Film Review - Into the Blue

Soaking 'Into The Blue'
By: Rianne Hill Soriano

Starring: Paul Walker, Jessica Alba
Directed by: John Stockwell
Official Movie site

Into the Blue is hot – soaking wet bikinis, golden-skin, uncompromising Carribean sceneries. But it runs out of air with its contrived plot and the interest for it sinks aimlessly into the deep-watered depths of the Bahamas.

Director John Stockwell seems primarily concerned with the superficial side: showcasing the major characters in a bikini fashion show and making a high end audio-visual presentation illustrating the beauty of nature like what you normally see in travelogues or even at the Discovery Channel. But I should commend the stunning aerial and underwater photography. The movie has great sceneries immortalized in the celluloid. But sadly though, it is rather disappointing to think of the fact that this movie seems to merely depend on visual beauty of bikini bodies and the ocean. It seems quite preposterous that the presentation of almost all the possible criminal threats and underwater hazards (including the deadly sharks being taught to munch only the villains) resorts to a series of silly fight and chase scenes where all the bad guys easily get dismissed while the protagonists are always saved in certain miraculous means whatsoever. The plotpoints focuses on too much chases and getaways than giving the story more depth as what you get to see in the richness of the ocean floor.

The story explores a treasure hunt adventure of a group of diver friends and lovers finding themselves in trouble after discovering, more than a pirates’ ship of treasure, a drug lord’s illicit cargo from his sunken airplane. Jared (Paul Walker) is a diving instructor and Sam (Jessica Alba) is a trainer at a sea park in the Bahamas. But like everyone else, they both dream of finding shipwreck treasure to change their simple lives. Bryce (Scott Caan), along with his new party girl date Amanda (Ashley Scott) enters into the picture and complicates the situation out of their selfish motifs for money and treasure.

Any supermodel can take the place of Alba in this movie. Unlike most of her previous films, this one is entirely a non-challenging role. Walker needs to improve on his acting. Caan is effective as the desperate Bryce and Ashley Scott gives a convincing performance as a party girl taking the pleasure for high-class lifestyle. There are so much clichés to be found within the story, including the characterization of the antagonists – all based from stereotypes. The story is unable to dig much dramatic treasure out of the issue of a cocaine-filled plane that makes the divers and the bad guys go gaga over it. After several minutes of enjoying the great sceneries of the ocean (from the top view of the great blue sees to the ocean floor adventures of the diving buffs), there is nothing more than the sharks and the guns trying to push the story from one plotpoint to the next.

Disregarding the contrived plot and poor storyline which makes this movie fall mercilessly into the pit of a pathetic visual caravan without a good enough story to tell, this scuba flick entertains the eyes of the viewers. But why pay a hundred bucks for it when you can watch the National Geographic or Discovery Channel in the comfort of your own homes? That’s quite cheaper than a couple of peso spent on transportation, popcorn and movie ticket…With the bikini bodies, you can check out the internet for countless photos and videos. But if you have that urge to see the beautiful bodies of Jessica Alba, Paul Walker and the rest of them, or maybe the luxury of seeing the gift of nature within the deep oceans all on big screen, and you are well content on seeing just those, watching Into the Blue in your favorite theater can be a form of simple cinematic entertainment.