Deep Blue Sea

Over the weekend, I revisited an older movie, which I have always liked, "Deep Blue Sea." The movie follows a group of aquatic scientists, who are using brain proteins from sharks to try to find a cure for Alzheimer's.

Apparently sharks never seem to “age,” in that their brain activity never slows. It seems like the perfect plan. The problem with the sharks is that at regular size, there isn’t enough brain mass to produce enough protein to do their studies…so they have genetically altered the sharks to make their brains bigger. Handy idea, sure…but one of the unforeseen side effects is that they are suddenly dealing with very smart…not to mention, ENORMOUS, sharks.

Of course, just as soon as everyone is celebrating because their experiments seem to work…everything goes wrong. The lab is out in the middle of the ocean, (literally…it’s both above and below sea level) and huge storm is raging outside the walls. The aforementioned genius sharks suddenly decide that maybe they don’t like to be prodded and poked and that maybe they’d prefer NOT to donate their brain proteins to the cause of Alzheimer’s research. So…being the smart little buggers they are…they bite off a couple of body parts, break down a couple of walls…and viola…you have a flooded lab full of people that the sharks can swim around and get.

I might be making this movie sound corny or something…but I have to say that it’s not. As I said, I’ve always liked it…and the special effects are pretty darn good! Those sharks…they look so real that I squirm in my seat every time that I see them. I know everything that they are going to do…(I’ve seen it several times)…and they still freak me out! Basically…they aren’t nice. No…they aren’t.

I don’t know where it came from…I grew up (and have lived my entire life) pretty much as far inland as one can get…(Wyoming, anyone?)…but I am simultaneously fascinated and terrified of sharks at the same time. Honestly…is there ANYTHING scarier than a 45 foot shark barreling toward you in confined space when all you have to fight it off is a frying pan? No…no there isn’t. Whether or not the frying pan wins remains to be seen…you’ll have to check it out if you want to know.