Deep Rising is one of "those" movies. The kind of movie which serves no purpose except to entertain us. It does not ask us to think about important questions like life on other planets or the possibility that there is no god...screw that , it says boldly , let's see some computer generated monsters rip into , decapitate and generally cause irreparable booboos to a bunch of little known actors. Heh! Them wacky monsters , gotta love 'em. Of course , since we can rent about a thousand B movies with the same kind of story , Hollywood must give that little extra "oumph" to get people in theaters. That is where Deep Rising fails , which is a good thing. Confused? Let me explain:
Despite all them flashy effects and big explosions , Deep Rising is still , at heart , a good 'ol B movie. Luckily , it's a very good B movie. The worst cliches in movie history are a B movie's bread and butter. Therefore , things that would destroy a serious movie actually help us have a good time while watching a movie of lower calibre. Of course we know there's a big slimy creature behind that door , that one person will wander off to be picked off by said monster and we always know which persons or person will make it out alive. We just don't know when or how horrible it will be.
I went to see Deep Rising with my expections low and my tolerance for bad dialogue high. Imagine my surprise when i discover that Deep Rising is actually , well , pretty darn funny at times. A funny B movie? Well , that's new. These flicks are not supposed to make us laugh. (Except for a few unintended laughs once a while.) And before you know it , Treat Williams , Wes Studi and Famke Jansen appear on the big screen.
Hey! I know them guys ( and gal ) from a couple of other movies. Cool. Familiar faces. So far so good.
Our man Treat is the hero , he'll live. Wes is a staple of B movies , he is the token victim. We know he'll buy the farm but he will take a few creeps with him on the way out. Famke is the babe , 'nuff said. There is also a guy with glasses ( the guy with glasses always dies ) a black person ( B movie buffs know that the black guy always dies , never fails ) and a very funny , nerdy guy. ( Ah! Comic relief. How can we possibly explain having to kill him...let him live.)
After the first fifteen minutes i felt right at home. I know who to root for and who i need to boo too and a gum to chew. (Please kill me.)
Suffice it to say that for the next hour and a half i jumped out of my seat a few times , went "ewwww" about a dozen times and nearly had an orgasm over all the explosions and firepower our heroes were packing. I'm a man , we nottice these things. All in all , i'd recommend Deep Rising if you are looking for a good time and care to leave your brain at the door...but bring your sense of humor and excitement in with you. The acting is decent , the effects top rate.
How to best describe it? Put together the jet ski scene from Hard Rain , the bug attacks from Starship Troopers , a couple of James Bond like stunts and all those scenes from Friday the Thirteenth and Freddy where you keep screaming "don't go there , he's behind you" and you end up with Deep Rising.
Rating: 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5 for creepy crawly goodness , tight t-shirts , major firepower and the need to go to the bathroom every fifteen minutes from seing all that water.
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