|
Alright, we know upfront that Deep Blue Sea is going to be a
total schlocky Jaws rip-off. You gotta love the poster art (as
you can see to your right), which sums up the movie's intentions
right up front: lots of action, blood, gigantic shark jaws and
screaming cleavage. Would we have it any other way?! Though I
missed it when it played theatrically last summer, I remember
it was often referred to as "Jaws on steroids," which
is just about on the mark. I am not ashamed to admit I was quite
excited to finally catch up with it now on DVD, and was looking
forward to a balls-to-the-wall shark-o-rama action disaster.
Though the film delivers on all counts, I actually don't think
it is really a "shark movie" or even much of a horror
film. Like so many sci-fi/horror/action hybrids today, it cobbles
together parts from 70's and 80's genre classics, upsizing the
rather humble (and rarely-shown) shark of Jaws with every James
Cameron and Steven Spielberg trick in the book. We don't just
get shark action here, but mammoth thunderstorms, helicopter crashes,
explosions, last minute rescues and escapes and the shark-as-horror-movie-slasher
cliche. I suppose I should mention the plot or something, but
who cares? Yeah, sure, this is a "bad" movie, but it
is so unabashedly eager to entertain that I enjoyed every manipulative,
predictable minute of it. I just wanted to see sharks eat people...lots
of them.
The film certainly delivers on that count, because Hitchcockian
tension and character development are not what director Renny
Harlin is after. Thus, the turbocharged sharks of Deep Blue Sea
don't simply snack on a couple of cardboard humans, but rip, tear,
shred and chomp tons of 'em into little pieces, then spit them
back out and eat them again. I'm sure you film cineastes are rolling
your eyes at this derivative-sound exercise (and it is), but on
the plus side, there is a lot more unpredictability here than
I expected. I've seen a million horror flicks, but I was constantly
surprised at who ended up getting munched and who didn't. After
each character gets about one line of expository dialogue to explain
their character, the film then wastes no more than maybe 10 minutes
setting itself up as Ten Little Indians in The Abyss meets Jaws.
From a postmodern perspective, it combines genre cliches, a 90's
winking at the audience, and the latest (top notch) animatronic
sharks and (less successful) CGI trickery.
The performances are also actually far better than they need
to be. Everyone plays it straight, yet at the same time knows
they are in a mega-budgeted B-movie. Samuel L. Jackson and Stellan
Skaarsgard have the most fun chomping the scenery, and the incomparable
Skaarsgard is probably the only actor I've ever seen play a silly
character so straight yet so slyly mocking. (Presumed) lead Saffron
Burrows plays it surprising cold, which I found refreshing as
it was nice that a lead character was not particularly likable.
Another virtue of the film is that by thwarting audience sympathy
over and over, it adds to the uneasiness as you begin to feel
like anything goes after your favorite nice character gets munched.
So, despite my intellectual side saying I should now apologize
for giving a thumbs up to Deep Blue Sea, the child within me says
"who cares?" The film is an unabashedly fun and tasty
ride, and served all the better by Warner with this very nice
new special edition DVD.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is simply terrific. As befitting
a new film, it is a mint transfer, and just about reference quality.
Blacks are true black, colors perfectly saturated, and there is
not a nick or scratch to be found. There is just the slightest
bit of film grain, but that is not the fault of the DVD, as the
Super 35 process the film was shot in tends to be a tad grainer
than anamorphic filmographic processes. There are also no compression
artifacts noticeable at all. So, really, not much to say here...a
great piece of work by Warner.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, however, is a bit more troublesome.
To be sure, it is an aggressive, dynamic soundtrack. However,
the tendency of recent mixes to pump up the sound effects and
music so loud that it overwhelms the dialogue strikes again, and
I found myself continually being aggravated to have to turn the
sound down during the action parts but up during the scenes were
people actually talk to each other (which doesn't happen often).
Though I don't have the greatest speaker system, the bass was
pronounced even on my setup, and it is obvious a great deal of
effort went into producing a pretty wild mix. However, there were
some occasions when the surrounds seemed a bit subdued, but overall
a good track marred only by the overheated music and effects volume
levels.
No other tracks are provided aside from the English 5.1 mix,
although there are English Closed Captions and subtitles.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Warner has included a nice batch of supplements to "sink
your teeth into," as the box makes certain to mention. First
up is the screen-specific audio c commentary with Director
Renny Harlin and Actor Samuel L. Jackson. After listening to it
for about 30-minutes, it became obvious that Harlin and Jackson
were recorded separately and then edited together. But that makes
it especially enjoyable since Harlin will often make some comment
about the depth or subtlety of the film, and then the next comment
will be Jackson laughing at the silliness of the whole thing.
My favorite quote is the actor dryly remarking "I though
it'd be nice to go down to Mexico and be in some shark movie and
golf between scenes." Both participants also share plenty
of informative production antecedents, and it's a very enjoyable
commentary track throughout.
Next up are two making-of featurettes (relatively short
at about 25 minutes combined), When Sharks Attack: The Making
Of Deep Blue Sea and a peek at the special effects, The
Sharks Of Deep Blue Sea. The former offers a brief glimpse
at the production, including interviews with Harlin and most of
the cast, as well as some pretty interesting (though too brief)
looks at preproduction "the actors get to know the sharks"
underwater dives and the scoring sessions with Trevor Rabin (who
had his work cut out for him to try and not copy Jaws). The second
featurette focuses solely on the shark effects, with Harlin challenging
"I dare anyone to tell the difference between the real sharks
and the CGI ones." Sorry, Mr. Harlin, but I win...I could
spot the difference the second the appeared on screen. Anyway,
two nice little featurettes, though in the end they add up to
just a brief surface look at the film.
Also on the disc are 5 deleted scenes with optional commentary
by Harlin, and as usual some scenes should have been cut while
a couple of others I kinda liked. And as befitting most big-budget
action films, the character exposition was cut, and there were
a couple of plot twists taken out that I thought were intriguing.
But, Harlin explains the reasoning behind the edits (mainly due
to speed the pace), and these scenes are a nice bonus for fans.
The last of the video supplements is a still gallery, which
while containing some interesting production photos, has no text
indicating what were looking at and thus seems a bit haphazardly
put together. There is also the original theatrical trailer presented
in anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround sound.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc
in your PC?
Finally, some exclusive DVD-ROM features are thrown in as well.
In addition to a Warner trailer sampler of other genre
films, there are two essays on horror and science-fiction films,
Be Afraid...Be Very Afraid and The History Of Things
To Come. Both are interesting, especially for an ex-film student
like myself, though they really don't have anything specifically
to do with Deep Blue Sea. There are also links to the film's web
site, which contains more production notes and such on the
making of the film.
Parting Thoughts
Though the film probably won't win any Oscars, if you want some
major shark-munching action, Deep Blue Sea is the way to go. Warner
has put out a nice DVD here, with a terrific transfer, strong
soundtrack and some very good supplements. I found it to be quite
the good deal at $24.95, so it is definitely worth picking up
if you are a fan of the film, or just want a fun rental some night.
Glub, glub, glub...
|
