Some movies are just so damn entertaining that you’re willing to forgive them anything. It doesn’t matter that the characters are cardboard cutouts or that the script is cheesy. What matters is that you’re going to have a lot of fun watching this movie. Deep Rising is a movie blending science fiction, horror, action, and comedy with great success. The pacing is excellent, the special effects juicy and the production values solid. We will be following a giant squid-like monster chasing people on a cruise ship in the middle of the sea.
This was actually supposed to be a really big movie with Harrison Ford in a lead role, however, those plans did not come to fruition and the budget was downsized. Treat Williams, best known for his iconic roles in Hair and Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, did a really good job here. My eternal crush Famke was gorgeous as always, with Djimon Hounsou, Jason Flemyng, and Cliff Curtis, helping out.
Deep Rising is directed by Stephen Sommers, so if you have seen The Mummy you know what to expect. As a very competent director, Sommers knew what he was doing here. He knew that this is a cheesy action/comedy with a monster in it and then he said: let’s see if we can make it fun. So, yes, Deep Rising has that B-movie feel but the effort everybody put in makes it punch way above its weight. After all, the special effects team spent a whole year working on the creature and various effects. And it fucking shows but more about that later.
Argonautica, a very sleek and modern cruiser, personally designed by millionaire Simon Canton, is about to begin its maiden voyage. At the same time, a group of hijackers is getting ready to storm the ship and rob it. Filled with rich passengers and luxury items, the cruiser is the perfect target. However, when an unidentified object collides with its ship, leaving them stranded in the middle of the ocean, things will take a turn for worse.
Trapped in this huge ship, with a giant monster trying to kill everyone on board, Deep Rising is another fun clone of Alien. It’s a much more fun and entertaining movie than serious entries into sea horrors like Sphere and Abyss. And yet it kept the same intense and claustrophobic atmosphere. Rob Bottin (The Thing, RoboCop) was the lead special effects guy so you know they’re going to be awesome. Especially practical effects and the dead bodies, which brings us to another great element of this movie: gore.
We will see half-ingested people, rooms covered in viscera and corpses, and one hell of a Lovecraftian monster. Compared to this, Deep Blue Sea feels like a walk in a park. Finally, you can always check our Water Movies section for more movies like this. Subversive Rabbit is a site dedicated to recommending only movies worth watching so you know they’re going to be good. To help you with selecting a bit, Sector 7 features a monster but it’s taking place on an oil rig just Virus. While Poseidon and Ghost Ship feature cruise ships but without monsters per se.
Director: Stephen Sommers
Writer: Stephen Sommers
Cast: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Anthony Heald, Djimon Hounsou, Derrick O’Connor
Fun Facts: During the original television run, Deep Rising lost nearly 30 minutes of footage to accommodate the commercials. The DVD and Blu-ray versions of the movie contain all of the footage.
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IMDb Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118956/
