James Hitchcock You can just imagine the discussions among the studio executives."Let's make a film with Jessica Alba in a bikini!" "Great idea! What's the plot angle?" "Plot? With Jess in a bikini do we need a plot? Make her character a swimwear model or something!" "Naah, too obvious. What about pirates of the Caribbean, sunken treasure, that sort of thing? Make Jess a scuba diver. In a bikini, of course".And so we end up with a sort of unacknowledged remake of "The Deep" from the seventies. Like the earlier film, it is about treasure hunters diving for sunken treasure and tangling with drug-dealing gangsters, and like that film it relies heavily upon the charms of its scantily-clad leading lady, Alba here and Jacqueline Bissett in "The Deep". (Indeed, "The Deep" itself can be seen as an unacknowledged remake of "Underwater" from the fifties, a film whose main attraction was the sight of a scantily-clad Jane Russell). "Into the Blue", however, does offer a bonus to its target young male audience; we have two couples, not just one, diving for the treasure, so we get to see two pretty girls in bikinis. (Ashley Scott is the other).There is a problem with remakes, acknowledged or unacknowledged. Or rather, there are two problems. If you try to remake a good film, the critics will gleefully claim that your effort is nowhere near as good as the original. And if you try to remake a bad one, they will (equally gleefully) accuse you of desperately trying to succeed with a formula which failed last time. Well, "The Deep" was (in my view at least) a pretty bad film, and "Into the View" does not improve on it. Indeed, it is probably even worse.The main flaws of "The Deep" were a clichéd plot, some manic over-acting from Robert Shaw and some rather dull photography. The main flaws of "Into the Blue" are firstly a plot which is so tortured as to come, at times, close to well-nigh incomprehensible. Secondly, the dialogue is often difficult to hear clearly. I spent the whole of the running-time, for example, thinking that Paul Walker's character was called "Gerry"; it wasn't until I saw the closing credits that I realised this was actually supposed to be "Jared". Mishearing a character's name would not in itself have spoilt the film for me, but this was merely one symptom of a wider problem, and frequently mishearing crucial lines of dialogue certainly did spoil it.And thirdly there is the acting. Alba put me in mind of Louis B. Mayer's famous dictum about Esther Williams- "Wet she's a star, dry she ain't". She earned a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress. None of her co-stars were so nominated, although if Mayer had seen their performances here he might have opined that "wet they ain't stars, and dry they ain't either". And that includes that other big name, Walker, for once in his career acting in a film without any fast cars in it.Alba and Walker are merely wooden, but Scott Caan as Bryce, the other boy in the foursome, is something worse than wooden. He makes Bryce so unsympathetic (admittedly, with a lot of help from the scriptwriters) that we end up wondering just when he is going to get his well-deserved come-uppance along with the rest of the villains. Incredibly, however, we are supposed to accept Bryce as one of the good guys, even though he can see no moral objection to collaborating with a vicious gang of drug smugglers and even though he shows very little emotion when his girlfriend is killed by a shark. (He would be a lot more upset about losing the gold than he is about losing his girl). Bryce is supposed to be a hot-shot New York lawyer; the New York Bar Association should sue the film-makers for implying that they would ever permit such an unprincipled jerk to practice law.About the most one can say for the film is that the underwater sequences are generally attractive and well done. And, of course, Jessica Alba looks gorgeous. But, I'm afraid, sometimes bikinis are just not enough to turn a badly written, badly directed and badly acted film into a good one. 3/10

Laakbaar I have no choice but to give this film a high score, because I've seen it three times now (once in the theatre; twice on the tube), and each time I've enjoyed it immensely.I should add at this point that I am an experienced and obsessed diver and snorkeler, so the underwater setting is part of the attraction for me. The underwater scenes here are vivid, colourful, visually exciting and beautifully filmed. It was like being there.I identify strongly with the character of Jared (Paul Walker). Here is a guy who knows how to handle himself and doesn't put up with any sh*t. If there actually were people like Jared in this world, leading the life he leads in this movie, I would be green with envy. This movie makes me want to quit my job, abandon my responsibilities, book a flight to the Bahamas, and look for someone like Jared to hang out with.The irony is that once Jared has made his fortune, he will look back on his simple island life, complete with dockside trailer and old boat, as the best days of his life.I would have enjoyed a movie just showing Jared and Sam (Jessica Alba), a hot couple living their perfect lives in this Caribbean paradise. However, the drugs story was entertaining enough. And I think it reflects the reality that the drugs trade wreaks havoc on many Caribbean islands.The character of Bryce (Scott Caan) was perhaps the only annoying thing about the film. No redeeming qualities there at all. It's inexplicable that Jared would hang out with someone like this, and that the filmmakers didn't kill him off in the end. Die, Bryce, die!I thought Josh Brolin played his role particularly well. He's an under-rated actor.If you love diving, snorkeling and the Caribbean, or if you just want to look at eye candy (male and female) for 90 minutes, you'll enjoy this film. I don't understand the low scores, but perhaps most moviegoers aren't into diving movies.

brooksduane54 When "Into the Blue" was first released, The New York Times, remaining ever true to its political-correctness dogma, dismissed it as irrelevant. Disregard. "Into the Blue," in reality, is a sexy, stylish, well-paced beach-side/underwater thriller that is positively laden with visual appeal. For the women, there's Paul Walker, showing off an absolutely drool-worthy set of abs and pecs in his Speedos and in his frequently-open shirts (and with his monumentally handsome puss freely displayed in mouth-watering close-ups). For us men, there are (sigh) Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott, lookin' good, good, GOOD in their bikinis and their tank tops and their tight jeans (and there's one SMOKIN' shot of our Ashley lying upon a boat topless with a pant-inducing view of her scrumptious bare feet). For those who just like good acting, there's Scott Caan and Josh Brolin, marvelously roguish and marvelously chilling, respectively, as Walker and Alba's questionable lawyer friend and "Blue"'s chief bad guy. The plot has something to do with Walker/Alba/Caan/Scott trying to retrieve some sunken treasure and Brolin resorting to murder and kidnapping in order to stop them, but, hey, the plot is certainly, definitely not the point. With "Into the Blue," skinthusiasts of both sexes have a near-pitch-perfect opportunity to settle in, sit back and soak up the eminently gorgeous flesh-and- blood scenery.

Lechuguilla The film's first half isn't bad, except for the prologue, which isn't needed. A youthful, photogenic guy with big dreams, accompanied by his photogenic girlfriend, uses a skimpy boat to look for sunken treasure beneath the clear, blue waters off the Bahamas.The visuals are dazzling, with bright, vivid colors, and some terrific underwater photography that captures images of real sharks and real fish, not fake CGI effects. The plot stays slow, lazy, and realistic. The script then brings in an additional couple, turning the story into a semi-ensemble character setup. As the plot develops, our two photogenic couples find some interesting stuff beneath the waves, which revs up the tension and conflict, and presents characters with moral dilemmas.But the second half deteriorates into your typical Hollywood assembly-line action flick, with a whole series of super fast edit sequences and silly, totally unrealistic, out-of-control plot points spurred on by peripheral characters that detract enormously from the two couples. Frenetic action, accompanied by irritatingly frenetic background music, ruins the second half, and makes a mockery of the story's premise.Acting is okay, I guess, given that this is a highly physical film wherein physical attractiveness and agility probably mean more than subtle theatrical skills. If there's a weakness here it's Scott Caan, whose cocky Bryce comes across as a total jerk, with nary a redeeming quality."Into The Blue" is very easy to judge. It contains wonderful cinematography, especially the underwater segments. And the strong visuals get support from impressive sound effects. But the story, though it begins well, collapses in the second half. The script is to blame. And yet I can't help but think that the real villain here is some Hollywood producer, typically underestimating the intelligence of viewers, who thinks that the story doesn't really matter if there's enough eye candy and explosive, mind-blowing action.