I am a sucker for a hot chick in a small bikini. I can also handle a handsome guy also appearing in the film, of course, with the eyes set solely on the bikini clad chick. Into The Blue has both and yet at the same time trying to give the viewer an interesting story. Thankfully, for Into the Blue, the story isn’t all that uninteresting.

Paul Walker (Jared) and Jessica Alba (Sam) star in this fun in the sun, action adventure flick. Living in the Bahamas, Jared and Sam live a simple life. When not working, they are spending their time diving, looking for that unfound treasure. One day while diving with friends (Bryce and Amanda), Jared discovers some interesting treasure but the biggest treasure being a fallen plane filled with cocaine.

Bryce (Scott Caan) and Amada (Ashley Scott), against the wishes of Jared, decide on their own to go after some of the cocaine and make some quick cash. All hell breaks loose when they go to sell the cocaine and the buyer is the original owner. Now, caught up in all of this, Jared is forced to help the bad guys recover their coke to save the lives of his friends.

I don’t know how much of an actor Paul Walker is. He seems to have the same attitude no matter the film, be it The Skulls, Fast and the Furious or Into The Blue. He does an okay job here but it is really tough taking him as a serious actor given his past work. One of the better surprises is the appearance of Josh Brolin of No Country for Old Men fame. I had forgotten he was in this but he really does play a good bad guy. He really is the lone highlight, in regards to acting, for the film. Although beautiful, Ashley Scott isn’t given too much to say. When she does speak, I just was never really too interested.

Video

The 2.35:1 transfer that Sony released for Into the Blue is pretty decent. No grain to see at all, shimmering is at a minimum and colors, for the most part, are bright and beautiful. Black levels were also very good. There were times when the colors would appear a bit muted, but overall, the transfer was pretty flawless. I wouldn’t call it demo material, but the color of the water and the realness of the sharks were very cool.

The underwater scenes were really impressive to watch. One of the many highlights of the film’s transfer.

Audio

Sony hands Into the Blue three audio tracks. The one I stuck with was the Uncompressed English 5.1 PCM track. The movie has a heavy music soundtrack and it flows out of all of the speakers beautifully. Most, if not all of the dialogue came through the front speakers. Bass was used and was not overly thunderous, which was nice. Again, definitely not demo material, but pretty decent for a film that takes place on water about 75% of the time. English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 is also available.

As far as subtitles go, Korean, English and French are available.

Special Features

None of the extras are in high definition.

• Audio Commentary with Director John Stockwell
• Diving Deeper Into The Blue
  • This is your basic fluff piece, as I always say, where everyone praises everyone and they discuss how much fun it was doing the movie. This runs about 15 minutes or so.

• Deleted Scenes
  • Saving Connor
  • Loading The Truck
  • Beach House
  • Dive Partners
  • Amanda on boat
  • Sea Robin to the rescue
  • ATV Ride
  • Roy talks with Jared
  • Ambush at the trailer
  • Bryce at the airport

Final Thoughts

Although this film is mainly set up for the 12-24 age group, as a 33 year old myself, I enjoyed the film. The acting may not have been the best I have ever seen, but the story was interesting and kept my attention. Into the Blue has a decent audio track, a very beautifully shot transfer, and a small amount of half decent special features.

Give that the film has been out for some time now on Blu, now would be the time to pick it up at a good price on Amazon.

If you are looking to kill and hour and a half and just want something to entertain you, this is the film for you. If you are looking for deep suspense and method acting, look elsewhere.