Deep Blue Sea (1999 film)
Deep Blue Sea | |
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Directed by | Renny Harlin |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Stephen Windon |
Edited by |
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Music by | Trevor Rabin |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes[1] |
Country | United States[2] |
Language | English |
Budget | $60–82 million[3][4] |
Box office | $165 million[3] |
Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 American science fiction horror film[5] directed by Renny Harlin and starring Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, and LL Cool J. It is the first film of the film series by the same name. Set in an isolated underwater facility, the film follows a team of scientists and their research on mako sharks to help fight Alzheimer's disease. The situation plunges into chaos when multiple genetically engineered sharks go on a rampage and flood the facility.
Deep Blue Sea had a production budget of $60–82 million and represented a test for Harlin, who had not made a commercially successful film since
Released in theaters on July 28, 1999, Deep Blue Sea grossed $165 million worldwide. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its suspense, pacing, and action sequences, but criticized its unoriginality and B movie conventions. Retrospectively, Deep Blue Sea has been regarded as a successful shark film, especially within a limited genre that has been dominated by Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller Jaws. Two direct-to-video sequels have been released: Deep Blue Sea 2 in 2018 and Deep Blue Sea 3 in 2020.
Plot
In a remote underwater facility, doctors Susan McCallister and Jim Whitlock are conducting research on mako sharks to help in the re-activation of dormant human brain cells like those found in Alzheimer's disease patients. After one of the sharks escapes the facility and attempts to attack a boat full of young adults, financial backers send corporate executive Russell Franklin to investigate the facility.
Susan and Jim prove their research is working by testing a certain protein complex that was removed from the brain tissue of their largest shark, which bites off Jim's right arm upon awakening in the laboratory. Brenda Kerns, the tower's operator, calls a helicopter that braves heavy rain and strong winds to evacuate Jim. As Jim is being lifted the cable jams, dropping Jim and his stretcher into the shark pen. The largest shark grabs the stretcher and pulls the helicopter into the tower, killing Brenda and the pilots, as well as causing massive explosions that severely damage the facility.
In the laboratory, Susan, Franklin, wrangler Carter Blake, marine biologist Janice Higgins, and engineer Tom Scoggins witness the shark smash the stretcher against the laboratory's main window, which then shatters, drowning Jim and flooding the facility. The group goes to the facility's wet entry, where they plan to take a submersible to escape. Susan confesses to the others that she and Jim genetically engineered the sharks to increase their brain size, as they were not naturally large enough to harvest sufficient amounts of the protein complex; this broke protocol and made the sharks smarter and more deadly. In the facility's kitchen, which has been partially flooded, cook Sherman "Preacher" Dudley, whose parrot is eaten by a shark, manages to kill the big fish by setting off an explosion with his lighter.
When the group reaches the wet entry, they discover that the submersible has been damaged, and is unsuitable for use. While delivering a monologue emphasizing the need for group unity, Franklin is dragged into the submersible pool by a shark and devoured. The remaining crew opt to climb up the elevator shaft at the risk of destabilizing the pool. As they climb, explosive tremors cause the ladder to break, and Janice loses her grip and falls into the water. Despite Carter's attempt to save her, a shark drags Janice under and eats her. The rest of the group moves on, encountering Preacher. Carter and Scoggins go to the flooded laboratory to activate a control panel that drains a stairway to the surface, while Susan heads to her room to collect her research material. Carter and Scoggins reach the control panel, but the largest shark storms in, ripping Scoggins apart and wrecking the controls. In her room, Susan encounters another shark and electrocutes it with a power cable, destroying her research in the process.
After regrouping, Carter, Susan, and Preacher go to a decompression chamber and swim to the surface while using oxygen tanks to bait the last shark as it attacks. Upon reaching the surface, Preacher is grabbed by the shark, suffering injuries to his leg, but he is released when he stabs the shark in the eye with his crucifix. Carter realizes that the sharks have been using them to flood the facility so that they can ram their way through the fences at the surface. To keep the shark from escaping to the open sea, Susan deliberately cuts her hand and dives into the water. Although she manages to distract the shark with her blood, she is unable to get out of the water and is devoured, despite Carter's efforts to save her. While Carter is holding the shark's dorsal fin, Preacher shoots the shark with a harpoon but also pierces Carter's thigh. Carter orders Preacher to connect the trailing wire to a battery, sending an electric current to an explosive charge in the harpoon, killing the shark. Carter manages to free himself just in time after the shark manages to breach through the fence right before it gets blown. He resurfaces and swims to shore, reuniting with Preacher. Moments later, they see a boat approaching the sinking facility.
Cast
- Thomas Jane as Carter Blake
- Saffron Burrows as Dr. Susan McCallister
- LL Cool J as Sherman "Preacher" Dudley
- Jacqueline McKenzie as Janice "Jan" Higgins
- Michael Rapaport as Tom Scoggins
- Aida Turturro as Brenda Kerns
- Stellan Skarsgård as Jim Whitlock
- Samuel L. Jackson as Russell Franklin
Production
Development
The story of Deep Blue Sea was conceived by Australian screenwriter Duncan Kennedy after he witnessed the result of a "horrific" shark attack on a beach near his home.
In a wide-ranging August 2021 interview with leading horror site Bloody Disgusting on the development and production of the film based on his original screenplay, screenwriter Duncan Kennedy stated that when he initially researched the project, scientists "agreed to talk because I presented DBS's sharks as man-made, unlike Jaws which demonized natural sharks." He revealed his original title was Deep Red before he changed it to Deep Blue Sea. On development, he discussed in detail what changed and what stayed the same from original screenplay to final film, describing his own studio rewrites and those of many subsequent writers, emphasizing a "DBS team effort" and that "all of these writers made contributions that are identifiable in the final film." In terms of the final product, he stated that despite major changes, "development overall stuck within the basic story framework seen in my original drafts" and that the final film is "very different on multiple levels. But also in a more generalized sense... not that different." Kennedy confirmed that the development timeline of the project "was in fact under three years - nothing in Hollywood development time" with the original screenplay selling in late July 1995 and production commencing early August 1998 for a July 1999 release date. He revealed that as production approached, he "helped to brainstorm ideas for sequences that weren't working" and that DBS producer and acclaimed writer Akiva Goldsman did the final rewrites on the film. On the final film he stated he felt "the decision to steer just a little closer to Alien in multiple ways somewhat limited the film from breaking out even bigger at the box office. Smart sharks in 'our world' made the movie fresh, but being a little too Alien-esque overall maybe held it back." However Kennedy concluded that the final film "was very much the movie I'd envisioned in terms of the visuals, the world, the story journey and the audience experience."[8]
Deep Blue Sea had a budget of $82 million and represented a test for Harlin, who had not made a commercially successful film since
Filming
After the shoot at Fox Baja Studios wrapped, Harlin insisted the team go to The Bahamas to shoot with real sharks.[13] Recounting his experience there, actor Thomas Jane, who played shark wrangler Carter, said, "The first day, I was in a cage, but the next day, they swam me 30 feet down... Then this guy yanks the breather off me and the water's churning with blood and guts and stuff... It was so terrifying that I don't want to remember it."[13] The idea was to mix footage of real sharks with animatronic and computer generated sharks to ensure a seamless transition between them all.[16] To distinguish Deep Blue Sea from Jaws, where the shark is frequently hidden, Harlin decided to show theirs more prominently because he felt that audience expectations had changed since then.[17][9]
The scene where the cast is trying to get back to the elevator after hooking up actor Stellan Skarsgård to the helicopter is actually an accident that made it into the finished film.[14] As Jackson explained, "At one point three tons of water got thrown on us by accident and we got swept toward those cargo bays and everyone thought we were going into the drink and people were tumbling around this metal grating [...] We scrambled up and kept acting [...] That was not supposed to happen and we didn't have safety harnesses on and we were flailing around on this deck."[14] Jackson was initially offered the role played by LL Cool J, but his management team did not like the idea of him playing a chef, so Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for him.[12] Additionally, LL Cool J's character was supposed to die early on, but the director ultimately decided to keep him.[9] The production team could not afford to have a fully trained parrot for LL Cool J's character, so they used two parrots: one that was good at flying, and another that could sit on his shoulder.[12]
The film's ending was changed shortly before its theatrical release. Originally, Burrows's character would escape the shark infested water and live. However, the
In 2009, on the film's 10th anniversary, Harlin explained that Deep Blue Sea was the hardest film he had ever made because most of the shooting days involved the team standing in water or being under water for long periods.[20] According to him, "Just the practicality of putting a wet suit on in the morning, being in the water all day. Your script, all your paperwork has to be made of plastic paper. And things that you wouldn't think would ever float, they float. [...] Or then things that you hope would float actually sink and you can't find them anywhere."[20]
Music
The
Release
Box office
Deep Blue Sea performed well when it opened on July 30, 1999 in 2,854 theaters,[23] finishing third and grossing around $18.6 million at the US weekend box office.[24] During its second weekend, the film grossed an estimated $11 million and finished in fifth place, behind The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, Runaway Bride, and The Thomas Crown Affair.[25] Deep Blue Sea grossed over $73.7 million the United States and Canada and $91.4 million internationally, grossing over $165 million worldwide.[3] The film's performance was compared to Stephen Sommers's The Mummy and Jan de Bont's The Haunting, which had a similar budget and made a significant impact on the box office in the summer of 1999.[26]
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 60% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Deep Blue Sea is no Jaws, but action fans seeking some toothy action can certainly do - and almost certainly have done - far worse for B-movie thrills."[27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[29]
Writing for Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and praised it as "a skillful thriller", saying that Deep Blue Sea "is essentially one well-done action sequence after another [...] It doesn't linger on the special effects (some of the sharks look like cartoons), but it knows how to use timing, suspense, quick movement and [especially] surprise".[30] He concluded that the film keeps spectators guessing in an otherwise predictable genre.[30]
In a positive review,
Other reviews were less enthusiastic.
Home media
Deep Blue Sea was first released on
Legacy
In a 2016 retrospective,
Deep Blue Sea has often been cited as one of the greatest shark films of all time. In 2012,
Sequels
Two direct-to-video sequels have been released: Deep Blue Sea 2 in 2018 and Deep Blue Sea 3 in 2020.[49][50]
See also
References
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- ^ "Deep Blue Sea". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Deep Blue Sea (1999)". The-numbers.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2020. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "'Blue Sea' Hopes to Be Box-Office Big Fish". Los Angeles Times. July 26, 1999. Archived from the original on December 21, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
- ^ "Deep Blue Sea". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
- ^ a b c "The Arrow interviews... Wayne and Donna Powers". JoBlo.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2001. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
- ^ "About The Production". Cinemareview.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2003. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ https://bloody-disgusting.com/exclusives/3678238/deep-blue-sea-screenwriter-duncan-kennedy-dives-deep-original-script-1999-movie-exclusive/
- ^ a b c d e f Iain Blair (July 31, 1999). "'Deep Blue Sea' strives for old-fashioned horror". Reading Eagle. p. B8. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
- ^ "Shark Bait". Cinemareview.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2003. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
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- ^ a b c Jeff Howard (August 2, 1999). "'Deep Blue Sea' star Samuel L. Jackson goes swimming with the sharks". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
- ^ Micah Mertes (June 28, 2016). "Fin Evokes Only One Great Film". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on August 12, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
- ^ "Bring on the Sharks". Cinemareview.com. Archived from the original on May 27, 2003. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
- ^ Kenneth Plume (April 27, 2001). "Interview with Renny Harlin". IGN. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
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- ^ "Deep Blue Sea Petition to Change the Ending Promoted by Thomas Jane". August 23, 2023.
- ^ a b Luke Savage (May 27, 2009). "Renny Harlin interview: 12 Rounds, Die Hard, and the Alien 3 that never was". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on April 20, 2017. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
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- ^ a b "L.L. Cool J Pitches In For 'Deep Blue Sea' Soundtrack". MTV. June 30, 1999. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
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- ^ David Kilmer (August 2, 1999). "Deep Blue Sea tops animated boxoffice". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
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- ^ "Deep Blue Sea". Metacritic. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
- ^ "Deep Blue Sea (1999)". CinemaScore. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
- ^ a b Roger Ebert (July 28, 1999). "Deep Blue Sea". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
- ^ a b Kenneth Turan (July 28, 1999). "Thrilling Combo: Sharks, Brains and Bite". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ from the original on August 24, 2000. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ Robert Lasowski (July 30, 1999). "'Deep Blue Sea' a shark movie with real bite". The Florida Times-Union. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
- ^ Wesley Morris (July 28, 1999). "When the shark BITES". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
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- ^ a b "Deep Blue Sea (1999) - Releases". AllMovie. Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
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- ^ Simon Brew (August 19, 2010). "Deep Blue Sea Blu-ray review". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
- ^ a b c Brian Raftery (June 24, 2016). "Forget Jaws. The Real Shark Movie to Beat Is Deep Blue Sea". Wired. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
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- ^ Anthony Morris (April 12, 2011). "Top ten surprise movie deaths". Thevine.com.au. Archived from the original on May 7, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
- ^ Bill Gibron (September 18, 2012). "The 10 Greatest Shark Films of All Time". PopMatters. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
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- ^ "The Fears & Beers 20th Anniversary screening of Deep Blue Sea". Screamfest Horror Film Festival. May 28, 2019. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
- ^ John Latchem (January 30, 2018). "Direct-to-Video Sequel to Shark Thriller 'Deep Blue Sea' Due April 17". Media Play News. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
- ^ Patrick Cavanaugh (June 17, 2020). "Deep Blue Sea 3 Gets Trailer, Announces Digital and Blu-ray Release". Comicbook.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
External links
- Deep Blue Sea at IMDb