The Deep

Stylish but sadly lacking any substance. No doubting that The Deep was a film hoping to cash in on the monster success of Jaws two summers previously. Written by Jaws author Peter Benchley, The Deep on the page is never fully realised here on the screen, and sadly the film never lifts itself out of standard adventure territory. From the onset it looked to be heading in the right direction, a great first hour of genuine intrigue and tension keeps the viewer interested, where we have ship wrecks, treasure, voodoo, a gorgeous locale, a gruff Robert Shaw and Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt! but the film drifts onto formulaic sand and peters out like a damp squib (or should that be squid?). Lovely to look at (the underwater sequences are gorgeous), and the acting is fine enough from all of the leads, yet a meandering drug plot only has one wishing that a big shark would come and swallow the whole bloody picture and regurgitate it with a bit more oomph and passion. 5/10

Okay, but lackluster island/oceanic treasure-hunting adventure A vacationing couple in Bermuda (Nick Nolte & Jacqueline Bisset) comes upon a sunken WW2 ship whereupon they find an ampule of morphine, one of myriad aboard the wreck. This stirs up the interest of a Haitian drug dealer (Louis Gossett Jr.) and an old treasure hunter (Robert Shaw). Eli Wallach and Robert Tessier are on hand as friends of the old salt. “The Deep” (1977) was based on author Peter Benchley’s follow-up to his mega-successful “Jaws” and was successful at the box office due to that momentum. However, it’s nowhere near great like that book/film. Similar oceanic adventure/thrillers include “Into the Blue” (2005), which is practically a remake of “The Deep,” and “Fool’s Gold” (2008), as well as the direct-to-video “Into the Blue 2: The Reef” (2009). The latter, believe it or not, is easily the best of the lot; it has the most compelling story and the best women, which proves that you don’t need ginormous–bucks and mega-stars to make a quality flick of this ilk. This one is realistic, but the story lacks drive and I was never able to warm up to the three main characters for some odd reason. Bisset is serviceable, but she never did anything for me, although she has gorgeous eyes and no one can deny the formidableness of her bosom. The movie runs 2 hours, 3 minutes, and was shot in Bermuda; RMS Rhone Wreck, British Virgin Islands; and Australia. GRADE: B-/C+

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John Chard

Wuchak