The Deep

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David K I'm going to be honest here. I'm not a huge fan of action/adventure films from the 70's. This one is no exception. No problem with the acting, but the film is slow, tension builds sporadically, and then ebbs. And, I never found myself caring about the macguffin. Although that's the definition of a macguffin, the action around it has to be compelling, and it isn't in this film. Maybe part of it is that Nick Nolte is not used effectively in the film. His character is too watered down, the rough edges he provides have been washed away. But, Robert Shaw brings in his usual A performance. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 05/19/25 Full Review Audience Member I thought it was fun, like an early 'fools gold' with some odd subplots that don't really take away from anything. It's 1977 so don't keep that in perspective. I'm sure only 2 years from Jaws raised the bar, and this isn't Jaws. But if you just want a film to watch during the day, this isn't a poor choice. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/24/25 Full Review Jeffrey P The subplots are irrelevant. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 08/26/24 Full Review Blu B This should'nt be as bad as it is. There are some nice shots in this, Robert Shaw is half decent, and the premise of an underwater treasure hunt sounds like some great starting pieces for a underwater blockbuster. The death blow to this is the HORRIFC pacing. There is no suspense, tension, drama, or thrills of ANY KIND AT ALL. It just prods along alternating between boring plot expose and long dragged out underwater scenes. And I mean LONG and DRAGGED out. One of the biggest reasons the editing is terrible as well. Once you've seen one of the underwater scenes which at first is pretty cool actually, you've seen them all. They all look the same and if you rearranged them I truly would'nt be able to tell the difference. There is SOME attempt at action in this but there over in a second, done underwater and done very slowly, or are just lacking any specticle factor. It's a major reason why the cinematography isn't good because I swear half this movie is underwater or on the water and it all looks the same. The on land scenes look better and the framing, lighting, and all is good in those but it's just boring plot expose 75% of the time. One other culprit here is the terribly boring music. It's not used enough and when it is, it is so generic and forgettable it somehow makes the scene even MORE boring. The acting is probably the best thing here and is just ok. No one really has any character to them. The bad voodoo guys are forgettable and the couple really don't have much chemistry. This needed to take a lesson from Thunderball and Jaws, two blockbusters that did water scenes MUCH better overall. So it's not that they didn't know how to do it at this point. So that begs the question what the heck happened here. And how did they screw up the pacing THIS badly especially for a summer blockbuster. Underwater scenes can be great visual storytelling moments when done right to compensate for the slowness especially with a great soundtrack. I seriously can't recommend this to anyone. Skip This. It's insane how boring and dragged out this feels despite generally a simple enough plot to follow. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/13/24 Full Review David W A great cast, brilliant underwater filming and a decent script based upon the Peter Benchy novel. It's no Jaws but it is entertaining. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/24 Full Review Kevin F First rate underwater photography, a great plot, and one of Robert Shaw's best performances. As a diver, films seldom do a good job depicting scuba diving; this is one of the best. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/17/24 Full Review Read all reviews

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