Considering how cinematic the creatures can be under the right circumstances, it’s a shame that shark movies so often aren’t worth their weight in gold. There are exceptions. Jaws was the genesis of the summer blockbuster and the first masterpiece of director Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed career. Underrated genre craftsman Jaume Collet-Serra also delivered finely tuned aquatic thrills with his 2016 puzzler The Shallows . But between Z-grade entries like some of the Jaws sequels, the recent Netflix movie that didn’t air Under Parisand whatever Sharknado movies are supposed to be, moviegoers looking to get their Carcharodon on have remarkably few options that don’t belong in the bargain bin.
Yet there is another shark movie that has managed to stand the test of time since its theatrical release 25 years ago: Renny Harlin’s. The deep blue seareleased on July 28, 1999. The sci-fi thriller about “intelligent” mako sharks received mixed reviews upon its release, garnering praise for its suspense and plethora of gory shark action, but was met with negative reviews for its cheesy tone and shaky script. The film isn’t perfect, and we’ll get to the story behind its bizarre ending soon, but revisiting Deep Blue Sea a quarter-century later reveals a film that has held up much better than one might expect. Let’s take a look at why Deep Blue Sea deserves, if not gold, then bronze.
The deep blue sea and intelligent sharks
Deep Blue Sea has a classic plot. It’s a “trapped in a house” monster movie, with the twist that the house is an underwater Alzheimer’s research facility, and the monsters are three sharks whose intelligence has been enhanced by the scientific team’s experiments. While most shark movies feature natural sharks that have become more aggressive toward humans for unknown reasons (unless you count the voodoo curse explanation from the Jaws novelization, which, yes, actually happened), Deep Blue Sea gives the sharks a tangible “goal” as antagonists beyond devouring anyone who isn’t secondary: to escape the facility they were raised in and escape into the wild.
It may seem odd at first, but giving both humans and sharks “motivations” that we can understand is what sets Deep Blue Sea apart from other shark movies. It allows the two factions to go back and forth as the characters try to escape the slowly collapsing facility, turning the entire film into a subconscious chess game of setup and denouement. The pacing and suspense that most critics have cited as the film’s best aspects come largely from this creative decision, and it’s a decision that balances well with its campy tone. The solid fundamental mechanics of What happening provides a solid foundation as the funny character beats and kills in an exaggerated manner, the how it happens, we can bounce back effectively from it.
The film also made sure that, despite the shark’s “smart” side, it didn’t push the idea so far that it broke the suspension of disbelief. Sharks are intelligent enough to herd their prey from the environment and recognize the function of equipment like guns or security cameras, but they aren’t SO The sharks are smart and don’t feel like animals anymore. The sharks are mostly reminiscent of the velociraptors from Jurassic Park: they’re smart, but not geniuses. Finding that balance is what keeps the movie from falling into parody, even though it’s often very funny. Making the stakes of a movie serious while still being hilarious is no easy task, and credit goes to the film’s good direction.
Make me some Mako
Deep Blue Sea was directed by Renny Harlin, who at this point in his career was best known for his humorous action thrillers. Some of the best-known examples of his work prior to Deep Blue Sea include Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, starring Sylvester Stallone, and the particularly excellent Shane Black-penned action comedy The Long Kiss Goodnight. All of these films, along with the infamous (but honestly not great) box-office failure Cutthroat Island, illustrate Harlin’s preference for tactile action beats and strong sequence design. His films don’t always deliver perfectly, but they often feature signature sequences that stand out in the viewer’s memory, like the jaw-dropping opening shot of Cliffhanger, the incredible boat explosion in Cutthroat Island, or the surprise death of Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson) in Deep Blue Sea.
This last example is a perfect example of Harlin’s strengths, as even people who haven’t seen the film are often at least aware of Jackson’s death scene. It’s a perfectly calculated beat, with the big heroic speech you’d expect at a somber moment from the character you think is about to take matters into his own hands suddenly subverted by his violent death. It’s even set up moments before the speech when Carter Blake (Thomas Jane) makes an offhand comment about not standing too close to the pool, which Franklin does anyway.
