Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Deep Blue Sea’

Written by Scott ‘Sharky’ Edwards

​If you had a way to do something great to better the world, would you go for it? There are so many things that have yet to be accomplished in the world these days that nobody seems to want to conquer, but with all of the resources available, it seems like it could be done. Having the motivation to get it done might be the biggest factor as to why people would not want to try since every speed bump you have to go over seems to make it that more difficult. But nothing worth doing is easy, I am pretty sure I heard that somewhere and it stands true, even to this day.

Doctor Susan McCallister is on the verge of a huge medical breakthrough when she is summoned to her financier’s office. She is trying to develop a new drug that could end Alzheimer’s Disease forever using brain fluid from a shark, since the ancient beasts never seem to get sick. Passionately selling her position to the two-member board, Susan is surprised to have an investor coming back to the lab with her to see the progress. Needing to speed up the timetable may not be the best idea, but in order to have continuous funding coming in, Susan has to prove that the new serum actually works.

Arriving at the research station, investor Russell Franklin has his eyes opened to how difficult the world at sea really is as he watches the local shark wrangler pull a license plate out of a hunting shark’s mouth.  Although he does not get a very happy reception, Russell has his notes on everyone employed by the facility and wants to make sure that his thinking is not misguided. The shark wrangler, Carter, seems to have an agenda of his own when Susan returns and is trying to catch her ear for a couple minutes to tell her what he has seen, but she has to blow him off until the final test is complete and she can save her research, along with everyone’s jobs. With the test coming on a weekend, all of the non-essential staff is gone, leaving just the scientists and a couple basic personnel to run the station. With a storm moving in, the visibility starts to diminish, above and below the water.

---

As Carter swims out to pull in one of the test sharks, something never seen before comes to light, the sharks are hunting in packs and becoming much smarter than anyone could have ever expected. Being able to bag his prey, Carter keeps a close eye on the shark as the testing commences but is not able to move fast enough as the shark wounds a man while everyone is starting to celebrate the successful test. With a storm pounding the station and a man in dire need of a hospital, it seems like the cards are stacked against the research station, but a medivac is able to combat the storm and take the older doctor to safety. 

But all is not good as the winch on the helicopter burns out and the sharks are able to capture a free meal, along with causing a ruckus around their habitat. As the medivac is pulled into the tower, the station gets compromised, and the sharks know that they can take over and hunt their captors. As floods start all over the station, the sharks have free reign over any area that is submerged and take over as the beasts should.  But the surviving crew will not go down without a fight and battle their way to sea level to save themselves, and most importantly, their research.

This movie always leaves me shaking my head and for one reason, the scientists all seem to be so stupid when it comes to basic survival skills. I guess it has to do with the pressure that they are under with their research station sinking and sharks coming after them, but there are some things that seem to be so easy to do that they just can't execute. Enough with the rant, I dig this movie and the entire crew as they seemed to be picked at random to make something magical appear on the screen. I like the aspect of the story that makes the sharks smarter than the humans as well by using genetic testing to increase the size of their brains. It seems like something that would really happen these days with all of the technology we have at our fingertips, but alas, the only shark that matters these days is Left Shark. Happy Viewing and Stay Scared.

---