DEEP BLUE SEA
Jackson plays Russell Franklin, the president of a pharmaceutical company
funding an underwater laboratory called Aquatica. The director of the facility,
Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows, Wing
Commander), takes him on a tour to curry favor and assure continued
funding. It seems they're just about to make a major breakthrough re-animating
dead human brain cells with a protein they get from the sharks. This, she
explains, could bring about the cure for Alzheimer's disease. Franklin is
impressed, but when the fishies start displaying superintelligence and ill
intentions, everyone gets a little concerned.
During a nasty storm, there is an explosion on the surface (where they
apparently store nothing but vast amounts of rocket propellant), and soon
the rig is ablaze and in danger of sinking. And those pesky sharks seem
to be intentionally targeting their human captors. Our group, still several
levels below decks, tries to make it to safety, but every time one of them
seems on the verge of a good idea, he gets his midsection chomped out. Which
is really disconcerting when you're trying to concentrate. The balance of
the film is spent watching the dwindling crew fighting the sharks and the
rising water. There is plenty of loud music, lots of long, pointy teeth,
and gallons and gallons of squirting blood.
I don't know, maybe I'm spoiled. But we've already seen Jaws and
we've already seen The Abyss, so do we really need a low-rent combination
of the two? Jackson is obviously out to lunch in this; he has no feeling
for this part and it shows. And Burrows is also uninspired; she looks like
she's sleepwalking. I had to laugh when, like Sigourney Weaver in Alien,
she is forced to strip down to her push-up bra and french-cut panties to
fight the creature. Now, that's dedication.
Which brings us to the script. Kennedy, Powers, and Powers, all newcomers
to film writing, are clearly children of the computer generation. We have
so much cool shark animation that we don't need to worry about character,
relationship, or credibility. Though the Aquatica facility is supposed to
be on the cutting edge of technology, its infrastructure resembles something
dating from about World War II. Susan, though supposedly an accredited scientist,
defies ethical guidelines in order to "genetically alter" the
sharks. And naturally, Jackson's character had to undergo some horrendous
previous experience involving an avalanche and cannibalism to prepare him
for this catastrophe. Contrived plot elements and logical discrepancies
like these are the reason so many action/effects thrillers fall flat.
The one actor who actually seems to bring something to the film is rap star L L Cool J. Playing "Preacher," the devout cook on Aquatica, he injects his scenes with energy and charisma that reminded me of Scatman Crothers in The Shining. Thank goodness his oven is water-tight, even if the rest of the complex isn't. *½