This facility serves us still. It is that same ability to identify key data points without processing the object as a whole that allows us to catch a long fly ball hit to left field, avoid stepping out in front of an unexpected speeding car on the street, or to judge a stranger's sexual attractiveness in under six (!) seconds (see "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris). (http://jabootu.com/sphere.htm )
It also allows us to determine that exactly what we will be seeing in Deep Blue Sea in the first few minutes. Namely, an action movie that tries to cross the classic Something Big and Nasty in the Water Movie which achieved its high water mark with Jaws (pun intended), and the Something Nasty Chasing Us in an Enclosed Space, for which the acid test is Aliens (pun also intended). Somewhat surprisingly, DBS has more in common with Aliens, but there is more than enough cribbing to go around. Now, done poorly, such a movie can turn into an unintentional comedy, as we saw recently with the almost spectacular failure of Lake Placid. However, done correctly, it can produce a movie that has enough tension and surprises to produce an effective and entertaining action flick, which is exactly what you get with DBS.
The premise: A scientist (Saffron Burrows) has devised a way to use the brain tissue of sharks to cultivate a substance that might be useful in fighting Alzheimer's disease. A big corporation underwrites the research, and maintains a deep-sea station with shark corrals and underwater living and research areas. One of the sharks escapes and tries to eat a boat. The head of the corporation (Samuel L. Jackson) pays a visit to the station and meets the other key characters, including a shark wrangler (Thomas Jane), a Bible-quoting cook (LL Cool J), a somewhat ditzy blond scientist (Jacqueline McKenzie), the resident techie (Michael Rapaport), the local weather girl/air traffic controller (Aida Turturro) and your prototypical nerd/genius (Stellan Skarsgard). (http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/28deep.html )
I can't bring myself to be too hard on this movie, because I really did enjoy myself, but there are also quite a few laughably bad bits. Things to watch for: the roving storm that seems to appear at every watery station in a movie (The Abyss, Sphere, Deep Rising), the tiger shark with a license plate (a la Jaws), the shark rodeo, the incredibly improbable and unlucky stuck winch, the huge explosions accompanying a helicopter crash, and, finally, the utter stupidity of characters who decide to go into the water. ( http://www.ohthehumanity.com )
As a closing note, I'd like to defy anyone to predict who live and who dies. That was one of the best things about the way the movie unfolded. Several of the deaths were a complete surprise, and some of those I thought were shark chow for sure, ended up living.
I give it a 5 on the good movie scale and a 6 on the bad movie scale.
Our Drive-In Totals:
8 Dead bodies
0 Breasts (although we do get Saffron Burrows in her underwear)
1 Human used as battering ram
1 Parrot used as shark food
1 Storm used as plot device
1 Blair Shark Project
1 C4 helicopter
1 Piss-poorly constructed underwater base with C4 attachments
3 Shark flambe (although they are all prepared and cooked differently)
Gratuitous head biting
Gratuitous arm chomping
Gratuitous crotch eating
Kung Fu
Spear Gun Fu
Shark Fu
Oven Fu
Cross Fu
Electrical Wire Fu
Atomic Grenade Fu
Good Movie Scale: 5
Bad Movie Scale: 6
