Blue Waters, Beautiful Bodies and a Few Modest Thrills

As Into the Blue opens, a small plane is flying into a storm-darkened sky, when a malfunction (or damage from the storm, or severe turbulence; it's not quite clear) sends it, its pilots, and its only passenger crashing into the ocean below. This brief opening scene is crucial, since it's the only sign we have of any real trouble during what is otherwise a suspense-less beginning to this story, and without it we might mistakenly assume that we're about to be treated to a romantic adventure, or even a romantic comedy, as we're next treated to scenes of Jared (Paul Walker) under the clear blue waters of the Bahamas, assisting inexperienced divers, and his girlfriend Sam (Jessica Alba), as she works with sharks at a local resort and talks with children about her work.

Jared and Sam seem to be living happy lives, content to stay on Jared's leaky boat in idyllic surroundings, not having much but not wanting for much either. They have each other, and that's what's important. (And, hey, if you had Paul Walker or Jessica Alba, what more would you want?) It seems the only problem they face is Jared's fresh unemployment, which tends to result from angrily pushing one's obnoxious boss overboard, as we witness Jared doing. For Sam, Jared's lack of employment hardly seems to matter. He is clearly bothered by it though, and begins planning to dive for treasure in the waters off the coast as a possible solution. When Jared's friend Bryce (Scott Caan), arrives for a visit, accompanied by Amanda (Ashley Scott), a hot blonde he only met the night before, the film gains even more of that romantic comedy feel. Bryce, a defense attorney, is that ever-annoying staple character of romantic comedies, the jerk-of-a-friend that all the stand-up guys seem to have, apparently for no reason other than to make them look even better in comparison.

In fact the only other hint of suspense in the early portion of Into the Blue comes from the brief appearance of Bates (Josh Brolin), a professional treasure-hunter (or, as he insists, treasure-finder) for whom Jared once worked. In a short exchange of dialogue between Bates, Sam and Jared, Brolin manages to make Bates seem like trouble without his character saying anything especially suspicious or threatening, and despite it being obvious that the three have known each other for some time. Bates simply looks as if he must be sleazy.

It isn't until until Jared, Sam, Bryce and Amanda go diving that the suspense begins, albeit slowly, to build, when in addition to discovering several artifacts that suggest the possibility of uncovering a shipwreck, they also stumble across the aforementioned plane, which just so happens to be nearby, and just so happens to be loaded with drugs. Jared and Sam soon come to believe that the shipwreck might be the legendary Zephyr, filled with hundreds of millions in treasure, and Bryce (with some manipulation from Amanda) tries to convince Jared to use the drugs as a means to acquire the equipment necessary to claim and salvage the wreck and its cargo. When Jared refuses, he and Sam continuing to insist that they all stay away from the plane, Bryce and Amanda take matters into their own hands. During the night they return to the plane, taking some of the drugs, which they then try to sell to local nightclub owner and drug dealer Primo (Tyson Beckford). Predictably, Bryce and Amanda's brief adventure in the drug trade goes very wrong, setting in motion the events that lead to the film's climactic moments. Jared, with a gun in his face, is coerced into retrieving the drugs, while hoping to salvage the Zephyr as well. Old friends like Bates are revealed to be other than what they seem, and complications arise from sharks both literal and of the figurative, human variety.

While by no means highly original, Into the Blue also is not as predictable as we might expect. There are a few twists, and one or two small moments in the final third of the film that are somewhat unexpected, including the death of a character that I would have quickly pegged as being a goner in a horror film, but not here. And whether intentional on the part of the filmmakers or not, the two couples serve as parallels, opposite sides of their respective coins. We have the beach bum who would give up treasure for love and his dedicated, do-the-right-thing girlfriend who doesn't care about money on one side; the defense attorney who has long since decided to compromise his morals for fun and profit and the scheming, manipulative recent hook-up (does he even know her last name?) on the other. But the film doesn't get that deep with its characters, even while it has them diving to the ocean floor.

The scenery in this film is beautiful, particularly the underwater cinematography and, well... Jessica Alba. I suppose Paul Walker is also rather nice to look at, if you're into that sort of thing. The acting is fair, which is the most that we can expect, really, given that this isn't exactly a character-driven film. (On a related note, I found myself feeling sorry for Alba as I read one professional reviewer describe her, while writing of Into the Blue, as a "helium balloon." Whatever one thinks of her acting abilities, I would hope that reviewers could find better ways of criticizing an actor or actress than resorting to mean-spirited personal insults. But perhaps I'm too optimistic.)

Clear blue waters, clear blue skies, beautiful bodies, a bit of suspense and a few modest thrills — that's all Into the Blue really has to offer. But if you're not looking for more than that, then this lightweight adventure-thriller works well enough as simple entertainment. It might even have held my attention without Jessica Alba spending more than half of her time on screen in a bikini... although I certainly would have enjoyed the film far less.


This review is Copyright © 2006 by the author.