Great b-cast full of chemistry in a well oiled, no frills machine by director Steve Carver (R. I. P). The dirty dozen on the high seas. Actually, it's only half-a-dozen for this outing.
A ragtag group of convicts (who are trained divers) are offered a dangerous job, which involves the deepest offshore rig where they'll be diving depths 1000+ ft. And it's just them along with their boss (a potent, no-bull Gregory Harrison). They have only 45 days to complete the job. And a documentary crew (led by Cynthia Sikes) are given full access to the rig. In the hope of drumming up some positive PR. And like how these stories usually play out, we learn the company boss (David Carradine in sly, smarmy form) likes to take short cuts to get the job done. Even risking life's to see it through.
So the plot can fall into a predictable pattern, and some heavy dialogue exchanges opens up cliched character building centred mainly upon Harrison's hard-shelled former navy officer character. The action-thrills when it comes are low-scale in execution, thanks to its budget coming off like a TV movie, yet the familiar disaster beats still have high stakes and the locations have authenticity. Sometimes I think the music lets the whole thing down, and somewhat cheapens the suspenseful situations. But the cast do carry it along rather well. From Harrison getting into heated conversations with Carradine which virtually sees a fist to the face, or Billy Dee Williams taking every opportunity to have his artificial claw in plain sight to see as he is the stabiliser/or voice of reason for Harrison's character. Or the competitive friction between Harrison and Sikes which ends in foreseeable fashion. Carver's handling was tough as nails, but he knew what was the production's strongest aspect and really leant on it.
