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Movie Review - Into the Blue (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
John Stockwell |
| Starring: |
Josh Brolin, Jessica Alba's booty, Paul Walker, Scott Caan, and Ashley Scott |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for intense sequences of action violence, drug material, some sexual content and language) |
| Length: |
110 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action/Adventure |
| Tagline: |
Treasure Has Its Price. |
| Studio: |
Sony Pictures |
| Website: |
Into the Blue |
| Release: |
September 30, 2005 |
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PLOT
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Josh Brolin stars as the main bad guy (Bates) who acts as Paul Walker's rival treasure hunter. I'm sorry, make
that "treasure finder." Brolin, in his limited screen time, proceeds to act circles around everybody else, while
Paul Walker and his friends find some hidden treasure. Unfortunately for Paul and the gang, they also find a
crashed plane under the water that contains a bunch of drugs that belong to Brolin. Knowing that they could be
in trouble with uber stud Brolin, everybody shakes in fear while trying to figure out what to do. Jessica Alba
and Ashley Scott proceed to show the audience how exactly bathing suits should be worn. Brolin ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Starring Paul Walker and Jessica Alba. I'll let that sink in for a moment...
Got it? Good. Now I don't want to hear any whining about how you paid to go see this and it was just Alba
and Walker running around in bathing suits. DUH!
A more apt title would've been Into the Booty. Not only would it have been a clever play on the fact that
these kids have found the hidden treasure from the merchant ship Zephyr, but it would also accurately describe
how the camera manages to find every single angle to depict a day in the life of Jessica Alba's wedgie. If
it's Ms. Alba's tan, toned booty you want then that is exactly what you'll get. The ladies get a shirtless
Josh Brolin. Oh, and I guess the wimpier Paul Walker runs around shirtless most of the time also, if you like
scrawnier guys.
People are bound to make fun of Walker's acting (and rightfully so), but the guy's fairly harmless. When you
need a graduate from the Keanu Reeves School of Acting to play a dive bum, who else are you going to call?
Strength in acting isn't exactly what director John Stockwell was going for. Scott Caan provides comic relief,
and Ms. Alba and Ashley Scott deliver some mighty graceful swimming, and that's about all that was required of
them. And hey, the underwater photography is fantastic!
I have to say that I'm a little disappointed that Josh didn't have more screen time. His character is introduced
at the beginning, then he disappears for about 45 minutes, then he comes back again briefly until he finally
settles in as the main bad guy for about the last 15 - 20 minutes and proceeds to be the most interesting
(and most important, in my unbiased opinion) character of the movie. Despite how good Jessica Alba looks, it's
Brolin that decides to actually bring some acting chops to the film. Get this guy in a Clint Eastwood Western
quick!
Everybody I talked to agreed that he was a great bad guy, very intense. The fact that I threatened bodily harm
on anybody who said otherwise had nothing to do with it.
Anyway, Into the Blue is aimed directly at the 15-30 age demographic. Anybody expecting much more than
eye candy and some fast and furious water action should probably enroll in a "Movie Expectations 101" class.
If you can ignore the cheesy "love over treasure" quotes, Jessica's attempts at emoting, the unbelievability of
characters holding their breath under water for about 5 minutes, and Walker's use of outdated terminology like
"bro" and "gnarly" then you might realize the fun quotient here is about the equivalent of a day at the beach.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- According to the press notes, "the athletic Brolin quickly adapted to the rigors of dive instruction."
- Once again the press notes state that "Brolin impressed his co-stars with his adaptability during the several
weeks of intensive dive training from the film's team of professional divers."
- Brolin learned to dive earlier in the year in the colder waters off the California coast. "It was freezing,
but I loved it because I learned to scuba dive with my son," he says. "That was a great experience in and of
itself. Once I got to the Bahamas, it seemed so much warmer and easier than California that I just relaxed
and took in the spectacular sights. When you see your first nine-foot shark, you never forget it, believe
me."
- The oceans contain over $6 billion worth of treasure waiting to be found.
- Josh Brolin was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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There isn't much profanity (a handful of "s" words being the only ones that wouldn't make it on network TV), and
there is no nudity, but there is definitely a lot of skin being shown. Brolin, Caan, and Walker all appear
shirtless at some point, and Alba and Ashley wear skimpy bikinis. It's about what you'd see if you were at the
beach for a couple of hours. If you don't let your child go to the beach because of that, then I guess this
isn't the movie to let them go see.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The movie delivers pretty much what you expect from the trailer. It's not quite as fast-paced as the trailer
makes it look, but things pick up steam during the final act.
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THE GIST
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Into the Blue is about a group of tan, toned kids diving for treasure. It stars Jessica Alba and Paul
Walker. Let that be your guide. If you're a Josh Brolin fan then you should definitely go see it because
you never know when he'll be on the big screen again. If you're not, well, you should be.
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