Deep Rising

Directed by Stephen Sommers, Deep Rising follows several disparate characters, including Treat Williams’ John Finnegan, Famke Janssen’s Trillian St. James, and Kevin J. O’Connor’s Joey Pantucci, as they attempt to survive after a vicious sea monster attacks a crowded cruise ship. It’s a larger-than-life premise that is, by and large, employed to fun and engaging effect by Sommers, as the filmmaker, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced and appreciatively violent endeavor that benefits from its raft of above-average performances – with Williams’ charismatic, commanding turn as the agreeable protagonist matched by a top-notch roster of such scene-stealing periphery players as Cliff Curtis, Wes Studi, and Anthony Heald. (The latter is especially good as the aforementioned ship’s smarmy, double-crossing owner.) The better-than-expected atmosphere is heightened and perpetuated by an ongoing emphasis on interludes and kill sequences of an exceedingly entertaining nature, and it’s clear, certainly, that Deep Rising is at its best in a first half that keeps said sea monster mostly in the shadows – as its eventual reveal and subsequent appearances are diminished by some seriously dodgy special effects. And while the picture admittedly does run out of steam in its final stretch, Deep Rising closes with a rousing climax that ensures it ends on an exceedingly positive note – with the final result a first-class monster movie that fares better than one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****