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Deep Rising

Deep Rising

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $13.49
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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: ...TOTAL WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
Review: This movie was a total waste of time and money. It had no point and it was one of the most predictable movies I have ever seen. Plus, they added pointless gory,gory,gory violance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: fantastic fun if your looking for nothing serious!
Review: Deep Rising was a truly entertaining film. I knew it wouldn't be an Oscar nominee, but that didn't stop me from being really surprised at how much i enjoyed this aliens meets titanic film. Totally over the top with light miniguns, the heroes and monster fodder take on a horde of nasty deep see monsters out for a picnic of human flesh. Treat Williams plays the cool hero, so cool in fact he never breaks even the smallest sweat throughout the whole movie while everyone else is panting away just as if they had run a one minute mile. After a million rounds of ammo expended, lots of gruesome deaths and splattered monsters the movie ends with what else, but a chance for a sequel. I hope it gets made because Deep Rising is deffinately one of those movies you have to see just for the fun of it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Deep Rising is a load of mindless fun.
Review: The audio and video portions are a standout, but not much else went into the DVD production of this Hollywood Pictures release under the Disney umbrella. The single layer-disc contains the 2.35:1 widescreen version, but without anamorphic enhancement. From the static menu are some basic options, no supplements are included except for a trailer found under the inappropriately named "Extra Feature" category. Talk about your extra disappointment. Still, that's all fine and dandy if the disc isn't over priced at $29.99. Unless it is a blockbuster title, I don't find the incentive to pay for that much. I hope that Disney would follow the example of Warner in releasing moderate hit titles at under $20. That goes out to Paramount and Fox releases as well.

I have little complaint when it comes to the transfer of the DVD. The presentation is smooth and exhibits none of the jaggedness or shimmering. Images are a tad soft on some scenes, but detailed with occassional grains. The film is set in a mostly dark environment; the cruise ship is stranded in a violent storm and most actions take place below the deck in half-lit corridors. Black and shadow detail are crucial in such an environment and thankfully the picture exhibits clearly defined outlines and depths, instead of a muddy mess. In fact, some of the creature effects have too strong of an outline which bring attention between the real setting and digital effects. But that is not something that the transfer could improve on. Colors are well saturated and the luxurious interior of the ship provides for an absorbing display.

The special effects by Dream Quest and makeup effects by Academy Award winner Rob Bottin (The Thing, Total Recall) are generally quite impressive and nothing cheesy like Anaconda. The amount of gores approach that of Starship Troopers. In one shocking scene, the cargo hold is filled with human remains of recent victims, minus the skins. I was having a pizza went that scene came on, let just say it was very hard to swallow afterward. But five minutes later, I was chomping away. In another gruesome scene, a partially digested crew reaches for help to the remaining survivors as the creature's acid slowly dissolves his body. The effect was done by Blur Studio using computer generated imagery tracked into a live-action shot. For the climatic finale, the cruise ship Argonautica was blown to pieces. The pyrotechnics made realistic by actually blowing up a 110-foot model of the ship.

The encoded Dolby Digital soundtrack is the main event of this DVD. The violent storm unleashes thunders that are incredibly deep in reveberation. The seemingly unstoppable creatures would just break through metal corridors and compartments in pursue of victims. The sound effects of destructions are powerful and dynamic, actively involving all speakers. The metal hull and pipes lend to the eerie echoes of creaks and grinds that are projected throught a large soundstage with precise localization. Bass extension is a knock-out during the appearing of the big creature and on the final denotation of the ship. Jerry Goldsmith provides an adequate score and scary sound cues to get the pulse racing around every corner.

Deep Rising is a load of mindless fun. A perfect film to watch when your buddies are coming over and they demand some entertainment from your home theater setup. The last thing you want to show them is something like Hope Floats. Even Sandra Bullock wouldn't be able to prevent a mutiny in your living room then. So relax, rent Deep Rising, have a few drinks, and everyone will have a good time. That is until you've to clean up the mess afterward.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Greatest horror movie ever created by mankind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: This movie is so great that they should make 2nd movie call "Monster Island:DEEP RISING 2". With different characters.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: GUILTY PLEASURE? THE BEST KIND!
Review: Okay, so DEEP RISING ain't the CITIZEN KANE of goopy monster pix: who cares? This is a Movie, not a fillum! Stephen Sommers knew exactly what he wanted to go for when the Disney folks greenlighted this one. It's got your sorta good guy with a wink and a grin (Treat Williams), your exotic girl (Famke Janssen), your never-smiling real bad guy (Wes Studi), your very, very bad guy (Anthony Heald), and your slacker comic relief (Kevin J. O'Connor). Oh, yeah, and the Monster to give 'em all a hard time, created by five different CGI houses. It has very little logic, but that doesn't matter--the FUN is what we want, and what we get! Lotsa chasing, scaring, eating, digesting (the best shot in the movie), and blowing stuff up real good (as Roger Ebert would put it).
The only faults I toss at DEEP RISING are its generic, non-descriptive title, and the terrible way it was released theatrically by Disney. They hadn't a clue how to sell it, and the movie (here comes the pun) sank without a trace. Thank goodness it's been rediscovered on VHS and DVD by moviegoers who like a little humor with their monsters.
Sommers left the ending open for a sequel which will probably never happen, but hey, he's a mogul now! Maybe he'll get the chance. The Disney folks could use a hit, and maybe Stephen will be the one to give it to them.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Fun...
Review: Deep Rising is a fun movie. Great bad guys and lots of humor. Is does remind me of Tremors but the cruise ship location provides an extra claustrophobic tension. I'd recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The movie Tremors if it took place on a boat
Review: Most people look at this movie as a Treat Williams movie, but that would be a mistake. Look at this as a Stephen Sommers movie, who also directed Van Helsing, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, and produced The Scorpion King. This movie, much like Tremors should be viewed as a B movie classic.

Anthony Heald (Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, he plays the warden you love to hate) plays the owner of the luxury liner who sabotages his own ship, risks the life of everyone, and again, plays the guy you hate (he does that so well). He does a very good job of playing the character you root against.

Kevin J. O'Connor is honestly the star of the movie in my opinion. He was easily my favorite character. He is Treat Williams trusty sidekick, is Mr. Fixit, provides comic relief, and always gets himself in trouble. He played his role to perfection, and if it were not for his character the movie would get a far lower grade.

Famke Janssen (Xmen) plays the lone passenger survivor, who is also very mischievous, gets into trouble, plays a crook, and is mainly just eye candy in this movie. However, a movie like this needs a tough chick, and she plays the role very well.

In addition, the special effects are tastefully done, not too over the top. Is it CGI? Yes, but not so much it makes you puke. The only negative of the movie is it seems to drag a little in the finally getting off the boat sequence at the end. I don't know if the whole seadoo scene was necessary, maybe a little over done, but as a whole, after watching this movie, you feel very entertained, and not short changed. Where did the budget come from for this movie?

Grade: A-

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Some kind of, strange offshoot of the Archaea Ottoia family
Review: Soggy high-concept monster / action movie about a team of goons that have been hired to stage an attack and robbery on an enormous, luxurious ocean liner - and get picked off one at a time by the creature that has already made mincemeat of the passengers and crew.

Yes - it's unoriginal and reminiscent of other movies. Yes - it seems to alternate too much between being serious and being campy. Yes - I think that Kevin J. O'Connor is one of the major liabilities of the film. His comic relief and grating, nasal voice have a fingernails-on-the-blackboard sort of aggravation factor.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I think that "Deep Rising" is fun for anybody who enjoys this kind of thing and doesn't demand a whole lot out of their entertainment. It's very slick, sometimes actually fairly suspenseful, and incredibly gory. The creature itself is not as impressive; it is entirely animated and looks cheesy - and when you finally see it in all of its true gruesome glory, you may be unimpressed as I was - it does not represent veteran effects master Rob Bottin's best work.

Cast is variable - Treat Williams is not someone you might think of a lead for this kind of film, but it IS essentially a B-movie with an A-level budget, and much of Williams' work over the last several years HAS been of the B-movie variety. Famke Janssen is sexy and reasonably appealing, and Anthony Heald, Jason Flemyng, Wes Studi and Djimon Hounsou play good slimeballs.

Overall, I genuinely enjoy the movie - I would give it four out of five, but the DVD, made by one of several companies that seem to have no respect for their older features, is sorely lacking in extras, getting just a fair two out of five. I give the whole thing, therefore, three out of five.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Greatest horror movie ever created by mankind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Well it is a B-monster movie all right. The sea creature is really just some bad CGI effects thrown in for bad measure. There is little to be said about this movie other then the fact that Steven Sommers made it, and he is turning out to be a pretty bad movie maker. At least after this movie, some of the cast did go on to appear in much better movies, but Sommers still makes crappy movies. This movie was not Jaws or Aliens, it was more like Plan 9 from Outer Space. I think I will go and watch Godzilla 2000 now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What's eating you? Go and gulp down this bloody thriller!
Review: Boy, I do love the combination of ships and blood-fests. I thoroughly enjoyed both Virus and Ghost Ship, and now another favorite arises from the depths.

Despite no big name stars, get ready for some truly great performances from the cast; Treat Williams as Captain Finnegan, Kevin O'Conner (The Mummy) as Pantucci, Una Damon as Leila, and Jason Flemyng as Mulligan, just to name a few.

A group of would be robbers armed with torpedoes set out to terrorize and rob a luxury cruise ship, hiring Captain Finnigan and his ship and crew, who hire out to anyone with the cash, no questions asked. The cruise ship is sabotaged by an insider on board, but before the pack of robbers can make it onboard, something else takes control of the ship: the big squid thing.

Already on board is Trillian, played by Famke Janssen, a fairly incompetent female thief who manages to get herself locked in the vault before being able to steal a necklace she was after.

With Finnegan's ship disabled from running into a stray lifeboat, they all board the cruise liner, meet up with Trillian, and one by one fall victim Mr. Squid. Very action packed, rapidly moving, gorily fascinating splatter fest that is a five star must see. Especially when Mr. Squid vomits out the half digested guy who is still alive, one of my all time favorite horror movie scenes.

There are crunching skulls, folding metal, bursting pipes, rapid gunfire, and some pretty funny dialogue that manages to not sound out of place like so many flat one liners in horror films. All of the messy, gory, bloody lower levels of the ship, bending and peeling metal, various and sundry body parts, combine to announce the arrival of the squid-like monster with immense strength and an appetite to match. All in all, a wonderful journey with a surprise, funny ending. Enjoy!


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