A nostalgic Mediterranean tale

Rating: 6/10 (27 March 2002)

Luc Besson is a very gifted director and an artist. His talent clearly shows in this movie. It's a tale about two friends for whom deep-sea diving is what life is all about. No question this movie will appeal to those who love diving and the sea. A few comments from a layman - it's a little hard to believe how long these guys can stay under, even if they've been doing it all their life. Isn't this a bit of an exaggeration? The scientific explanation about their special inborn ability I find a little hard to swallow. It seems that the director tried to impress the audience a bit too forcefully. Another point - to me at least the black depths of the really deep sea shown here don't look appetizing, and so the line "I'd like to stay there and don't come up" sounds a little crazy. The film tries to be as international as possible, trying especially hard to impress the American audience with the scenes in NYC and the "The best in the world" line repeated over and over, faithfully following the Hollywood recipe, which orders every movie to have at least one of. Reno's friend and opponent can't act. He doesn't know what to do with his face and he behaves like a spoiled kid. It's hard to follow his motivations and actions. Reno's voice really annoyed my wife Anetka. He sounded as if someone was cutting his neck with a saw. Otherwise ok. Excellent cinematography and great atmosphere.