One thing you have to say about John
Stockwell’s Into the Blue and that is, it sure is pretty. With Jessica Alba
prancing around most of its running time in a bikini, how could it not be?
But what proves to be even more stunning are the crisp, clear images
of its Caribbean locale. Unfortunately, that’s about all Blue has going for it as
its plot – an adventure tale involving lost treasure, a missing cache
of cocaine, and a gang of ruthless drug runners—fails to generate
anything resembling a thrill.
The film starts off with a bang as we find ourselves
in the cockpit of a plane that crashes into the ocean during a horrific
storm. Three bad guys go down with the ship and its multi-million-dollar
shipment of cocaine. Cut from these dire straits to the carefree lives of
Jared (Paul Walker) and Sam (Alba), two young lovers without a care in the
world. While the former deludes himself with the notion that
everything will be all right for him and his fiancée because one day
he’ll find a lost treasure at the bottom of the sea, she tends to the
marine life at a posh resort.
Seems as though all these two do is play on the
beach, and make out, which is what living in paradise is all about I
suppose. They are joined by Jared’s good buddy Bryce (Scott
Caan), a hothead young lawyer who’s far more trouble than he’s
worth. He has Amanda (Ashley Scott) in tow, a young bimbo he’s known
for all of five days and before you know it, these four are, you guessed
it, playing on the beach and making out. However, this strenuous itinerary
is interrupted when the foursome go diving and find that treasure
Jared’s been dreaming of, which just happens to be right next to that
lost plane that a bunch of bad guys are on the lookout for.
Problems that pop up in the plot are solved easily
and the villain of the piece, the identity of whom, once revealed, is
supposed to be a big surprise, is terribly obvious. However, even more
damaging is Stockwell’s tepid sense of pacing. He is too
interested in showing us the nightlife of the Caribbean, while the
adventure elements of the story play out like a postscript.
This article appears in Sep 29 – Oct 5, 2005.
