May 02, 2001 06:18 PM
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I was very intrigued by the Jaws films so much so that I wanted to know more about this Great White Shark.
I borrowed books from the library and purchased a copy of a book called 'Shark Attack', that listed all logged attacks by sharks from all over the world. It logged the weather at the time of the attack, condition of the water, what the victim was doing, time of attack and much more.
The more I read and learnt the more I started to respect this gruesome Tyranasaurus of the deep and now it's total existence is under threat.
I watched with awe the great programmes we had dished up to us on The Discovery Channel about sharks.
Even past victims like Rodney Fox have come to respect these sea scavengers.
When Deep Blue Sea came out on video I could not wait to see it.
Not because I wanted to see people eaten one by one but I wanted to see how they could make another film with a shark and make it different to Jaws.
Were they going to frighten us from wanting to swim in the sea again?
The film itself had a good story line. A marine laboratory out in the middle of the ocean doing experiments on sharks. The idea that a chemical from the sharks brain could cure Alzheimer's disease. Good idea but they were genetically enlarging these sharks brains to gain more of the chemical. Bad idea!
The sharks were penned in so this was not believable as Great Whites cannot live in captivity, it has been tried.
One shark was referred to as a Tiger shark but it was clearly a Great White, there was no mistaking those large black eyes.
So the story continued that due to the enlarged brains of the sharks they had become more intelligent.
Maybe so, but there were scenes where the shark reversed, this is not possible as a shark would drown if he reversed.
They appeared to be quick and darted here and there. That cannot be true either as sharks are elegant and sleek in motion so another unbelievable piece of the film.
I don't think they researched this as well as they could.
The acting was much better and although I don't really think an English actor/actress fits into an American film with American actors very well but Stellan Skarsgard was suited to the part.
There were fun moments too in the film coming from actor and rapper LL Cool J who played the cook.
Other actors include Samuel L. Jackson. He came to a gruesome and surprising end which threw me as I thought he would be one of the ones left at the end!
The only surprise the film gave me!
I watched it again when my boyfriend brought it on DVD and have to say that the picture is much cleaner.
I was interested to see the deleted scenes on the DVD but they were only boring talking scenes that had no real relevance to the film.
It was only £12.99 and I'd recommend the DVD over the video if you have a player.
If I didn't know a little bit about sharks I would have said it was a brilliant film.
I would watch it again (I've seen it twice now) as the story is good and so are the actors. Without them I think it would have been a big flop!
