Review of Deep Blue Sea (1999) by Adam R — 05 Sep 2010

Forever after, filmmakers looking to make a movie that's so-bad-it's-good should consider "Deep Blue Sea" their Bible. This movie contains every element of a terrible disaster movie/creature feature, notably terrible effects and the loosest of plotting. However, "Sea" is bolstered by smart writing that is almost painfully aware of the limitations of its genre, choosing to take the inherent obstructions and add memorable characters and dialogue with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor and even satire.

Things go tits-up at an advanced marine research facility when the sharks the team of scientists and roughnecks stationed there was studying become nearly sentient and attack their former masters. Though "Sea" is, by all outward appearances, a typical animals-attack movie, director Renny Harlin, writers Duncan Kennedy and Wayne and Donna Powers, and a game cast play with convention just enough to retain the fun of other disaster movies ("Snakes on a Plane," anyone?) while simultaneously critiquing the very films before and since its release.