Our Daily Trailer: DEEP BLUE SEA
IT'S PRACTICALLY A CLICHÉ AT THIS POINT, BUT LEST WE FORGET CLICHÉS BECOME CLICHÉS FOR A REASON: DEEP BLUE SEA IS ONE OF THE BEST TRASHY B-MOVIE PULP EFFORTS OF THE POST 80'S ERA... AND IT CAME IN THE FORM OF A BIG STUDIO MOVIE.
MANY OF YOU KNOW THIS. HELL, TO MANY OF YOU DEEP BLUE SEA'S MAGNETIC TRASHY PULPNESS HAS BECOME SO BORING AND OBVIOUS THAT IT'S BARELY WORTH DISCUSSING. BUT SOMETIMES HULK IS ALL ABOUT CELEBRATING THE BORING AND OBVIOUS. AND THAT MEANS CELEBRATING THE MOVIES THAT SO PERFECTLY WEAR THEIR SILLY IDENTITIES ON THEIR SLEEVES THAT THERE IS NO REAL DISCUSSION TO BE HAD. AND SO IN THE ABSENCE OF ARGUMENTATION, LET US STOP FOR A MOMENT AND CELEBRATE THIS PERFECTLY MADE BAD MOVIE.
TO BE HONEST HULK'S NOT SURE HOW THEY DID IT. HARLIN HAS FLIRTED WITH THIS KIND OF B-MOVIE GEM AT OTHER TIMES IN HIS CAREER. CLIFFHANGER HAS SOME GENUINELY NICE MOMENTS. THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT EMBRACES A SENSE OF RIDICULOUS PULP. MINDHUNTERS PRACTICALLY GETS OFF ON ITS OWN ABSURDITY. HECK, HARLIN SEEMED TO SPEND THE ENTIRETY OF THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE LAUGHING FROM BEHIND THE CAMERA (AS HE SHOULD). SO WHAT ALLOWED HARLIN TO PUT TOGETHER A MOVIE WHERE IT DID ALL THOSE THINGS IN THE MIDST OF A BEING A PATENTLY ABSURD POPCORN MOVIE? HULK ISN'T SURE. MAYBE THE SCREENWRITERS HAD ALL THE HORROR GENRE AWARENESS THEY NEEDED TO INVERT EVERY POSSIBLE EXPECTATION. MAYBE IT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE HAPPY ACCIDENTS. MAYBE IT WAS A COMBINATION OF BOTH. NO MATTER WHAT, HULK IS JUST GLAD IT CAME TOGETHER.
SADLY, THE TRAILER LINKED ABOVE DOESN'T QUITE HINT AT THE INSANITY UNDERNEATH.
SURE WE GET THE SUPER-BRAINED, BACKWARD-SWIMMING, CAMERA MUNCHING SHARKS AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF OVERWROUGHT SERIOUSNESS. BUT WE GET FAR TOO LITTLE OF THE ABJECT SILLINESS THAT MAKES THE MOVIE SPECIAL. LIKE THE IMMORTAL SAMUEL L. JACKSON SPEECH. THE HILARIOUSLY "NECESSARY" SAFFRON DISROBING. TOM JANE'S 9-ISH LIVES. THE PARROT. LL COOL J BEING A CHEF NAMED PREACHER. MICHAEL RAPAPORT BEING ALLOWED TO BE MICHAEL RAPAPORT... OH WELL, PERHAPS THESE THINGS ALL WORK BETTER AS SURPRISES ANYWAY.
THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT FOR SOME REASON A STUDIO DECIDED TO GIVE THEM MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ACTUALLY MAKE THIS THING. HULK HAS NO IDEA WHY. IT COMES AT THE END OF THE 90'S (1999! AN EPIC YEAR FOR MOVIES AT LARGE!) WHEN THE WHOLE BIG MOVIES BLOAT MANIFESTED ITSELF IN SUCH A BIZARRE WAY. LOOKING BACK, THE BIG 80'S MOVIES WERE ABOUT THIS EVEN-KEELED MIX OF COMEDY AND GRIME (OFTEN TO WEIRD RESULTS), BUT THE 90'S CAME INTO ITS OWN BY MAKING ALL THESE LURID, SCHIZOPHRENIC MOVIES THAT JUMP BETWEEN HIGH-OCTANE THRILLS AND NONSENSE COMEDIC RELIEF WITHOUT MUCH REASONING FOR WHY - AND OFTEN DOING BOTH AT ONCE. HULK IS OBVIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT THE EMERGENCE OF MICHAEL BAY, BUT THE DUDE SERIOUSLY CHANGED MOVIES. AND IN THE WAKE OF HIS SUCCESS THE LATE 90'S COPIED THIS FORMULA TO THE MOST STUPEFYING RESULTS.
BUT NONE SO SUCCESSFULLY AS DEEP BLUE SEA. AND THAT'S BECAUSE IT TOOK THAT HAPHAZARD TONE AND KNEW EXACTLY HOW TO PLAY IT INTO THEIR PLAYFUL HORROR-SNIPING / B-MOVIE / SHARK-FEST.
AND WE'RE ALL THE BETTER FOR IT.
