Review of Aliens of the Deep (2005) by Adam F — 04 Jan 2013

"Aliens of the Deep" is a great mix of science fiction and real world exploration and if either subject fascinates you (or even if you're mildly curious) this movie will really excite you.

A lot of really interesting subjects are explored: the preparation as the deep sea dive is going to take place and the stories on how the equipment was designed and put together, the teamwork and ingenuity that overcomes problems that rise up out of nowhere, the similarities between two fields of scientists that come from (seemingly) to entirely different fields and how Earth's deep oceans and the vast reaches of spaces actually have a lot in common.

There is some beautiful and bizarre sea life included in the film, but the focus is really the exploration, the gathering of data and the speculation on what could be out there. Although the film would have been better with more discoveries of strange sea life, the ones we do see are interesting and bizarre bottom-dwellers have been shown in many good documentaries and TV specials before so it's great to see something different.

Some of the special effects are a bit dated but they're never really glaring and they more than do the job. It's a very smart movie that is bound to teach you more than a few things you didn't know about space and the deep sea life here on earth.

It's really exciting to see passionate people realizing their dreams and going where no one else has gone before while telling us what we could be in store in the (hopefully) near future. It's a documentary that has a lot of smart ideas, a lot of creativity too and it does a lot more than present the facts to you; it encourages you to think about the subject and come to your own conclusions.

(Extended cut on Dvd, January 1, 2013).