Amazon.com video review:
Following in the reptilian slime trail of Anaconda, this
derivative monster movie from early 1998 plays like a cross between Titanic and Tremors, with
parts of Aliens
tossed in for good measure. Director Stephen Sommers couldn't
recognize an original idea if it swallowed him whole--which, by the
way, is exactly what happens to a lot of passengers on a luxury ship
that is attacked by a giant serpent-like sea creature with a voracious
appetite for human flesh. Treat Williams plays the leader of a
mercenary crew whose members discover the ravaged ship and wage war on
the creature; Famke Janssen joins him as an onboard thief and con
artist who just happens to be highly skilled with automatic
weapons. Of course, the action grows more intense as the body count
rises and along the way the monster is gradually revealed in all of
its gruesome glory. A guilty pleasure if ever there was one, Deep
Rising arrived in theaters shortly after another waterlogged
thriller, Hard
Rain, and if nothing else it provides proof that the B-movie
monsters of the 1950s are alive and well and as cheesy as ever in the
age of digital special effects. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.com video review:
Following in the reptilian slime trail of Anaconda,
this derivative monster movie from early 1998 plays like a cross
between Titanic and Tremors, with parts of Aliens tossed in
for good measure. Director Stephen Sommers couldn't recognize an
original idea if it swallowed him whole--which, by the way, is exactly
what happens to a lot of passengers on a luxury ship that is attacked
by a giant serpent-like sea creature with a voracious appetite for
human flesh. Treat Williams plays the leader of a mercenary crew whose
members discover the ravaged ship and wage war on the creature; Famke
Janssen joins him as an onboard thief and con artist who just happens
to be highly skilled with automatic weapons. Of course, the action
grows more intense as the body count rises and along the way the
monster is gradually revealed in all of its gruesome glory. A guilty
pleasure if ever there was one, Deep Rising arrived in theaters
shortly after another waterlogged thriller, Hard Rain, and if
nothing else it provides proof that the B-movie monsters of the 1950s
are alive and well and as cheesy as ever in the age of digital special
effects. --Jeff Shannon
