Based on Jaws author Peter Benchley’s book of the same name, The Deep finds David (Nick Nolte) and Gail (Jacqueline Bisset) taking in a spot of diving during a romantic getaway to Bermuda. After stumbling across an ampule of morphine on a sunken World War II freighter, they’re soon in the crosshairs of a Haitian drug gang headed up by Cloche (Louis Gossett Jr.). Before they know it, David and Gail find themselves working with veteran treasure seeker Romer Treece (Robert Shaw) to nab this treasure before Cloche and his men can get their hands on it.
While the underwater sequences are often excellent and the musical beats of John Barry are phenomenal, The Deep sadly sinks more than it swims. Robert Shaw often steals the show whenever he’s on screen, and Louis Gossett Jr. is always great to watch, but the central story of The Deep is a sadly dull one that struggles to hold the attention – not helped out by the fact that the film clocks in at just over two hours in length.
Fleshing out this release, The Making of The Deep is a fun deep dive into the process of putting the picture together. An archived featurette from the time of the film’s original release, having Robert Shaw guide us through the ins and outs of The Deep was never going to disappoint. Elsewhere, film critic Kevin Lyons provides a solid chat crack and there are additional scenes pulled from the three-hour (yes, really!) cut of The Deep.
If you’re a fan of Shaw, this new release of The Deep could prove well worth your time. For everybody else, the film’s plodding narrative may find you biting off more than you can chew.
