Starring - Thomas Jane; Saffron Burrows; LL Cool J; Michael Rapaport & Stellan Skarsgard Director - Renny Harlin MPAA - Rated R for graphic shark attacks, and for language. Let me first start out by saying that Steven Spielberg made the greatest shark film ever made with Jaws. But Renny Harlin has come in a very, very, very close second with Deep Blue Sea. Deep Blue Sea is easily the best new movie that I have seen this year, and is far and away the best of the crop from the summer of '99. Sure, The Phantom Menace was spectacular, but no movie has been this much fun in a long time. I can honestly say that do not remember ever having jumped so much during a film. When I was not jumping in my seat, my hands were firmly grasping the armrests steeling myself for the next scare that I knew was going to be right around the corner. At one point in his career, director Renny Harlin looked as if he may easily become one of the best directors in the business. His successes included Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. In recent years he has faltered, making such fare as Cutthroat Island. Well, Renny is back, and with a vengeance. Saffron Burrows stars as the head of a scientific research team that is trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease; their potential cure involves extracting fluids from the brains of mako sharks. In order to get as much as they can, they have genetically enlarged the size of the shark's brains. You can probably guess where this is headed. Bigger shark brains equal smarter sharks. And these smart sharks have a distinct attitude problem. Burrows and her crew, along with Samuel L. Jackson (playing the man funding their research) are all on board their research lab in the middle of the Pacific during a severe storm. This is when they realize that the sharks are now Einsteins with big teeth. They quickly find out that the sharks are looking for a meal and that they are the main course on the menu. As minor as they are, this movie does have flaws. The writers obviously watched Jaws and its first sequel a few times, since they do seem to "borrow" a few things from those two movies. This tiny lack of creativity can very quickly be excused though. The writers then proceed to apparently borrow a few other things from these films, only to end up throwing the audience for a bit of a loop. Let's be real clear, this is not a real deep movie (if you'll pardon the pun). It is written with scares in mind. And on that count, it delivers beautifully. In many cases, I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen next -- but I didn't care. I was just having too much fun. Of course, part of the fun in these types of movies comes at the first of the movie when you can go through the cast a pick which ones are going to be shark food and which ones are going to return in any potential sequels. Most times the audience can guess pretty accurately. This movie is no exception. Although, I can almost guarantee that nobody is going to be 100% accurate on their predictions. The special effects are excellent. Every bit of what one would expect from a summer popcorn flick like this. The underwater sequences are particularly impressive as are the real stars of the movie -- the three mako sharks. The sharks were done with a combination of live shots, animatronics and live action. For the most part they are all blended fairly seamlessly together. The sets are amazing. This lab is supposed to be an old World War II sub base and it is very cool. I must admit that I'm always a sucker for the old flooded-set movies with everyone running around waist deep in water. This one is particularly well done -- mostly because you are never quite sure what is swimming around under that water. Samuel L. Jackson is always a whole lot of fun to watch, so it should come as no surprise that he is his usual cool self here. Mark my words, English beauty Saffron Burrows is one her way to superstardom. She has a commanding presence on screen and rivaled Jackson's talent in the acting department. Plus, that accent is just so darn sexy. The real surprise is LL Cool J. He has done a pretty decent job in his past films, but he absolutely, unequivocally steals this movie. This guy is great. On top of every other wonderful point of this movie, his scenes were the highlights. The special effects were very plentiful, but I never found myself being overpowered by them. The other thing that surprised me was the noticeable lack of gore in this film. Sure, you have a couple of scenes -- it wouldn't be a killer shark movie without people being eaten -- but the restraint shown on the old blood and guts was commendable. It seems as though everything that Renny Harlin tried in this movie worked. That included a cheesecake shot where Burrows strips down to her skivvies. You almost buy that she is down to her bra and panties because it is integral to the story line and not because Harlin wants to show off her fabulous body. Almost, but not quite. But, if Harlin feels he has to include shots like that, I guess we are just going to have to suffer through them. Oh, the agony. I loved this movie. Everything about it was just plain fun. It was scary, it was fast paced, but above all, it is the kind of movie that makes me remember why I love going to the movies. Go see Deep Blue Sea -- you will not be disappointed. 10/10

¶ 8/05/1999 04:31:00 PM //