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Since every movie theme imaginable resurfaces -- pardon the expression -- from one generation to the next, we shouldn’t be surprised killer sharks are back. As hard as it may be to imagine, it’s been a quarter-century since Spielberg did it first and best with Jaws, and twelve years since the last sequel, Jaws: The Revenge. So there’s a whole new untapped audience for that kind of big-screen squaluphobia. The biggest surprise is that it took this long.
Though starting with a couple of Spielberg’s devices -- drunk teenagers partying on the water, and a tiger shark that disgorges a Louisiana license plate -- Deep Blue Sea, directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2 & 3, Cliffhanger), quickly swims off in a different direction. This time, a drug company named Chimera Pharmaceuticals (hint, hint -- I mean, really, that’s almost as bad as letting a firm called “Running Off to Barbados Next Week” handle your investments) has set up a secret installation in the Pacific off Mexico to harvest brain tissue from genetically modified mako sharks in the hope of finding an Alzheimer’s treatment. Why sharks? Well, would you go to a movie about superintelligent killer hamsters? The company prez (Samuel L. Jackson) flies out for a progress check before deciding on whether or not to shut the expensive project down, prompting a couple of his scientists to take some bigger risks with the test subjects. Throw in a tropical storm, more human bait (including a cook named Preacher -- or maybe that’s a preacher named Cook -- played by L. L. Cool J.) , and the stage is set for Sushi’s Revenge.
Harlin’s not a bad action director (especially when his movies don’t star wife Geena Davis), and mechanical and digital effects have progressed immensely in the last couple decades, so Deep Blue Sea is fairly exciting for this kind of thing. He’s weaker in the humor department, i.e. a running bit featuring the station’s resident foul-mouthed parrot mascot that will have you cheering for the sharks. Bottom line, you might not want to take the kids to see this unless you don’t mind them hearing a fair amount of bad language and maybe not wanting to get in the bathtub until they’re 15 or 16.
The moral? Never give your PIN number to smart fish with teeth bigger than a Snapper riding-mower. C
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