Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020)

The first Deep Blue Sea movie remains one of my favourite shark movies of all time. Despite some glaring issues, and any shark movie has to do a lot to swim out from underneath the mighty shadow of Jaws, it's a fantastic mix of fun, thrills, and spectacle. And I never thought it would be the start of a movie series, but here we are. Deep Blue Sea 2, on the other hands, was one of the worst sequels I have ever seen. And I have seen pretty much every major horror franchise instalment (and ALL of the Puppet Master movies).

I wasn't too enthusiastic about checking out this third shark-infested outing. Writer Dirk Blackman has few credits to his name, with the biggest being arguably the worst of the Underworld movies, and director John Pogue didn't really impress me with his helming of The Quiet Ones (one of only four movies he has directed, although he has also written a number of fun screenplays, if you can define The Skulls movies as fun, which I can).

Tania Raymonde plays Emma Collins, a marine biologist studying the effects of climate change on a small atoll that is sinking further into the sea, and is no longer inhabited by more than a handful of people (most of them being part of the science team). Things get interesting when Richard (Nathaniel Buzolic) and Lucas (Bren Foster) turn up, looking for some very aggressive bull sharks that they believe have made a beeline for the atoll. Richard and Emma have some history, whereas Lucas has no such ties. He has the men under his command, and won't think twice about using some of the weaponry and hardware that could cause as much damage to the atoll as it could to the sharks.

While the second Deep Blue Sea movie felt like some low-budget parody of the first, this feels like a fun retread that is happy to sculpt some different meat on to the bones (no, don't ask me why I went with that bizarre and gross metaphor). The sharks are still motivated by certain factors, and the sinking atoll makes for an interesting environment in which to place all the action. And speaking of action, it's so much better this time around than it was in the second film. The effects are decent, the pacing isn't too bad, and the overall effect is to turn Deep Blue Sea into a name I now wouldn't mind being stretched out for a number of tenuously-connected sequels.

Raymonde is a decent lead, Buzolic and Foster are both suitably shady in different ways, and the other standout is Emerson Brooks, playing the toughest member of the science team, and the main hope for leading a fight back if/when things turn messy.

It certainly still feels weighed down by the limited budget and resources, but Deep Blue Sea 3 puts a lot more action and enjoyable shark moments onscreen than you'd expect, especially if you endured the previous outing. It's no classic, still not anywhere close to being as good as the first movie, but it's not a bad way to pass 90 minutes or so.

6/10

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Maximum Conviction (2012)

When Maximum Conviction arrived through my letterbox my heart sank a little bit. People may remember that I endured almost every Steven Seagal movie ever made over the course of many months (if you need verification then just type his name into the search box on the right and have a browse). It almost broke me. Thankfully, I had no more to endure for a while. All of his releases over the past couple of years seemed to be episodes of his show, True Justice, spliced together and sold to undemanding fans. But I knew the day would come when I would have to watch this man in action again. Maximum Conviction was the film that dragged me back into Seagal's world.

As stupid as it was, I still held on to a shred of hope. After all, Steve Austin was also in the movie, and I like Steve Austin. It only took a few minutes to grind that hope into dust. Seagal and Austin play two former black ops kinda guys (does Seagal ever play any other kind of character? No, no he doesn't) who are helping to decommission a prison that now holds two extra "guests" in the shape of Samantha and Charlotte. Unfortunately, some very powerful people want one of these women for some information that they possess so it's not long until the prison is breached and lots of armed men are causing trouble while being repelled by Seagal and company.

Directed by Keoni Waxman (who also directed The Keeper, which was Seagal's last half-decent action film), and written by Paul Beattie, Maximum Conviction has potential that is wasted thanks, once again, to a lazy turn from an out of shape leading man. Seagal just doesn't cut it any more as an action star. In fact, he hasn't been cutting it for the last decade or so, and that makes it increasingly difficult for his movies to continue appealing to ACTION fans. This movie is improved by the presence and physical work of Steve Austin, but there's only so much that can be done when Seagal insists on having the lead role even as he continues to pass most of his scenes over to his stunt double. Elsewhere, Michael Pare turns in another bad guy performance, Ian Robison is a spineless warden and Aliyah O'Brien and Steph Song are the women who could be in big trouble, playing Charlotte and Samantha, respectively. If you're expecting any great acting then you clearly haven't seen any other Steven Seagal movie.

The most frustrating thing about watching Maximum Conviction is how close it comes to being a good film. The premise isn't that bad, the pacing is fine and some of the action set-pieces have the right level of energy and damage to be good entertainment. Unfortunately, the combination of low-budget (the movie certainly LOOKS cheap), laziness and over-editing just ends up making the movie a bit of a chore.

I would say, hesitantly, that some hardcore Seagal fans may well see this as a bit of a return to form. Everyone else will probably see it as yet another one to avoid.

4/10

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