***CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS***
Tonight I'm reviewing the science fiction horror film, Deep Blue Sea 2, a stand-alone sequel to the 1999 film, Deep Blue Sea.
A shark conservationist is invited to a sea-based research facility called Akhelios to help with sharks that are capable of having increased intelligence from a neural drug that enhances their abilities. All hell breaks loose as the crew must survive after the sharks end up causing the facility to flood and go after them for dinner.
Here's a little backstory. I loved the original Deep Blue Sea from 1999. While the CGI hasn't aged well and it does seem like your by-the-numbers shark flick, I still had a blast with it, especially with the concept of the sharks being enhanced with this drug that makes them smarter. Plus, I also loved the cast including Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, and LL Cool J. It was quite intense and had some really great gory deaths as well.
When I heard that there was going to be a second one coming out, I already had a bad feeling with this, seeing how we always get these stand-alone direct-to-video sequels that have little or nothing to do with the first one. I was completely right. This movie was so unwatchable.
Pros: The only small pro I'll say is that there is an idea they use where one of the main characters ends up taking the drug themselves to outwit the sharks and I felt, on paper it seemed quite ingenious to do, but the execution is completely ruined by the end of it.
Cons:
Where do I even start with this piece of crap? First of all, if you've seen the first movie, you've seen this movie all the way through. They do the exact same plot as the first and yet it has nothing to do with the first, so you might as well call it a remake. Our main characters have this drug that makes the sharks smarter and have to survive yet again in a facility in the middle of the ocean. In fact, even a few of the main characters are copies of the first one with similar personalities. Speaking of characters, they were all terribly written and acted. The decisions that these people do are so beyond stupid that even for one of them that takes the drug, they still end up getting themselves killed in the process. It doesn't help that everyone of these actors are so poorly acted and annoying at times that I just wanted these sharks to kill them and end the movie already.
Watching this felt like such a chore. The movie was only an hour and thirty minutes, but it sure felt like 3 hours! Every scene gets worse and worse with not only the poor choices and survival skills these characters get into, but also the big sharks that we are supposed to be the main focus, are not even hardly in the movie! Instead, we get these baby sharks that get loose and do most of the killings.
Oh my God, don't even get me started on the cheap PS1-looking CGI they use for not only the sharks, but the death scenes aren't even done properly. You have a scene where it shows a dead body floating in the water, and they even CGI the dead body! Plus, there was even one scene where the baby sharks looked so fake and rubbery, I thought I was going to hear the theme from the 1966 Batman, because it reminded me of the scene in that movie where Adam West's Batman and hanging off a helicopter and you see the fake looking shark.
The score in this was cringe-worthy as well. They have this out of place guitar score that felt like I was hearing Metallica or something in a scene that is supposed to be intense. That's like if I put on a Black Sabbath song at the climax of Jaws.
Overall, this was one of the worst sequels I've ever seen to a film that I enjoy and I feel like this movie deserves to get eaten by a shark, along with every other crappy direct-to-video sequel that cashes in on a well known movie.
Final Grade:
What were your thoughts on this and the first movie? Comment below and I'll see you on my next review.