Deep Blue Sea
Encyclopedia
Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 science fiction
horror film that stars Thomas Jane
, Saffron Burrows
, LL Cool J
, and Samuel L Jackson. The film was directed by Renny Harlin
and was released in the United States
on July 28, 1999.
. Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows
), violates a code of ethics
(the fictitious "Harvard Genetics Compact"), and genetically engineers
three Mako sharks
to increase their brain capacity so their brain tissue can be harvested as a cure for Alzheimer's. The increased brain capacity makes the sharks smarter, faster, and more dangerous. Aquatica's financial backers become skeptical about the tests and send a corporate executive (Samuel L. Jackson
) to visit the facility.
To prove that the research is working, the team manage to remove brain tissue from the largest shark. The shark attacks a scientist, and as he is put into a helicopter to be flown to land, the helicopter crashes. A shark breaks the glass of the underwater laboratory, flooding it and letting the sharks inside the facility. The group has to escape the sinking research center and avoid being killed; the sharks are targeting the scientists as prey.
The team is slowly killed off by the sharks as they climb to the top of the facility. The cook, Preacher (LL Cool J
); the shark wrangler, Carter Blake (Thomas Jane
); and Dr. McAlester are the only ones to ascend to the top of the building. They discover that the sharks want to escape into the open sea.
Dr. McAlester, in a effort to distract the last of the three sharks,cuts herself and dives into the water, while she attempts to get back to land the ladder crumbles and breaks, she is then killed by the shark . Her death lures the shark into a position where Preacher and Blake can kill it. Preacher and Blake wait on top of the flooded facility as they see boats containing other researchers arriving.
. The sets used for the interiors of the facility were built so that they could be submerged in a water-tank to create the illusion of the facility sinking practically. However, for windows separate water-tanks with lights shining through them were used.
The film made an extensive use of digital doubles for actors being eaten by sharks. Depending on the scenes, the sharks were either animatronic (when interacting with actors) or computer generated (when in water). As an added homage to Jaws
, the license plate pulled from the shark's teeth by Carter at the beginning of the film, is the same plate found in the tiger shark
carcass from the 1975
Steven Spielberg
film.
Samuel Jackson was initially offered the role eventually played by LL Cool J. Jackson's management didn't like the idea of him playing the role of the chef and so Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for him.
gave it a 57% rating with 51 out of 89 reviews counted fresh, "Top Critics" tabulated by the site gave the film a 67% "fresh" rating. The site's summary is "Aside from a few thrills, Deep Blue Sea is unoriginal and unintelligent."
Empire magazine gave the film three out of five stars, saying "It was never going to crash any parties come Oscar night
, or usurp previous nature-fights-back epics (Jurassic et al), but Deep Blue Sea remains defiant. It's about giant sharks eating people. And that's exactly what you get." Top Critic Roger Ebert went further, saying of the film "In a genre where a lot of movies are retreads of the predictable, 'Deep Blue Sea' keeps you guessing."
The film opened on July 28th, 1999 and grossed $19,107,643 ($25,164,533 including Thursday screenings/previews) in its opening weekend and went on to earn $73,648,142 domestically and $164,648,142 worldwide. Adjusted for inflation, the film's worldwide total would equal $258,168,286 in 2011. The film is listed as #12 on Box Office Mojo's list of highest grossing "Creature Features" (1982 -) behind such films as the "Jurassic Park" franchise, though outgrossing such films as "Predator" and "Alien: Resurrection." The film was released on DVD December 7, 1999 and was ranked #1 release for the week ending December 12th, 1999 and remained in the DVD rental top 10 for eight weeks.
featuring rap and R&B music. The soundtrack made it to #55 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
. Composer Trevor Rabin
scored the original music for the film. The released soundtrack contains 10 tracks.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
horror film that stars Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
, Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
, LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
, and Samuel L Jackson. The film was directed by Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin
Renny Harlin is a Finnish-American film director and producer. He is best known for Die Hard 2 , Cliffhanger , The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea...
and was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on July 28, 1999.
Plot
On Aquatica, a remote former submarine refueling facility, a team of scientists are searching for a cure for Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
), violates a code of ethics
Ethical code
An ethical code is adopted by an organization in an attempt to assist those in the organization called upon to make a decision understand the difference between 'right' and 'wrong' and to apply this understanding to their decision...
(the fictitious "Harvard Genetics Compact"), and genetically engineers
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
three Mako sharks
Shortfin mako shark
The shortfin mako shark, Isurus oxyrinchus , is a large mackerel shark. Along with the closely related longfin mako it is commonly referred to as a "mako shark".-Etymology:...
to increase their brain capacity so their brain tissue can be harvested as a cure for Alzheimer's. The increased brain capacity makes the sharks smarter, faster, and more dangerous. Aquatica's financial backers become skeptical about the tests and send a corporate executive (Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
) to visit the facility.
To prove that the research is working, the team manage to remove brain tissue from the largest shark. The shark attacks a scientist, and as he is put into a helicopter to be flown to land, the helicopter crashes. A shark breaks the glass of the underwater laboratory, flooding it and letting the sharks inside the facility. The group has to escape the sinking research center and avoid being killed; the sharks are targeting the scientists as prey.
The team is slowly killed off by the sharks as they climb to the top of the facility. The cook, Preacher (LL Cool J
LL Cool J
James Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
); the shark wrangler, Carter Blake (Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane
Thomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
); and Dr. McAlester are the only ones to ascend to the top of the building. They discover that the sharks want to escape into the open sea.
Dr. McAlester, in a effort to distract the last of the three sharks,cuts herself and dives into the water, while she attempts to get back to land the ladder crumbles and breaks, she is then killed by the shark . Her death lures the shark into a position where Preacher and Blake can kill it. Preacher and Blake wait on top of the flooded facility as they see boats containing other researchers arriving.
Cast
- Thomas JaneThomas JaneThomas Jane is an American actor known for his roles in the 1999 film Deep Blue Sea, the 2001 TV film 61*, the 2004 film The Punisher and the 2007 Stephen King adaptation The Mist...
as Carter Blake - Saffron BurrowsSaffron BurrowsSaffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
as Dr. Susan McAlester - Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. JacksonSamuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
as Russell Franklin - Jacqueline McKenzieJacqueline McKenzieJacqueline Susan McKenzie is an Australian actress.McKenzie made her film debut in the 1987 film Wordplay and on stage in Child Dancing for Griffin Theatre Company. She made a strong impression in Romper Stomper , and over the next couple of years came to be regarded as one of Australia's most...
as Janice Higgins - Michael RapaportMichael RapaportMichael David Rapaport is an American, actor, director and a comedian. He has acted in more than forty films since the early 1990s...
as Tom Scoggins - Stellan SkarsgårdStellan SkarsgårdStellan John Skarsgård is a Swedish actor, known internationally for his film roles in Angels & Demons, Breaking the Waves, The Hunt for Red October, Ronin, Good Will Hunting, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,...
as Jim Whitlock - LL Cool JLL Cool JJames Todd Smith , better known as LL Cool J , is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor...
as Preacher - Aida TurturroAida TurturroAida Turturro is an American actress probably best known for playing Janice Soprano, sister of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series The Sopranos .-Personal life:...
as Brenda Kerns
Production
Renny Harlin describes the production on the film's commentary. The film was shot entirely in MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. The sets used for the interiors of the facility were built so that they could be submerged in a water-tank to create the illusion of the facility sinking practically. However, for windows separate water-tanks with lights shining through them were used.
The film made an extensive use of digital doubles for actors being eaten by sharks. Depending on the scenes, the sharks were either animatronic (when interacting with actors) or computer generated (when in water). As an added homage to Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
, the license plate pulled from the shark's teeth by Carter at the beginning of the film, is the same plate found in the tiger shark
Tiger shark
The tiger sharks, Galeocerdo cuvier, is a species of requiem shark and the only member of the genus Galeocerdo. Commonly known as sea tigers, tiger sharks are relatively large macropredators, capable of attaining a length of over . It is found in many tropical and temperate waters, and is...
carcass from the 1975
1975 in film
The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
film.
Samuel Jackson was initially offered the role eventually played by LL Cool J. Jackson's management didn't like the idea of him playing the role of the chef and so Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for him.
Reception
The film received positive reviews from critics. While overall, Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave it a 57% rating with 51 out of 89 reviews counted fresh, "Top Critics" tabulated by the site gave the film a 67% "fresh" rating. The site's summary is "Aside from a few thrills, Deep Blue Sea is unoriginal and unintelligent."
Empire magazine gave the film three out of five stars, saying "It was never going to crash any parties come Oscar night
72nd Academy Awards
The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony took place at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, and was Billy Crystal's seventh time hosting the Awards. The ceremony attracted 46.53 million viewers, an audience 3.7% bigger than the previous ceremony.The Academy Awards ceremony was dominated by two films...
, or usurp previous nature-fights-back epics (Jurassic et al), but Deep Blue Sea remains defiant. It's about giant sharks eating people. And that's exactly what you get." Top Critic Roger Ebert went further, saying of the film "In a genre where a lot of movies are retreads of the predictable, 'Deep Blue Sea' keeps you guessing."
The film opened on July 28th, 1999 and grossed $19,107,643 ($25,164,533 including Thursday screenings/previews) in its opening weekend and went on to earn $73,648,142 domestically and $164,648,142 worldwide. Adjusted for inflation, the film's worldwide total would equal $258,168,286 in 2011. The film is listed as #12 on Box Office Mojo's list of highest grossing "Creature Features" (1982 -) behind such films as the "Jurassic Park" franchise, though outgrossing such films as "Predator" and "Alien: Resurrection." The film was released on DVD December 7, 1999 and was ranked #1 release for the week ending December 12th, 1999 and remained in the DVD rental top 10 for eight weeks.
Soundtrack
A soundtrack was released on June 27, 1999 by Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
featuring rap and R&B music. The soundtrack made it to #55 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
. Composer Trevor Rabin
Trevor Rabin
Trevor Charles Rabin is a South African born musician, best known as a guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British progressive rock band Yes from 1983–1994, and since then, as a film composer.- Early years :...
scored the original music for the film. The released soundtrack contains 10 tracks.
In popular culture
- Samuel L. Jackson's surprising death scene in the film appears on several lists of best movie deaths of all time - including Den of Geek's "10 surprise deaths in blockbuster movies" , the list "Greatest Movie Deaths of All Time" and The Vine's "Top ten surprise movie deaths".
- Deep Blue Sea appeared on MythbustersMythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
in the episode "Phone Book Friction" when they tested the many elements of the shark's death at the end of the film, with most being proven untrue. - In the popular comedy series Chappelle's ShowChappelle's ShowChappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedian Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22,...
(Episode 2-1) Dave Chappelle plays Samuel L. Jackson in a beer commercial for "Samuel Jackson beer." Chappelle, as Jackson, yells at a restaurant customer drinking his beer: "You ain't ever seen my movies?... Deep Blue Sea? They ate me, a (expletive) shark ate me!" in reference to Jackson's death scene in the film. - The Sealab 2021Sealab 2021Sealab 2021 is an American animated television series. It was shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 23, 2000 and the final episode aired on April 25, 2005...
episode "Tinfins" centers around the crew of Sealab making a movie which is an obvious spoof of Deep Blue Sea. - Several film reviews, including Rolling StoneRolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, have noted distinct plot similarities between Deep Blue Sea and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011). Both stories center on researchers using genetic therapies on animals' brains in an attempt to cure Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
; therapies that inadvertently make the animals intelligent, enabling them to escape and cause murderous mayhem. Reviewer Peter TraversPeter TraversPeter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
noted that the newer film has "twists lifted from 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the ApesConquest of the Planet of the ApesConquest of the Planet of the Apes is a 1972 science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It is the fourth of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. It explores how the apes rebelled from mankind's ill treatment following Escape from the Planet of...
and 1999's Deep Blue Sea."