Samuel L. Jackson stars as a pharmaceutical-company head who flies out to a remote ocean laboratory after a test shark gets loose and terrorizes some necking teens. At the derrick, Jackson finds a suitably motley crew--including colorful character actors Stellan Skarsgard, Michael Rapaport, and LL Cool J, as well as underwear-models-in-training Thomas Jane and Saffron Burrows--who are studying sharks to develop a treatment for Alzheimer's Disease. What they develop instead are three superintelligent, supersized makos, who use the occasion of Jackson's visit to wreak super-havoc.

What Harlin has developed is not one sequel but four--new riffs on Jaws, Jurassic Park, Sphere, and even Titanic that show admirable gall. Never let it be said that Harlin's years of yeomanry haven't had purpose: As he proved in Cliffhanger, audiences may groan at the clichés Harlin amasses, but they keep watching, if only to see what old trick the new dogs will perform.

Deep Blue Sea is actually recommendable for several reasons, not least of which is that, despite its large cast, each character remains distinct (one-dimensional, yes, but distinct). And though it may seem minor, it's pretty neat that the one character who should wear a shirt labeled "First to Die" actually survives to the final reel, while the character most likely to deliver the film's final line suffers the most hilariously shocking end since the bus accident in Meet Joe Black.

Does this mean Renny Harlin is back? Well, it's debatable whether he was anywhere to begin with, let alone whether he left or returned. Deep Blue Sea is still as dopey, banal, and full of holes as any big Harlin action picture, and it's almost sunk by a third-act shark hunt that comes just when the audience is ready to towel off. But given that the film provides a few good jumps and a laugh or two, let's just say that the Master of the Routine has recovered his inner timetable.