shady places to see this many actors dressed in wet rubber.
The boffin types make speeches, the African-American cast members (Jackson and rapper LL Cool J) get the cool quips, and the sharks generally chew up the scenery and anyone standing in it.
Just when you thought it safe to go back into the water? No thought required. Just your woo-hoo gland.
