Deep Rising

At first glance, Deep Rising appears to have everything you need for a true "guilty pleasure" schlock monster movie: a conspicuously multi-ethnic collection of characters, an isolated location, some comic relief, a few CGI-enhanced gross-outs, a sleazy shipping magnate (Anthony Heald) who also appears to have a doctorate in marine biology, and a slinky international jewel thief (Famke Janssen) whose white cotton tank top hides a heart of gold. As it happens, Deep Rising is noteworthy primarily for the mechanical manner in which it spits out all those ingredients. A terrorist crew, led by squinty-eyed mercenary Hanover (Wes Studi) and piloted by squinty-eyed boat captain Finnegan (Treat Williams), shows up to loot the cruise ship; a sea monster shows up to eat the mercenary crew; and a few survivors make it to the closing credits. It's hard to work up much enthusiasm for this sort of joyless film-making: technically proficient and competently paced, it's also gloomy, uninspired and not nearly enough fun. I don't ask much of my schlock monster movies, but I do ask that they act like schlock monster movies. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Aug. 21, 2018—Kino Lorber, 106 min., R, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1998’s Deep Rising features a decent transfer with DTS-HD 2.0 audio on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by director Stephen Sommers and editor Bob Ducsay, Industrial Light & Magic behind-the-scenes featurettes (38 min.), a visual effects featurette (17 min.), a practical effects segment (9 min.), interviews with costar Kevin J. O’Connor (14 min.), cinematographer Howard Atherton (14 min.), costar Anthony Heald (13 min.), second unit director Dean Cundey (12 min.), and costar Wes Studi (9 min.), and an animated image gallery (3 min.). Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lame monster movie.]