Horror Movie Review: Deep Blue Sea 3 (2020)

Almost 20 years later, for no reason beyond the fact that shark horror is in vogue at the moment, we got a sequel to the fan-favourite Deep Blue Sea. The original was released in 1999 and is surprisingly popular even though it really isn’t very good. So along comes 2018 and the release of Deep Blue Sea 2, an overtly serious and un-fun sequel that no one was asking for.

Which brings us to 2020, the year we’d all like to forget. Although where Deep Blue Sea 3 is concerned, forgetting shouldn’t be much of a problem. A shallow and boring effort, those hoping for a silly romp in the vein of the original will be very disappointed to find it has more in common with the second film.

Tania Raymonde stars as Dr. Emma Collins who is on the near abandoned island of Little Happy. Where she and her team are studying climate change in relation to a nearby nursery. It’s there that every year, great sharks come to give birth, but this year things are seriously going to change.

Dr. Richard Lowell (Nathanial Buzolic) and his team arrive, chasing three bull sharks. The two sides are initially cold to each other, in particular as Richard and Tania dated in the past, but their shared interests see them team up. Richard and his team need to stop the bull sharks as they’ve killed humans and Tania and her team need to protect the nursery.

A united pairing with a clear goal. It all seems simple enough, that is until it becomes clear that these sharks aren’t ordinary sharks. No, these are the last surviving sharks of Akhelios, the facility from the second film.

Such a basic story stretched out to nearly 100 minutes. It’s no surprise that the film fails to hold your attention and other than a handful of moments, is utterly forgettable.

We’ve seen all this before and in much better settings. From the ‘exes’ who reconnect to the hard-nosed scientists who inevitably clash with the ‘mercenary team’ and the ‘whose the real monster’ angle. Heck, we’ve seen all these tropes in shark movies before!

Which is all Deep Blue Sea 3 is. Just another shark movie where if it didn’t have that title, you could believe was mostly unconnected to the original film. The links are tenuous at best and are never used to expand or develop the lore. Sharks attack, things start to sink and people die. Normally in a blur of poor CGI effects.

The acting isn’t bad, it’s just the characters are walking cliches. The location is quite interesting but isn’t used to really ramp up the events as it should. Visuals? We get some attractive underwater imagery but it’s often ruined by a looming CGI beast.

It’s not the worst film you’ll ever watch but it will feel like a waste of time.