John’s “Deep Blue Sea” flashback review, June 21, 2022
***
“Deep Blue Sea” – Director Renny Harlin delivers a masterpiece of gripping action, lush visuals and compelling characters. It’s a thrill ride built upon a sci-fi premise – scientists have created smart sharks as a means to finding a cure to Alzheimer’s, but then there’s an accident and it soon becomes a game of survival aboard a sinking research station. The money and effort spent on “Deep Blue Sea” is apparent in every frame. The sheer intensity of the situations, accompanied by Trevor Rabin’s impressive score, easily makes up for any minor script flaws. The well-developed characters (played by Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane and LL Cool J, among others) pull the audience into the danger and the super-sharks are stunningly vicious, yet believable. A+
– John Hansen, NDSU Spectrum, September 1999