*SPOILER WARNING*
No one could argue that this film is not terrible.
It's a B-movie, plain and simple. What makes it's crapness more acceptable (to me, at least) is that it doesn't try to be anything more than a B-movie. It has no time for the poor 'irony' of The Faculty. The problem with The Faculty is that it thought it was being clever and funny, when in fact it was being self-absorbed and self-celebrating. 'Deep Rising', for all it's many, many flaws keeps things simple. You can sit through this and not be irritated or enraged by any false attempts to impress. I enjoyed watching this movie very very much, for the following reasons:
1 - there was a fun (if easy) game to be had in guessing which member of the cast would be picked off next. The band of idiots that run around the ship, fall over, get up again, then either get eaten or narrowly escape, consist of: Treat Williams' unflinching hero, Famke Jansenn's sexy theif, the money-grabbing captain of the ship, his more moralistic second-in-command, the obligatory 'funny-guy' (that isn't funny) and a group of lacklustre pirates with big guns that yell things like 'Eat this, you w***ers!!!'.
2 - it was very funny. The whole thing is a 'Poseidon Adventure' ripoff with seamonsters, but I was astounded when they actually lifted a whole scene more or less from that film (the scene in question being when the gang are forced to swim from one part of the ship to another). What makes this scene even funnier is that at the same time, it rips off Alien: Resurrection (with the monsters pursuing the guys, and leave them one member short).
3 - Famke Jansenn. You could tell she didn't want to be in this crap, bless her. Anyway, she is the best thing about the film, and I'm convinced she'll make an excellent femme fatale in a film noir one day.
For all the stupid entertainment I got, there were some huge and unforgivable drawbacks:
1 - it got way too over the top. It was ridiculous from the start (e.g. a woman is pulled down a toilet!), but when Treat Williams wrestled with a fucking huge squid monster... and won (!) I quickly resented the film. Maybe I'd have forgiven it, but the overlong and completely not thrilling finale went on for at least another 20 minutes after that.
2 - way too gory. There was no need for it. It did nothing for the film. A guy falls out of a squids belly, and we see him screaming in agony as his body was half way through being 'drank'. It disappointed me that the film-makers did stuff like that when this film shouldn't be taken seriously at all.
3 - the ending. I felt cheated. During the stupid finale, all I was waiting for was a cliched ending with Jansenn and Williams washed up on the beach (it's the type of film where you welcome a cliche and expect them for comic relief). Instead, that idiot Joey (who should really have been killed) shows up, then there's an oh-so-clever 'Faculty' moment when they realise they're not the only inhabitants of the island. Ironic endings can work very well (look at Final Destination), but this fell flat on it's face.
In summary, 'Deep Rising' is a ridiculous, unpretentious B-movie that gets too wrapped up in it's own stupidity that it doesn't know when to stop. When it does get round to it, you realise how terrible the film was.
4 / 10
No one could argue that this film is not terrible.
It's a B-movie, plain and simple. What makes it's crapness more acceptable (to me, at least) is that it doesn't try to be anything more than a B-movie. It has no time for the poor 'irony' of The Faculty. The problem with The Faculty is that it thought it was being clever and funny, when in fact it was being self-absorbed and self-celebrating. 'Deep Rising', for all it's many, many flaws keeps things simple. You can sit through this and not be irritated or enraged by any false attempts to impress. I enjoyed watching this movie very very much, for the following reasons:
1 - there was a fun (if easy) game to be had in guessing which member of the cast would be picked off next. The band of idiots that run around the ship, fall over, get up again, then either get eaten or narrowly escape, consist of: Treat Williams' unflinching hero, Famke Jansenn's sexy theif, the money-grabbing captain of the ship, his more moralistic second-in-command, the obligatory 'funny-guy' (that isn't funny) and a group of lacklustre pirates with big guns that yell things like 'Eat this, you w***ers!!!'.
2 - it was very funny. The whole thing is a 'Poseidon Adventure' ripoff with seamonsters, but I was astounded when they actually lifted a whole scene more or less from that film (the scene in question being when the gang are forced to swim from one part of the ship to another). What makes this scene even funnier is that at the same time, it rips off Alien: Resurrection (with the monsters pursuing the guys, and leave them one member short).
3 - Famke Jansenn. You could tell she didn't want to be in this crap, bless her. Anyway, she is the best thing about the film, and I'm convinced she'll make an excellent femme fatale in a film noir one day.
For all the stupid entertainment I got, there were some huge and unforgivable drawbacks:
1 - it got way too over the top. It was ridiculous from the start (e.g. a woman is pulled down a toilet!), but when Treat Williams wrestled with a fucking huge squid monster... and won (!) I quickly resented the film. Maybe I'd have forgiven it, but the overlong and completely not thrilling finale went on for at least another 20 minutes after that.
2 - way too gory. There was no need for it. It did nothing for the film. A guy falls out of a squids belly, and we see him screaming in agony as his body was half way through being 'drank'. It disappointed me that the film-makers did stuff like that when this film shouldn't be taken seriously at all.
3 - the ending. I felt cheated. During the stupid finale, all I was waiting for was a cliched ending with Jansenn and Williams washed up on the beach (it's the type of film where you welcome a cliche and expect them for comic relief). Instead, that idiot Joey (who should really have been killed) shows up, then there's an oh-so-clever 'Faculty' moment when they realise they're not the only inhabitants of the island. Ironic endings can work very well (look at Final Destination), but this fell flat on it's face.
In summary, 'Deep Rising' is a ridiculous, unpretentious B-movie that gets too wrapped up in it's own stupidity that it doesn't know when to stop. When it does get round to it, you realise how terrible the film was.
4 / 10