SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: INTO THE BLUE

"INTO THE BLUE"
(2005) (Paul Walker, Jessica Alba) (PG-13)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Heavy	Heavy	Extreme	Heavy	Extreme

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Moderate	Minor	Extreme	Mild	Heavy

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Heavy	Minor	None	Moderate	Extreme

QUICK TAKE:: Suspense/Thriller: A group of undersea divers get in over their heads when their search for sunken treasure finds a submerged plane wreck filled with millions of dollars worth of cocaine.

PLOT:

Jared Cole (PAUL WALKER) is a part-time treasure hunter who lives in the Bahamas and dreams of striking it big by finding some previously hidden, historic shipwreck. That's especially true since he's now unemployed and wants to look like a success for Samantha "Sam" Nicholson (JESSICA ALBA), his girlfriend who works as a shark handler at a local resort. With a hurricane having recently churned up the sea floor, Jared is excited about the prospects, especially since his childhood friend and New York attorney Bryce Dunn (SCOTT CAAN) has arrived with Amanda Collins (ASHLEY SCOTT), a woman he's only just met.

The four hang out, party and make various dives, including one in which they find artifacts from what could be a major shipwreck. But they also come across something potentially as lucrative, a submerged plane wreck that's filled with millions of dollars of cocaine. Realizing they don't have the money to rent the necessary equipment to locate and claim the legendary shipwreck as their find, and wanting to do that before Jared's rival, Derek Bates (JOSH BROLIN) figures out what they're doing, the group contemplates the allure of easy money via the cocaine discovery.

While Jared and Sam want to play everything straight, Bryce and Amanda are more willing to take the risk, putting the couples at odds. When the latter decide to forge ahead, their attempts to sell the drugs to the locals soon draws the attention of a big-time drug dealer who wants his goods back. From that point on, the group must deal with him, potentially untrustworthy locals and a race against time to find the shipwreck before someone else claims it.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: Teens might be drawn to it, as might those who are fans of anyone in the cast (or who want to see Jessica Alba in skimpy swimwear).

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13: For intense sequences of action violence, drug material, some sexual content and language.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: PAUL WALKER plays a part-time treasure hunter who hopes to find enough booty on which he can retire and live with Sam, his girlfriend. When their group comes across the cocaine-laden plane wreck, he wants nothing to do with the seemingly easy money, but must deal with the results of Bryce thinking differently. He fights various villains, sleeps with Sam, drinks some, and uses some profanity.
JESSICA ALBA plays his girlfriend and shark handler at a resort who feels the same way about selling the found drugs for money. She uses some profanity, sleeps with Jared, wears skimpy bikinis and other such attire, drinks some, and fights some bad guys.
SCOTT CAAN plays Jared's childhood friend, an impulsive New York attorney who doesn't think or care about the consequences of his actions. He arrives for vacation with Amanda, a woman he's only known for a day. He drinks, goes against Jared's wishes regarding the found cocaine, uses strong profanity and fights various people.
ASHLEY SCOTT plays his girlfriend of less than a day who joins him on vacation and shares his thoughts about selling and even using the found cocaine. She wears skimpy bathing suits.
JOSH BROLIN plays Jared's rival who runs some sort of dive business and turns out to be a murderous criminal.; JESSICA ALBA plays his girlfriend and shark handler at a resort who feels the same way about selling the found drugs for money. She uses some profanity, sleeps with Jared, wears skimpy bikinis and other such attire, drinks some, and fights some bad guys.
SCOTT CAAN plays Jared's childhood friend, an impulsive New York attorney who doesn't think or care about the consequences of his actions. He arrives for vacation with Amanda, a woman he's only known for a day. He drinks, goes against Jared's wishes regarding the found cocaine, uses strong profanity and fights various people.
ASHLEY SCOTT plays his girlfriend of less than a day who joins him on vacation and shares his thoughts about selling and even using the found cocaine. She wears skimpy bathing suits.
JOSH BROLIN plays Jared's rival who runs some sort of dive business and turns out to be a murderous criminal.; SCOTT CAAN plays Jared's childhood friend, an impulsive New York attorney who doesn't think or care about the consequences of his actions. He arrives for vacation with Amanda, a woman he's only known for a day. He drinks, goes against Jared's wishes regarding the found cocaine, uses strong profanity and fights various people.
ASHLEY SCOTT plays his girlfriend of less than a day who joins him on vacation and shares his thoughts about selling and even using the found cocaine. She wears skimpy bathing suits.
JOSH BROLIN plays Jared's rival who runs some sort of dive business and turns out to be a murderous criminal.; ASHLEY SCOTT plays his girlfriend of less than a day who joins him on vacation and shares his thoughts about selling and even using the found cocaine. She wears skimpy bathing suits.
JOSH BROLIN plays Jared's rival who runs some sort of dive business and turns out to be a murderous criminal.; JOSH BROLIN plays Jared's rival who runs some sort of dive business and turns out to be a murderous criminal.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this suspense/thriller that's rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Some sexually related dialogue is present, as are views of a couple fooling around with implied sex off-camera. The camera lingers on the views (above and below water) of women in very skimpy and/or revealing attire (including tiny bikinis) and various buff, shirtless men. A woman sunbathes topless (face down) but then stands and faces various strangers that way (we see her bare back and then a side view of her bare breast from a distance).

Violence consists of people fighting others (above and below water) with various deaths and injuries, some of which have bloody results. Some shark attacks occur and we see the result of one in the form of a bad leg wound with a big chunk missing, while the film opens with a plane crash into the sea as viewed from inside the plane. Those scenes and other moments of peril as well as the sight of a partially decomposed body under the water might be unsettling or suspenseful for viewers.

Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, including some drug dealers who want their goods (cocaine) back from a plane wreck. Some people who find that want to sell it, while a woman wants to buy some coke in a bar, but the transaction and use never occur. Various characters drink and one briefly smokes a cigar.

Various bits of potentially imitative behavior are also present. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there's some of that in the opening scene as a plane crashes and later in a club where full strobe effects are present.

For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's some bouncy and/or disorienting camera work at times in the film.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: Bryce comments on having a box of cigars and a bottle of rum.
The group finds many "bricks" of cocaine in the submerged plane wreck. One is cut open down there and the powder mixes with the water.
Bryce and Amanda want to keep the discovered cocaine, while Jared and Sam do not. Bryce says he's not a drug user, but thinks they should keep it for the money, but Jared cuts it open and lets the contents fall into the sea.
Jared and Sam have what look like beer, while Bryce and Amanda have drinks.
The four main characters drink and we see various empty bottles around them.
After boarding their boat, a local cop, Roy, asks Amanda if there are any drugs onboard (she says there aren't, but he asks her about some prescription drugs that she states aren't hers). Later, Roy tells her and the rest that drug runners often drop their goods in the water to be picked up by boats.
Miscellaneous people drink in a club where the owner offers Amanda what looks like some cocaine in a small bag. She wants it, and the owner wants to know how Bryce is going to pay for it, but Bryce punches the guy in the face.
When they find a centuries old bottle of wine at a shipwreck, Bryce jokes "Look at the P Diddy juice" as he and Amanda fake drinking from it while underwater.
A villain jokes that Santa Claus is coming with his coke (cocaine).

BLOOD/GORE: The group finds the submerged plane wreck and then spot a partially decomposed body in the cockpit (it looks white, with loose, floating flesh, etc. but is only briefly seen).
Bryce has a little blood on his arm after being injured there.
A thug's face is bloody (briefly seen) after Bryce hits him there with an oxygen tank.
We see the POV of a shark approaching a person and then attacking them (at night). We hear them scream, see them thrashed about in the water and then see a huge chunk of their leg missing when they're pulled out of the water. We later hear that they died at the hospital from that wound.
We see various dead and slightly bloody bodies in a yacht.
A villain shoots another man in the chest (we briefly see the blast come out his back), killing him.
From a low angle, we see either water or blood on the floor next to a dead man and unconscious woman.
Jared fires a spear at a villain, hitting him in the face, with bloody results that draw a shark that attacks that man's head, thrashing him about.
A man's face seems to start to be vaporized by an underwater explosion (briefly and partially seen).

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: The film's various villains (the main drug dealer, his minions and other who double-cross them) all have bad attitudes (including related to killing others).
Bryce and Amanda ignore Jared's demands that they stay away from the drug plane and don't try to sell the drugs for money.
Bryce punches a club owner (after he wants money for the drugs Amanda wants), prompting that man and others to grab and throttle Bryce until Jared breaks it up.
Stating that he's only known a woman for 5 days, Bryce acts non-caring following her death (that was indirectly caused by his earlier actions).
A police officer turns out to be corrupt.
A man has Sam as his bound hostage (with tape across her mouth), telling Jared via phone that she doesn't like pain, but that Jared knows her better than he does (a possible sexual reference).

FRIGHTENING SCENES: Scenes listed under "Violence" and "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling or suspenseful or scary to some viewers.
A man is thrashed about inside a plane during some bad turbulence. He then goes forward to the cockpit where we see that the plane is having bad problems (alarms are going off) and then that it's headed straight for the water. The plane then crashes into the sea (seen from inside the plane as the water comes rushing in). At least 3 people are killed by this (although we don't see the actual deaths).
We see a shark in the open water near Jared, with Bryce panicking and getting out, but neither Jared nor Sam is scared, saying the shark is just curious. All four then go back into the water, with Bryce taking a mop to defend himself, but a shark grabs the mop head and races away with it. We then see many sharks around the foursome in general.
The group finds the submerged plane wreck and then spot a partially decomposed body in the cockpit (it looks white, with loose, floating flesh, etc. but is only briefly seen).
Despite being told to stay clear of it, Amanda returns to the submerged plane wreck where her gear gets stuck inside the plane. Jared realizes she's missing, goes up to the surface, get another oxygen tank and races to the wreck. He goes inside, finds her empty tank and sees her floating in the water (she looks dead, but actually has her head up in a small air pocket).
While lifting a centuries old cannon from an underwater shipwreck, Jared, Sam and Bryce spot a boat approaching and realize they can't keep ascending (so that the outsiders don't see that they've found a previously undiscovered shipwreck). They then try to stop the ascension, but the cannon then falls from its air bags and plummets toward the sea floor with Bryce dragged along with it. It lands on the floor and smashes down onto Bryce's arm (we hear a cracking sound), trapping him there. With air running out and unwilling to surface for air or help, Jared and Sam try to free Bryce before he and/or they drown (and as sharks are around them).
Jared and Bryce find two guys on their boat. Jared and his man fall off the boat where Jared gets him in a leg-lock and holds him underwater before eventually letting him go. Meanwhile, Bryce kicks his guy away before bashing him in the face with an oxygen tank (bloodying the guy's face -- briefly seen).
A drug dealer holds a handgun to Jared's face.
We see the POV of a shark approaching a person and then attacking them (at night). We hear them scream, see them thrashed about in the water and then see a huge chunk of their leg missing when they're pulled out of the water. We later hear that they died at the hospital from that wound.
Drug dealers in an SUV chase Jared, Sam and Bryce in a truck as they blast down a narrow alley, racing across cross streets until they smash into a car (they're okay, as is the driver). They then chase after the dealers in reverse, with both backing up through the alley, with the main characters escaping and the dealer's vehicle smacking into a wall.
Two men who work for the drug dealer owner of a yacht enter to find the boat in disarray and thus slowly walk through it with their guns drawn. We see the slightly bloody feet of a dead person on the floor and then one of the men is shot dead with a silencer-equipped gun (we hear the sound of it and the impact on the man, but don't see any blood). Jared then goes down below to investigate, finds other dead and slightly bloody bodies, runs into a bad guy and tries to flee. He briefly fights a guy up top and then goes overboard, with another man shooting a machine gun at him. Jared then tries to swim away underwater and hide (with no air) as a smaller boat is dispatched to find him. He ends up hanging onto the bow as the smaller boat races around the water looking for him.
We see that Sam has been handcuffed to a dead man on the floor. She tries to drag him across the floor and then finds a machete that she raises into the air. We see the motion of the swing but don't see the impact on the man's arm.
Jared dives off a boat (held hostage on it) while cuffed. Various thugs then don diving gear, various weapons (spear guns of various sorts) and then go into the water to look for him.
A villain shoots a spear at Jared and Bryce who barely avoid being hit. That man fires again and hits Bryce in the gut. Jared then fires one back at the man, hitting him in the face, with bloody results that draw a shark that attacks that man's head, thrashing him about.
All of the fighting that occurs at the end of the film (noted under "Violence") could be unsettling or suspenseful to some viewers.

GUNS/WEAPONS: Handguns/Machine guns/Sawed-off shotgun/Knives/Spear guns: Carried and/or used to threaten, wound or kill others. See "Violence" for details.
The group discovers an old musket and cannon in the water.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Don't hit me with the f*cking chair," "Holy sh*t," "Bullsh*t," "I didn't say sh*t about sh*t," "Like sh*t," "Read that sh*t, bitch," "Assholes and elbows," "What the hell /are you looking for/was that all about/is that?" "Bust my ass," "Easy cheesy," "You're such an idiot," "What your ass tastes like" (Bryce commenting on Jared's regarding sharks), "Are you insane?" "Bro," "Freaking," "That will kick you in the balls and make you cough," "You're (such) an ass," "Pissed" (urinated), "Shut up," "Freaked out," "Screw up," "Bitch," "Suck," "That must suck," "P Diddy juice" (wine), "Pimping," "Morons," "Shut up you coke whore," "Friggin,'" "That's the claim in the fame," "You're such an asshole," "Screw" (nonsexual), "I screwed up" and "Jack-off."
The film's physical action and stunts might be enticing for some kids to imitate.
The film could inspire some kids to dive for treasure.
A miscellaneous character has a stud in their nostril.
Jared playfully gives Bates the finger by rubbing it on his head while doing so.
Sam passionately kisses Jared as he drives, distracting him and causing them to swerve through traffic.
Jared and Bryce do various, high-flying stunts on jet skis.
Sam appears to have a pierced navel.
Various miscellaneous characters have varying styles and quantities of tattoos on their bodies, while one also has multiple piercings in his ear.
Amanda asks Bryce (referring to the drugs they want to retrieve and sell) if he wants to keep tricking or if he wants to start pimping.
Sam wears a midriff revealing top and all sorts of other revealing and/or skimpy attire.

JUMP SCENES: A man is suddenly shot.
A man suddenly pops up out of a hatch on a yacht.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): An extreme amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): A song has lyrics about shake your body and "show me what you got" and "give it to me."

PROFANITY: At least 1 "f" word, 9 "s" words, 2 slang terms for female genitals (both starting with "poon"), 10 asses (3 used with "hole"), 8 hells, 5 uses of "Oh my God," 2 of "Swear to God" and 1 use each of "God" and "Jesus Christ."

SEX/NUDITY: We see an obese man upside down in a small bathing suit while scuba diving (with the focus of the shot on his crotch area).
We see various young women in small bikinis.
We see Jared and another shirtless man on a boat.
We see Sam in small cut-offs and a tight top that shows cleavage.
While both are clothed (although he's shirtless and she's in small attire) and located on his old boat, Sam gets on top of Jared and passionately kisses him. When Bates catches them that way, Jared jokingly says he's just "plugging a few holes."
Sam passionately kisses Jared as he drives, distracting him and causing them to swerve through traffic.
When Bryce is asked if he and Amanda have arrived for business or pleasure, he replies the latter as he playfully smacks her on her clothed bottom.
Upon first being reunited, Jared and Bryce playfully wrestle in the airport, with Bryce joking that it feels good as Jared sits on his crotch on the floor.
Bryce playfully looks over Sam's body (in her cut-offs and small/tight top that shows a great deal of her bare midriff), joking about how taut her body is.
We see Sam and Amanda in bikini tops that show cleavage. We then see them swimming underwater in their tiny bikinis as the camera lingers over their bodies in passing close-up and/or slow motion. We also see Jared and Bryce shirtless in their swimsuits (but they're not as skimpy as what the ladies are wearing -- including views of Sam's mostly bare butt cheeks in her small bikini bottom that Jared playfully grabs underwater). We then see those bikini-clad women out of the water.
We see many more shots of Sam and Amanda in various skimpy and revealing bikinis, including some tops that show the shape of their nipples beneath them.
About the dead drug runners in the submerged plane wreck, Bryce jokes that the dead men's girlfriends already have new pimps.
Bryce jokes about a former slave turned pirate getting lost in some "pooneny" (or something like that, and then uses another word that's similar referring to a woman's genitals).
Jared and Sam do some playful, passionate kissing.
We see Amanda sunbathing topless (face down, we see her bare back). We then see a view from down near her feet that prominently shows her bikini-covered rear. A boat commanded by Roy (a local cop) then arrives to search their boat (everyone else is diving), with Amanda standing up and facing the all-male crew topless (they see everything, we see her bare back and then the side of her bare breast in full, but from quite the distance). She continues to talk to them that way until Roy tells her to cover herself.
We see a close-up of Amanda's and other young women's bodies in tight clothes in a club as they dance. We then see more such views of her and Sam as they dance sexily with their boyfriends (also seen in close-up).
A song has lyrics about shake your body and "show me what you got" and "give it to me."
We see a rear close-up view of Sam (in small panties or a bikini bottom) as she enters the room and then straddles Jared on the bed where they passionately kiss (she's also wearing a tight tank top or something similar).
Amanda shows some cleavage.
We see Jared shirtless and with his pants riding down quite low (showing his lower belly, but no pubic hair).
A man has Sam as his bound hostage (with tape across her mouth), telling Jared via phone that she doesn't like pain, but that Jared knows her better than he does (a possible sexual reference).
We see Sam in a tiny bikini again, while Jared is shirtless.

SMOKING: Bryce smokes a cigar in one scene.
Bryce comments on having a box of cigars and a bottle of rum.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: None.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The realities and rules of underwater treasure hunting.
Drug dealers.
Bryce admits that he borrowed and now owes money to the wrong sort of people.
Bryce wants to use the discovered drugs to pay for the gear they need to find their shipwreck, but Jared refuses.
The comment that winners make the rules and losers live by them.
Sharks and their behavior around people.

VIOLENCE: A man is thrashed about inside a plane during some bad turbulence. He then goes forward to the cockpit where we see that the plane is having bad problems (alarms are going off) and then that it's headed straight for the water. The plane then crashes into the sea (seen from inside the plane as the water comes rushing in). At least 3 people are killed by this (although we don't see the actual deaths).
Jared pushes a guy off a boat.
Jared's leg falls through the floor of his old boat, but he's okay.
A centuries old cannon from an underwater shipwreck lands on the sea floor and smashes down onto Bryce's arm (we hear a cracking sound), trapping him there.
Bryce punches a club owner (after he wants money for the drugs Amanda wants), prompting that man and others to grab and throttle Bryce until Jared breaks it up.
Jared and Bryce find two guys on their boat. Jared and his man fall off the boat where Jared gets him in a leg-lock and holds him underwater before eventually letting him go. Meanwhile, Bryce kicks his guy away before bashing him in the face with an oxygen tank (bloodying the guy's face -- briefly seen).
A man hits Bryce to the floor.
A drug dealer holds a handgun to Jared's face.
While mad at him, Jared knocks Bryce to the sandy shore.
A blast from an industrial underwater air machine (used to uncover shipwrecks) pushes Jared to the sea floor hard.
We see the POV of a shark approaching a person and then attacking them (at night). We hear them scream, see them thrashed about in the water and then see a huge chunk of their leg missing when they're pulled out of the water. We later hear that they died at the hospital from that wound.
Drug dealers in an SUV chase Jared, Sam and Bryce in a truck as they blast down a narrow alley, racing across cross streets until they smash into a car (they're okay, as is the driver). They then chase after the dealers in reverse, with both backing up through the alley, with the main characters escaping and the dealer's vehicle smacking into a wall.
We see recently murdered bodies on a yacht, and a man is then shot dead with a silencer-equipped gun (we hear the sound of it and the impact on the man, but don't see any blood). Jared then goes down below to investigate, finds other dead and slightly bloody bodies, runs into a bad guy and tries to flee. He briefly fights a guy up top and then goes overboard, with another man shooting a machine gun at him.
While mad at him, Jared comes at Bryce with a wooden chair, but then thrashes it about on a deck to release some of that anger.
A villain shoots another man in the chest (we briefly see the blast come out his back), killing him.
A man shoots a spear gun into another man's leg and he returns fire with a handgun but misses. The first man then speeds off in a boat attached to a line that's attached to that spear. All of that pulls the wounded man off the boat, smacking his head on it in the process.
Bryce hits a guy under the water with Jared then grabbing that man and drowning him there.
A man suddenly pops up out of a hatch and gives chases to Sam who ends up kicking him in the face and then slamming a ship door closed on the man's fingers (causing him a lot of pain). He breaks the glass there to open the door and then continues to pursue her.
A villain shoots a spear at Jared and Bryce who barely avoid being hit. That man fires again and hits Bryce in the gut. Jared then fires one back at the man, hitting him in the face, with bloody results that draw a shark that attacks that man's head, thrashing him about.
Two fights then occur simultaneously, with Jared battling a man underwater and trying to avoid the villain's knife, while Sam battles a guy on the boat, whacking him with some sort of pole and then impaling him with some sort of large ax-like tool. She starts to drag him across the deck with it, but must avoid him swinging one at her (it hits her flip-flop on the deck, barely missing her foot). She also gets the guy in the crotch with the same tool, knocks him overboard and a shark then attacks him (seen from above and in the water, with much thrashing). Meanwhile, down in the submerged plane, the villain prepares to shoot Jared with a spear, but Jared manages to force an oxygen tank to shoot off toward the man. It misses, but hits something in the back that causes the plane to explode underwater (no fire, but a massive eruption of bubbles and pressure that kill the villain and then engulf Jared as he tries to swim to safety).

Reviewed September 27, 2005 / Posted September 30, 2005

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