Deep Rising (1998) Dir: Stephen Sommers

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As regular readers of my reviews will know by now, there are many films that I end up watching because, quite frankly, I do not have the energy to watch anything more mentally demanding, and this science fiction horror, directed by Stephen Sommers, best known for his work on 'The Mummy' and 'Van Helsing', was, without question, one of those films. All cards on the table, I was fully expecting this to be a terrible film - like so many of those random action horrors of the nineties and early noughties.

The truth was, I actually had a lot of fun with it. The CGI was terrible, but in that silly nineties way that now comes off as endearing more than annoying, and the practical effects and set design were actually really fun. The fact that I could very easily tell that the actors were all on sets, rather than being able to allow my brain to believe that the characters were actually on a cruise ship, didn't bother me nearly as much as it could've. If anything, it gave the film a little more charm. It reminded me of 'Deep Blue Sea', in that sense.

In fact, I would argue that 'Deep Blue Sea' would be a great comparison for a lot of the film's aspects. The set, the story, even the characters to some extent - it was all very much of the same DNA as that cult classic shark film. The writing was cheesy, the characters hollow, and the violence absurd, but the film never forgot its primary function; to entertain, and that's just what it did. I often label films as 'popcorn flicks' or 'leave your brain at the door' films, and whilst this is, occasionally, a criticism, I would suggest that, in this case, it can be used as a compliment.

Treat Williams had a bit of a 'Han Solo' feel to his acting, which I actually enjoyed quite a lot. His witty, sarcastic, and roguish attitude worked really well for the story, and lead to some legitimately very entertaining and amusing scenes. This was honestly the first film I can ever recall seeing him in, but I left with a pretty favourable opinion of his acting abilities, which can only be a good thing.

Famke Janssen had some decent scenes here and there, but the writing of her character was very dull, which left her fighting a bit of an uphill battle. On the other end of the spectrum, I thought Kevin J. O'Connor was the life of the film, in many respects. He was so genuinely funny - often the 'class clown' kind of characters can get old very quickly, but O'Connor was just too good to fail in this role. There were a few other names worth at least mentioning, although none excelled too much; Anthony Heald, Wes Studi, and Cliff Curtis.

Overall, I thought this was actually a really fun action horror film, which was full of classically 90's comedy, adventure, and set pieces. Sure, the CGI looks awful by modern standards, but it stopped bothering me pretty quickly. I had a great time watching the absurd monster-fide action take place, especially in the second half of the film. If you like films like 'Armageddon' and 'Independence Day' you'll have a good time with this.