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245 reviews in total

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177 out of 219 people found the following review useful:
It's officially the best film ever made., 5 November 2002

Author: Neonsamurai from London, England

Deep Rising is one of the best films ever made, if not the best! That's right, I'm making a bold statement but it's true. Clearly many of you here will disagree, but when you've seen the evidence that I put forward I don't think you'll be able to argue:

1) The Godfather: The Godfather was less believable than Deep Rising and also lacked such things as multi barrelled assault rifles, jet skis and huge torpedoes. Deep rising however, did not.

2) Raging Bull: No half-digested/half alive bodies, no engine room full of bloody bones or cool looking harpoon guns. Deep Rising had all these things.

3) Citizen Kane: A worthy try, but in the end Orson Welles decision to omit massive underwater squid monsters, left this film floundering. Deep Rising came up trumps in this department.

4) Casablanca: Fails to deliver on every account. Most notably, no one gets pulled down a toilet. Again, Deep Rising excels.

The sad thing is that if the Colour Purple had included a raid on a sinking cruise liner, infested with sub aqua monsters as part of the film, then it too would have climbed to the top of my favourite movie list. But as with most films the director took the easy way out and chose to ignore this very overlooked area of filmmaking.

In my aquatic monster/cruise liner catastrophe marking system, Deep Rising gets a colossal 4 shrimps. But the rather lacking Godfather, gets only 3 angelfish and a haddock.

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75 out of 89 people found the following review useful:
Stephen Sommers' best film., 10 April 2005

Author: LennyRenquist from the big city

It's just a tad better than the first Mummy, and it wees on Van Helsing like an incontinent dog.

When I first saw this movie, I had no idea what to expect. I was at the cinema one night, I'd just come out of a movie--can't remember which--and I saw the poster. The tagline, "Full Scream Ahead", seemed corny enough that it might be good. Then I noticed Famke Janssen was in it. Bonus. And it seemed like a good late-night B movie, to follow the one I'd just seen. I was there with a mate of mine, who was kind of indifferent. I twisted his arm, and he agreed.

Two hours later, I walked out, grinning like an idiot. It's silly, cliché-heavy, and utterly predictable. This movie rocks.

See, Sommers, and all the actors, KNOW that it's silly, cliché-heavy and predictable. In fact, THAT'S THE IDEA. It's also full of spot-on one-liners and gags, and the horror bits seem more intended to "gross-out" than to actually scare (the bit where a half-digested member of Hanover's team bursts out of one of the monsters--still alive, despite half his head being missing--is not for the weak of stomach). Most thrillers and horror movies set out to keep you "on the edge of your seat", but with this one I was too busy falling out of it with laughter.

Treat is...well...a TREAT as Finnegan, the rugged, all-American adventurer type. For a while I was disappointed that Bruce Campbell wasn't cast in the role, as it would have suited him perfectly. But I've since decided that Treat does a bang-up job, and deserves full praise. If he did more movies like this, I might become a fan.

Kevin J. O'Connor is hilarious as the sidekick grease-monkey (and performs all the better for not having to put on a stupid accent). He gets most of the best lines. Famke is great as always. Sexy, funny, and capable in the action scenes. Anthony Heald, as the villain, is hammy and over the top (in a good way) and Wes is...well, Wes. All the goons are fine, particularly Jason Flemyng and the late Trevor Goddard. It's nice to see a good mix of nationalities in there, and the playful in-fighting amongst them is a nice touch. Their assault rifles are cool, too. Funny though, I never noticed anyone reloading...

The special effects are just bad enough to work in this context, without appearing TOO lame. A few years before this movie was made, they'd have actually been considered brilliant. But Sommers realises that sometimes it's best not to actually SHOW the monsters. They swim along under the knee-deep water, the walls of the corridors buckle and threaten to collapse, gratings fly out of the floor directly behind the running characters...very effective.

The climax is about as far-fetched as it's possible to get. But it's done so well that, like all this movie's flaws, it doesn't matter.

If you're easily scared, this'll do the job. If you like tongue-in-cheek, B-grade action flicks, this is one to see. If you like movies that force you to think, make you change your outlook on life, and move you to tears...yeah, you should REALLY watch this. TO SEE WHAT YOU'RE MISSING OUT ON!

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60 out of 72 people found the following review useful:
Cheesy, but likable, popcorn flick..., 10 January 2006

Author: JWM-2 from New York, New York

Deep Rising is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's one of those films I rented on a whim and and simply fell in love with.

Is it a great film? No.

Does it have a great script? Not really, and it's downright silly in parts.

Does it have great acting? Eh, there's been better...

But the effects are good, the characters are likable, the creature is neat, and somehow it all comes comes together to make an enjoyable B schlock horror/comedy that, in my case anyway, leaves me with a big smile on my face.

Oh and as an added bonus, Famke Janssen is simply lovely in this film. Rent it on a rainy day and you won't be disappointed.

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61 out of 74 people found the following review useful:
Fun! (...and nothing more), 1 June 2003

Author: Jey-and-Mina from Seattle

If you are looking for meaning, creativity, originality, or some sort of cosmic significance, look elsewhere.

This is a fun movie for that brainless Saturday evening in which you just want to relax. A fast paced ride with lots of guns, explosions, bright-red fake blood, and a big monster.

This film is for those who wish only to be entertained. Perfect after a long hard week and you need to relax.

Recommended.

7/10

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33 out of 35 people found the following review useful:
B-movie Delight, 17 March 2003

Author: David Elroy from Berkeley, CA

There are times when nothing satisfies like a good ol' B-movie action-adventure, not meant to be deep or serious, just good excitement and fun. Yet truly excellent B-movies are not easily come by. This director's own "Scorpion King", in fact, is a textbook example of how the formula can fail: too Hollywoodized, too predictable, too tame, and not funny enough. But before he Hollywoodized himself in Mummyland, this director (and writer!) gave us the masterful "Deep Rising." B-movie fans know who they are and what they want, and they will not be disappointed here. I rank "Deep Rising" up there with the best of John Carpenter and Sam Raimi. 9/10

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39 out of 50 people found the following review useful:
I care about your gun., 6 March 2000
Author: George_Bailey (mbucemi@hotmail.com)

Unlike a lot of monster and sci-fi movies we see these days, where apologizes are constantly made and everything is politically-correct, Deep Rising is an unapolagetic rollar-coaster which only asks us to suspend our higher thinking for an hour and a half. Intelligent by no means, Stephen Sommers' movie however definately succeeds in it's intention, which is to be a straight fun adventure.

Like the rest of the movie, we've seen the plot a dozen times before in different or similar forms. A square-jawed man of the sea and his wise-cracking sidekick give a group of mercenaries a ride in their PT boat to an undisclosed location somewhere out over the murky ocean. Little does the boatman know that the soldiers-for-hire are planning to knock off a massive luxury cruise liner with an assortment of assault rifles and deadly torpedo warheads. When they reach the ship though, they find it derelict, and encounter a nightmarish tentacle beast.

This movie is stupid as hell, but it knows it, and just wants to take us along on its stupid ride. As mentioned before, the movie makes no apologizes. We don't get any little kids who know more than the adults running around and saving the day; instead we get piles of horrid, blood-covered skeletons and disgustingly neat scenes of half-dead victims being regurgitated by our monster villain. Speaking of the monster, its a fairly decent CGI creation, which is surprising considering how little effort can be put into putting CG creatures onto the screen in movies with anything less of a budget than Jurassic Park or The Phantom Menace.

The flick is plenty fun, but where it truly lacks is the character development area. In Deep Rising, and most movies like it, a fair amount of the characters are regulated to quick two or three word descriptions which dictate everything that they do. There's "The Womanizer", "The Coward", "The Guy Who's Scared", etc. And man, if a guys got an Austrailian or English accent..forget about it, that's his whole character right there. The two most interesting characters are Treat Williams, a third rate Bruce Willis-Mel Gibson, who nevertheless puts a likeable effort into the main hero, and the mind-numbingly beautiful Famke Jannkson as a thief the crew finds alive aboard the cruise liner.

Deep Rising is a movie that knows what it wants to do, and does it well, adding some originality and excitement to a genre overflowing with badly-executed ideas and ameatuerish directing.

I give Deep Rising a 6 out of 10, and I'd reccomend it to any fan of grade-B horror movies or anyone who enjoyed the 1999 remake of The Mummy.

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31 out of 36 people found the following review useful:
Pure entertainment for the monster fan, 19 January 2004

Author: ichobodcrane from edinburgh

I rented this recently and loved every bit of it from it's tongue in cheek extra clichéd action types to it's fabulously over the top gore. You can see here, exactly where Stephen Sommers is coming from and where he will go. The Mummy had exactly the same style and sense of humour. Treat Williams is fantastic in this. This is one under rated actor. Why is he not in more great flicks? His comedy is superb and he looks the action hero. Remember Things to do in Denver. Anyone who likes a good old monster movie should sit back and pamper themselves with this cracking good yarn.

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26 out of 31 people found the following review useful:
That Thing From the Deep, 15 August 2005

Author: Bogmeister from United States

This is one fun, intense monster movie. They blew it with the title (what the hell does Deep Rising actually mean? - Things From the Deep would have at least meant what it was), but the execution was admirable. This came out the same time as "Phantoms," which depicted a lot of people disappearing on land; in this one, a lot of 'em disappear at sea, on The Argonautica, the latest fancy cruise ship. As in Phantoms, the monster is tough to kill and human beings are easy prey. Like Phantoms, this was ignored at the box office, unlike the director's later hits, "The Mummy" movies. But it has the same level of entertainment. The band of mercs, along with a few other reluctant tag-alongs, make for a darkly funny ensemble as they make their way through the new ship of horrors. O'Connor provides a lot of the humor with wry line delivery, but lead actor Williams is also amusing. As the corrupt ship owner, Heald also steals a scene or two, and turns out to be the only one knowledgeable (for some odd reason) on these monsters infesting the ship. The creature or creatures really are horrible to see in their work - there's some gross mass death scene stuff going on, at odds with the humor; it's almost as if the characters need that humor to keep from going crazy, though some of them do anyway. Janssen, as the main femme fatale among the macho men, does some of her best work here. There's a good, chilling atmosphere in the constant rain and the dark, in the middle of the ocean somewhere. There are no real slow spots and many viewers will probably want to check this out again someday soon. You can do much worse than kick back with this pic on a dark night.

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43 out of 65 people found the following review useful:
This is a GOOD movie. It does not deserve a 5.4, 2 September 2005

Author: Duk from Virginia

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Treat Williams and Kevin J. O'Connor in particular are very good.

It's a low budget genre flick, but acting is excellent across the board. O'Connor is great comic relief. The monster is clichéd, but cool. Quality and care went into this movie across the board.

I definitely recommend this movie without reservation.

I've seen it several times on cable as well as originally on DVD, and my opinion of it has held up.

Wes Studi (never bad in anything), Djimon Hounsou, and Anthony Heald (the psychologist from Silence of the Lambs) as bad guys and Anthony Heald are very competent as well.

I just can't understand how this movie got only a 5.4 from users.

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20 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
Full Scream Ahead..? Better than your average slick..!, 22 October 2005

Author: smiley-32 from Luton, England

I bought this DVD last week. I've watched it for the first time with some friends. I must admit, that must be some movie.. Here, director Stephen Sommers try to prove that if Aliens scared you.. Then this one will do worse.. Well, it did at times.. The whole plot sounds simple to me.. with these bunch of thieves coming on board this cruise liner, the Argonautica.. Only to find that the passengers have vanished. It's not 'til they realise that they up against something more deadly and it came from the bottom of the ocean.. We're not talking giant squids here.. Something more sinister..

Treat Williams played well as Finnegan. Famke Janssen, Wes Studi and the rest of the cast kept their end of the bargain with their performance. A really good film, full of one liners.. A few jokes.. This, that and the other..

7 out of 10!

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