Movies: Into the Blue

There's a certain genre of Hollywood films that's pure, cotton-candy escapism. It's hard to put a label on this genre, but whether they're comedies, dramas, or action movies, they all have three things in common - a sunny tropical location, a cast of photogenic young stars and starlets, and antics that involve treasure-hunting or drug dealers. Examples include "The Beach," "Fool's Gold," and "Into the Blue":




"Into the Blue" stars Paul Walker and Jessica Alba. They play a happily-married young couple living in the Bahamas. Walker's character moonlights as an amateur treasure hunter, and when he finally finds the big score, things get complicated.

Surprisingly enough, I didn't hate the movie quite as much as I thought I would. There's a ton of live action underwater cinematography, and I'd be lying if I said the constant presence of a bikini-clad Jessica Alba wasn't welcome eye candy (the flick doesn't forget the ladies - the tropical setting is a convenient excuse for Paul Walker to be barechested most of the movie). Josh Brolin also turns in a suitably slimy performance as a competing treasure salvager.

To be sure, though, the movie is insanely dumb. It's hard to really encapsulate all the strange stuff in this movie, so I'll give an example - Jessica Alba's character, an expert diver, mentions that shark attacks on humans are extremely rare (which is true). And yet later on in the movie, on two different occasions, there are sharks who attack people. Add to all this stupidity a story that isn't very intriguing, and you have a movie that is best seen for free, on TV.

Rating: 4/10