Deep Blue Sea — Deep Blue Sea ( Blu Ray/ UHD)
Deep Blue Sea is a late 90s sharksploitation film, which sits at the larger budgeted end of the genre, featuring stars such as Samuel L. Jackson, Stellan Skarsgård, and L L Cool J. The film is set in an isolated sea-based research facility, where scientists are enlarging the brain/intelligence of three sharks to try and find a cure for Alzheimer's, but when a sea storm sweeps in, things go more than a little wrong. The film features largely realistic-looking shark /effects, some rewarding thrills, sharks stalking down flooded corridors, and a few moments of gore. Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK and Stateside- is a new release of the film. The release comes as either a UHD or Blu-ray, featuring a new crisp 4 K scan, two new commentary tracks, and a selection of new archive extras.
Deep Blue Sea is from the year 1999- it's a US/Mexican production. It was directed by Riihimäki, Finland-born Renny Harlin. He has twenty-eight features to his name- these go from slasher sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master(1988), action sequel Die Hard 2 (1990), action thriller The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), snowbound found footage horror The Dyatlov Pass Incident (2013), and CIA focused action thriller The Bricklayer (2023).
The film opens with a group of teens on a party boat- something starts shaking/ knocking the boat- then all of a sudden, a shark smashes through it, with teens fleeing to the water. Lucky, along comes another boat with steel-eyed/ doesn’t say much shark handler Carter Blake (Tomas Jane) onboard, who tranquillizes the shark. We find out he works at a sea-based research facility- and the shark has escaped from the facility, as its brain has been enlarged/its intelligence has increased.
We then move to said research base, where shades-wearing and casual-suited pharmaceutical exec Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson) has touched down to have a look at his company's investment. On the base, doctors Susan McCallister(Saffron Burrows) and Jim Whitlock(Stellan Skarsgård) are harvesting cells from the sharks to cure Alzheimer's.
The weekend has just arrived on the base- so a large amount of the staff are leaving, and fairly soon a violent sea storm is approaching-a chopper crashes into the top of the base- leaving a selection of characters stuck at the undersea part of the base- there’s exe Franklin, Dr’s McCallister & Whitlock, shark wrangler Blake, chief with parrot Sherman 'Preacher' Dudley( rapper/ actor L L Cool J), and a few others.
As the film unfolds, we get sudden violent floods, sharks stalking through flooded corridors, limbs ripped off & bodies pulled apart, and desperate attempts to get to the surface. On the plus side, the effects/ CGI sharks largely look very good, there are some great moments of tension and suspense, and really any one of the cast is open to been taken out by the sharks.
On the less positive side- I’d say the film runs too long- it could easily have been cut down to a tight hour and a half mark. Some of the characterisation is somewhat clichéd or vaguely painted, and at points, the big Hollywood score becomes decidedly overbearing/ overused.
All in all, Deep Blue Sea is a decent/ one of the better larger-budget shark films, and if you’ve not seen it yet, what better way to see it than this new Arrow Video release.
Moving onto this new release, we get a 4k scan of the film, and as you’d hope/ expect from a 90s film, it looks well defined/ good throughout.
On the extras side, we get a good selection of new and archive stuff, so first, the new extras. We get two commentary tracks- one from the screenwriter Duncan Kennedy, and the other from American filmmaker and critic Rebekah McKendry- I played the latter of these. She starts off by revealing that shark films have been her jam since her childhood in the 70s, when she saw the first Jaws film. She discusses the science behind the film's concept of using sharks to help human aging begin sound, as they age more slowly than us, and we find out that one of the oldest invertebrates is the Greenland shark. She talks about the use of beautiful, but aged/ realistic sets, and that director Harlin said it was a difficult shoot. She chats about the use of Mako sharks in the film, as they are one of the fastest and most intelligent types of sharks, and as the film suggests, they can also jump fairly high. There’s discussion about the alien-like character tropes in the picture, and subtle moments of character development throughout. Later on, she talks about how the characters are in a human fish tank, the way they made the water look creepily murky, and more. This is a decent enough track.
Otherwise, on the new side of things, we have the following: From the Frying Pan… into the Studio Tank (25.08) interview with production designer William Sandell. Beneath the Surface (19.30) visual essay by film critic Trace Thurman.
Moving on to archive extras, we have the following: audio commentary by director Renny Harlin and star Samuel L. Jackson. When Sharks Attack: The Making of Deep Blue Sea, an archive featurette. The Sharks of the Deep Blue Sea, an archive featurette. Deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by director Renny Harlin, theatrical trailer
and Image gallery.
The finished release comes with a sixty-page perfect-bound book containing new writing by film critics Josh Hurtado, Jennie Kermode, and Murray Leeder, plus previously unseen production art and designs. With a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Luke Preece. A selection of postcards and a reversible sleeve.
I’ve always enjoyed both good/ not so not-so-good sharksploitation films, and Deep Blue Sea certainly sits in the former. It's wonderful to see it getting the Arrow Video treatment- with a good selection of worthy extras, and a nice, crystal clear 4k scan.