Into the Blue

It was sometime over the summer when I first saw the trailer for Into the Blue. It looked like it might be interesting, but I quickly forgot about the movie until about a month ago. This wasn't a movie that I was really looking forward to seeing like several others. I ended up having a chance to see it so I went. I should have gone to see Serenity again instead.

Jared and Sam were living in the Bahamas together. They were happy in their relationship though they didn't have much money. Sam worked for some kind of aquatic park where part of her job involved being inside a tank with sharks. Jared got fired from his job taking people scuba diving. He owned a junk heap of a boat and dreamed of one day discovering a huge lost treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Jared had worked for Bates, a successful treasure hunter, for a while. Jared said he would never work with Bates again. Bryce arrived for a visit with Amanda, a woman he'd picked up the night before.

The four went scuba diving and actually found a few small items. They decide to keep diving, even though sharks were now in the area, hoping to find a sunken ship. There had recently been a hurricane and according to Jared it could have stirred up the bottom of the ocean enough to uncover something. They found the wreckage of a plane that turned out to be full of drugs. Amanda wanted to keep some of it for fun, but Jared wouldn't let her. They decided to hold off on reporting the wreck so they could continue searching for sunken treasure. Others were also around looking for the plane.

The trailer for Into the Blue made the movie seem like it could be interesting. It has been promoted like it was an action-packed thriller. I don't feel like it was. The plot did have some potential. It was just handled badly. There was very little action and even less suspense. Most of the time I was bored by what was going on. I was very impatient for the movie to end and kept checking the time, which seemed to drag by. Later in the movie there were a few action sequences and the only touch of suspense. By that time it was too late. I didn't care what happened and just wanted the whole thing to be over. When the action finally showed up, there was also some violence included, some of which was rather extreme. Some things weren't shown on camera, though it was very clear what happened.

The setting was critical to the plot and things wouldn't have worked in a different location - not that it worked that well as it was. The movie did have some beautiful locations that were wasted. Several scenes took place under water since the characters spent so much time diving hoping to find treasure. There were some beautiful underwater shots used at different times. Many of the scenes involved the characters diving. Sometimes they used air tanks and other times they didn't. I never did understand why they wouldn't use air tanks when they were going down to search for treasure. It did seem unbelievable how long some of them were underwater with no air. It also didn't seem right that they willingly swam with sharks. It was said in the movie that sharks wouldn't just attack like has been shown in some movies, but it still seemed foolish to take the chance. I know there is no way I would stick one toe in the water if there was one shark around let alone as many as they went diving with. Bryce actually took a mop with him and was underwater swinging it around, which only aggravated the sharks.

The parts of the movie that dealt with the treasure hunting were somewhat interesting, but even that became boring as the movie progressed. I read a book once that dealt with searching for treasure and it had some of the same elements as this movie. The book didn't lose my interest or become boring like the movie did. It was set up like they had to keep their search quiet because otherwise Bates would jump in and steal the claim. That was an attempt to add conflict that I felt fell flat. All four of them decided they would work together and split anything they discovered. Amanda was still basically a stranger to all of them, even Bryce, but they included her in everything and trusted that she would keep her mouth shut and not do anything that would complicate the situation. That just didn't seem to smart to me.

Many of the characters spent a lot of time in bathing suits or other skimpy outfits. The first underwater scene showed Jared with a group of scuba divers. One of the men was over weight and in a very small bathing suit. I really didn't need to see that, especially when the director decided to zoom in on the crotch area and then slowly travel up. The camera tended to linger on the main cast in the underwater scenes, especially Jessica Alba. There were many slow motion shots of her undulating through the water in tiny bikinis set to music. In one scene, her bikini bottom was shown migrating north, creating what looked like an uncomfortable wedgie. She should have just saved time and started out in a thong. Those scenes got very old very quick for me, though it is possible that men would enjoy those parts much more than I did. There were entirely too many shots focused on the crotch area of the women when they were swimming. If the camera had gotten any closer, medical exams would have been going on. The cast did look good, but that wasn't enough to make the movie good. I enjoy eye candy in a movie as much as anyone. I just need more than that to consider a movie to be really good. Paul Walker and James Caan were both shown shirtless without the camera lingering on them like it did Alba. Amanda did some sunbathing topless once, though her bare breasts were never shown. There were a few sexual conversations without any actual sex scenes. Jared and Sam did a lot of kissing.

There were really only four characters that were involved in the major plot of Into the Blue. The movie was plenty long enough to develop that many characters. It didn't happen though. Jared was obsessed with finding sunken treasure some day. The movie really never explained where that obsession came from and how he got involved in looking for it to begin with. There was really no background information shared about Jared or Sam at all. That could have made the characters more interesting. I think Bryce was a friend of Jared, though it really wasn't explained how they knew each other. Amanda was just the token ditzy blonde. I didn't care about any of the characters. Bryce and Amanda did some very stupid things that did annoy me. Scott Caan played a more likable character in Ocean's 11 and Ocean's Twelve. I wasn't annoyed by Jared or Sam, but I didn't care about them either. Frankly, the sharks could have eaten the entire cast and I wouldn't have cared. The horrible character development in this movie made me appreciate Serenity even more. The acting was fine, though nothing special. No one had much to work with. I did think that Jessica Alba was more believable as Sam than she was in Fantastic Four and didn't seem as stiff in the part. Josh Brolin turned up briefly as Bates. He looked so different it took me until late in the movie to figure out it was him in the part.

CAST

Jessica Alba - Sam
Josh Brolin - Bates
Scott Caan - Bryce
Ashley Scott - Amanda
Paul Walker - Jared

John Stockwell - Director

I was bored senseless during Into the Blue and wish I hadn't bothered going to see it. It was a huge waste of him. The plot failed to get interesting and I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. It is difficult to really enjoy a movie when the sharks are more interesting than the people. There were some good underwater scenes, though that wasn't enough to make the movie worthwhile. Some people may find some enjoyment from drooling over the nearly naked cast. Most people shouldn't bother with this one.

Related Reviews
Fantastic Four ~ Ocean's 11 ~ Ocean's Twelve ~