Deep Blue Sea

Although its predecessor Jaws was a suspense film, director Renny Harlin's Deep Blue Sea is really more of a good old-fashioned monster movie about an off-shore research facility terrorized by three genetically-enhanced sharks with superior intelligence. The film's trio of toothy villains engage in a person-by-person chomp-fest through a cast that includes types like the Arrogant Scientist (Saffron Burrows), the Nervous Engineer (Michael Rapaport) and the Vaguely Eccentric Scientist (Stellan Skarsgaard). While a monster movie wouldn't be a monster movie without people doing stupid things, it's frustrating to put up with them saying stupid things at the same time. And what's up with these super sharks anyway? I can bite (to some degree) on the heightened cognitive powers angle, but these guys are apparently blessed with some intuitive knowledge of engineering and physics! Ultimately, a monster movie can only go so far treating the audience as dumb and treating the characters as chum. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw)