Deep Blue Sea 3 review by Bobby Blakey
I love a good shark attack flick and JAWS really set the tone. Since its debut there have been tons of copycat films hoping to capture that same magic. In 1999 the film Deep Blue Sea hit theaters to some decent success so it was only a matter of time before they spawned a sequel which it did with the straight to home release in 2018. I never saw the second entry, but it apparently did enough to keep the franchise alive for the latest entry Deep Blue Sea 3. Could this bring the shark killing fun that fans hope for or will it fail to make it to the surface?
Deep Blue Sea 3 follows Emma Collins, an eminent marine biologist, and her crew who have set up a mid-ocean laboratory over a sunken island town in the ocean where they are observing the first known Great White mating area. Unfortunately, the enhanced Bull Sharks that escaped in Deep Blue Sea 2 are also there with their own evolutionary goal: cross-breeding with the bigger faster Great Whites. The mission’s patron, Richard Lowell, believes that the Bull Sharks contain the key to intelligence enhancement, which he secretly intends to sell for big profits. Now, Emma and her crew are trapped on crumbling stilt houses mere feet over the ocean, caught between predators above and below the water.
I know I saw the original film but remember nothing about it other than the cast and as mentioned above never saw the first sequel. Normally I refuse to watch a film in a series without seeing the others, but this one seems to pretty much stand on its own. Going in I kept expectations low and was hoping to at least get some fun underwater shark terror, but alas not so much. The film tries really hard, but gets so lost in itself trying to bring elements to the story that it failed to really deliver the goods. The whole thing felt more like one of the famed Syfy channel shark films than anything else which can be a fun thing, but here kind of falls flat.
The cast are very hit and miss with it being more miss than anything. The have filled this film with a wide variety of types of characters in hopes to cover all the basis and not one of them is overly likable or entertaining to watch. All of them are pretty forgettable which is something I could forgive if there was more fun watching them get eaten but even that fails to impress. It takes a while to ever get to the shark action outside of a few bumps here and there and when it does it is never overly satisfying. There is one moment that had me laughing that I loved but beyond that very little. The ending tries really hard to amp up the shark action, but still comes off more generic than anything else.
This is the kind of film that will no doubt have those that love it just for what it is and even with keeping my expectations low still failed to deliver for me. Decide for yourself and grab your copy of Deep Blue Sea 3 available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros Home Entertainment.