An efficiently made thriller starring Nicole Kidman, Sam O'Neill and Billy Zane.
Charles Williams' novel* was originally to be filmed by Orson Welles as The Deep, who according to Barbara Leaming had begun work on it in the Bahamas when in 1973 the lead Laurence Harvey suddenly died and the project was abandoned. In fact (obviously Peter Bogdanovich's is the source to believe), it was filmed 1967-69 in Yugoslavia, and was never completed because of difficulties with cast and budget. It also featured Jeanne Moreau, Oja Kodar and Michael Bryant. Some of the footage can be seen here.
Anyway, back to this version, in which writer Terry Hayes has slimmed the five characters in the book down to three. It has some good tense writing, cross-cutting Kidman vs. Zane with O'Neill's terrible problems on the abandoned boat, but there are some really dumb plot moments. For example, Kidman has it in her power to kill Zane twice, but doesn't, cueing the obligatory 'I'm not really dead' ending. Also she consents to sleep with him rather quickly. At times it seems like an ad for her bum. The dog is used well though.
Well photographed on the Barrier Reef by Dean Semler (spent the whole film trying to remember what his Oscar was for - Dances with Wolves in 1991). Rather well edited by Richard Francis-Bruce, whose credits include the Witches of Eastwick, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.
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| She is indeed piloting the boat herself |
* Itself based on the fascinating and terrifying true story of Julian Harvey and Terry Jo Duperrault, told here.
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