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Deep Blue Sea

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Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 science fiction action horror film that stars Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, and Saffron Burrows. The film was directed by Renny Harlin and was released in the United States on July 28, 1999.

Plot

On a remote top-secret island facility called Aquatica Research Facility, a team of scientists are searching for a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The team consists of: Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows), the "genius" (idiot) behind the experiment who decided to begin finding a cure after her father died from Alzheimer's; Jim Whitlock (Stellan Skarsgård); Dr. Janice Higgins (Jacqueline McKenzie); Carter Blake (Thomas Jane), a shark wrangler; Tom Scoggins (Michael Rapaport); Sherman "Preacher" Dudley (LL Cool J), a religious, wise-cracking cook; and Brenda Kerns (Aida Turturro), the communications specialist. However, despite Carter's warnings, McAlester violates the code of ethics and creates three genetically engineered mako sharks, which are considered as one of the most intelligent species of sharks. Her intent is to increase their brain capacity so the scientists can harvest the tissue as a cure for Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, the increased brain capacity also makes the sharks smarter, faster and more aggressive--as well as growing to the size of giant Mako sharks. Aquatica's financial backers are skeptical and nervous about the tests and send a corporate executive, Russell Franklin (Samuel L. Jackson), to visit the facility.

In order to prove that the research is worth it, the team schedules a test to remove brain fluid bearing the protein complex from the largest shark. After removing the tissue, they put it on some brain tissue diagnosed with Alzheimers, and rejoice as it brings the cells back temporarily. However, after the test, Dr. Whitlock observes the shark while smoking a cigarette. The shark breaks partially free of its restraints and bites off his arm. Carter Blake scrambles to get his shotgun to kill the shark but Dr. McAlester saves it by pressing the release button and sending it back to the holding pen. An emergency request is made for paramedics, while Dr McAlester, Higgins, Carter, and Russell Franklin use the elevator to get Whitlock to the helicopter.

The medical helicopter arrives and the team manages to get him attached to the winch cable, despite a severe storm. However, due to the winds, the winch cable motor fails and Whitlock is dropped into the water. The mako shark which McAlester earlier saved grabs the cable and drags the helicopter into the tower, resulting in a massive explosion that sets off a chain reaction destroying the "surface level" (the facility's level above water) and stranding the surviving crew beneath the water. Back in the lab, McAlester and the others feel the explosion. Carter attempts to make contact with the tower but can't get through. The large window facing the holding pen shows an object growing closer and closer; the largest shark appears and using Whitlock and his transport stretcher/backboard as a ram. The piece crashes into the glass window which then breaks, releasing a massive flow of water into the facility. Whitlock is killed and McAlester and the others escape the wet lab and reach an airlock.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, which is now partly submerged, one of the sharks enters and attacks Preacher (LL Cool J). Preacher tries to climb a shelf, but it collapses. His pet bird, named "Bird," tries to escape the shark but is eaten alive. Preacher climbs into the oven, and through constant ramming, the shark activates one of its controls, which fills the room with gas. Preacher escapes the oven using an axe and nears the room's exit, then throws a lighter, igniting the gasoline and blowing apart the shark.

The scientists descent to the bottom level of the facility, from which they planned to take a submarine to the surface. However, they find the room destroyed by the impact of the explosion and the sub destroyed by the sharks. Scoggins and McAlester begin to argue about how they are going to escape before Franklin silences them before giving a speech about how the group will have to pull themselves together to find a way out, relating to his famous past experience where he and 6 others were trapped in ice at Mt. Everest. Unexpectedly, one of the sharks leaps out from a pool behind him and grabs Franklin from behind. The two remaining sharks then rip Franklin in half and devour him. The remaining scientists make way to the elevator shaft and start to climb up it. Carter attempts to open the door to Level 2 to drain off the water, but before he can, a shark rams through the door and the elevator shaft begins to flood. The structural integrity of the facility begins to fail and the ladder falls backwards. Dr. Higgins looses her grip and falls into the water--she tries to regain the ladder, but before she can, she vanishes. Blake thinks she drowned, but in a grisly scene, she re-appears and is in the shark's mouth. Despite Carter's frantic attempts to save her, she is taken below and eaten alive. Blake and Scoggins volunteer to go down into the water and shut off the pool. While in the water looking for the controls, Carter unexpectedly encounters the dead body of Dr Whitlock. Scoggins finds the controls and manages to shut off the pool, but the third shark appears and grabs him, pushing him into an electrical unit before ripping him in half. Despite Preacher's warnings, McAlester goes to her living quarters to get the files from the experiment. The second shark appears and tries to attack McAlester, but it becomes stuck on the floor. McAlester manages to get on top of a shelf and then breaks an electric wire; she throws the cable into the shark's mouth, electrocuting and killing it.

Only Preacher, McAlester and Carter are left. They make the startling discovery that the sharks haven't just been trying to kill them, but were actually leading them to flooding the facility (sinking it and the titanium fences surrounding it) so they could escape into the open sea. The three swim to the surface and almost instantly, Preacher is grabbed by the third shark. After the shark attempts to drown him, he stabs it in it's eye and it releases him. He swims back to the half-collapsed tower with Carter's help, where he is cared for by Dr McAlester. Carter and McAlester then see the shark ramming the gates which had previously been above the water. Carter realizes that the gates had been titanium under the water, but the parts that had been above the ocean--though now underwater--are only common steel. The mutant large and mentally-enhanced sharks are about to break free of the facility and enter the open ocean.

Carter finds flares in the tower and decides that the shark has to be killed before it gets into the open sea. Rigging a harpoon attached to a steel cable, meant for catching sharks, Carter fills the harpoon with gunpowder from several flares, claiming it has the power of a stick of dynamite, planning to place the other end of the cable to a car battery to detonate the harpoon. Carter attempts to fire at the shark but it is too far away. McAlester decides she must try to lure the shark to something besides the gate, seeing it as her responsibility because her actions caused the deaths and destruction. She cuts her hand to tempt the shark with her blood, jumps into the water and succeeds in attracting it. However she can't swim fast enough to escape and the shark rips her in half. Blake jumps into the water in a vain attempt to rescue McAlester and is narrowly attacked by the shark. He dodges it and manages to grab it by its dorsal fin. Preacher, struggling against his wounds, rigs a crossbow with explosives at the tip that will detonate when applied to an electrical current. He fires the crossbow at the shark, in the process hitting Blake as well. The shark rams the gate again and manages to escape. Blake is pulled free and Preacher places the other end of the wire to the battery, resulting in a massive explosion that kills the shark. At the end of the film, they are both resting when they see a boat with the other lab staff heading towards them.

In the film's original cut, McAlester lived, but test audiences made it clear how much they disliked the character (going so far as to shout "Die bitch!" at the screen) as her actions had caused all that had gone wrong. Thus, the decision was made to re-shoot the ending so that her character died. Conversely, Sherman 'Preacher' Dudley, played by LL Cool J, was to die but test audiences loved the character so much that filmmakers re-shot the ending and had him live.

Cast

In popular culture

  • Samuel L. Jackson references the film in his DVD commentary on Snakes On a Plane. After giving a noble speech about films and the movie-making business, he ends by saying: "The last time I made a speech like this, a shark jumped up out of the water and killed my ass!"

  • In an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, a poster for a parody movie called "Shallow Green Ocean" appears in the background of a scene.

  • Dave Chappelle references Samuel L. Jackson's role in the film Deep Blue Sea on his Comedy Central program, Chappelle's Show. Dressed as the Samuel Adams Beer mascot, Chappelle yells at a restaurant patron, asking if he has "seen his movies". (Chappelle yells) Deep Blue Sea? They ate me! A fucking shark ate me!"

  • Talk show host Conan O'Brien has many times jokingly said that Deep Blue Sea is his favorite movie of all time.

  • References to Jaws were made throughout the movie. The license plate that Carter removed from the tiger shark's mouth had Louisiana markings. Coincidentally, Hooper in Jaws, also removes a Louisiana license plate, from a tiger shark, except in Jaws, the shark was already dead, and Hooper removed it from the shark's stomach. The way the sharks died was also how the sharks in "Jaws" 1-3 died: the 1st shark died from something prompting it to explode (like in Jaws), the 2nd died of electrocution (Jaws 2), the 3rd and last shark dying from an explosive (Jaws 3).

  • During a press panel Q&A at Comic-Con for his role in the film Snakes on a Plane, Samuel L. Jackson was asked which he considered more deadly, snakes or sharks. His alleged response was "Sharks of course. I beat the snakes, sharks ate my ass." In truth, snakes kill thousands of people annually but sharks kill a few to a dozen people a year.

  • A running gag in Clerks: The Animated Series featured Samuel L. Jackson being eaten by a shark without warning, much like in the film.

  • During a Season 31 episode of Saturday Night Live, Seth Meyers does a commentary on Weekend Update about Global Warming and 'Tornado-caines' (a new super cyclone/tornado that has been running rampant throughout the United States) which he references as being 'much like the sharks in the movie Deep Blue Sea as they have become smarter, learned and adapted.

References

External links



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Last updated on Friday March 14, 2008 at 01:41:51 PDT (GMT -0700)
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