Movie Guys: Critics take a ‘Deep’ breath and come out swinging

Jeff

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 8:54 a.m.

* Grades: Jeff, B; Dave, D.

* Starring: Treat Williams, Famke Janssen, Derrick O'Connor, Anthony Heald and Kevin J. O'Connor.

* Screenplay: Stephen Sommers.

* Director: Stephen Sommers.

* Rated: R for violence and profanity.

* Running time: 106 minutes.

Synopsis: From the bottomless depth of the South China Sea, gruesome creatures surface to attack and cannibalize the passengers on a luxury cruise liner. These serpents swarm through every deck and passageway, devouring all living things in site, and transforming the vessel into a floating chamber of horrors.

Jeff: When I was a kid, I looked forward to Saturday afternoons. Why? The Fox Theater, on East Charleston Boulevard, would have a double feature matinee and it was a great way to beat the scorching summer heat. The bill of fare would always include family films, but the movies that packed my friends and myself in the theater seats each week were the monster movies.

We saw such films as "Humanoids From the Deep," "Green Slime," "Squirm," "Empire of the Ants" and "Food of the Gods." Those movies, if you took a second look at them today, would make you chuckle at their low-budget effects and corny stories. But, to a child, it's an exciting and dangerous world filled with monsters and heroes. The Fox Theater is long gone, now nothing but a happy memory, but the monster movie tradition continues today with "Deep Rising."

Dave: Are you telling us, Jeff, that movies such as "Deep Rising" are an acceptable exchange for the low-budget shlock movies of the '70s? I know audiences are desensitized by the amount of sex and violence in films today in comparison to 20 years ago, but monster movies with an R rating are no substitute for the lighter-rated (PG or G) movies you could name -- especially for a younger audience.

Jeff: Exchange? No. They are the same. The R rating is due to the profanity, not the violence. The ratings code was more relaxed, and the Motion Picture Association of America was in its early days in the early 70s, and if a film was targeted toward a child/teen audience, it was rated as such with less scrutiny than today. Those same films submitted to the MPAA today would most certainly get an R rating.

"Deep Rising" is more graphic than those films of the past, but consider the sophistication of today's audience, with kids who are more mini-adults than members of "Romper Room." Childhood is not the same. It's clear that "Deep Rising" writer/director Stephen Sommers was influenced by matinee filmmakers Roger Corman and Samuel Z. Arkoff and those very B-horror-films I had the pleasure of seeing as a boy.

Dave: Then what you are saying, Jeff, is that today's films are contributing the same gratuitous sex/violence of yesteryear that a young and more "sophisticated" audience can appreciate. For starters, you are way off base with this movie. There is no consistency in the story. It suffers from a variety of weak villains (from Anthony Heald as a greedy billionaire to Wes Studi as the leader of a band of mercenaries to the distorted creature itself), and the blatant exposition is laughable. The attempt at comic relief by versatile actor Kevin J. O'Connor is futile and the film's star, Treat Williams, continues to take on these forgettable roles that make you forget how much talent he truly possesses.

Jeff: What makes "Deep Rising" an aquatic thrill ride are the sea creatures. They squirm through pipes and slither down flooded hallways. The cruise ship is swarming with them. What a feeding frenzy! These giant sea worms are fierce, savage monsters that strike with lightning speed and kill on sight. For ultimate realism, Sommers recruited Hollywood's premier make-up artist, Academy Award winner Rob Bottin. You know, Dave, it took Rob and more than 120 artists more than a year to create 70 effects shots, of which at least 40 were created for the creatures alone.

As for the cast, remember, Dave, how we were talking about finding a new action hero in a previous column? He's here. Treat Williams is ready to take the reins. There's even a cool chase that Williams handles with grace. He's tough, funny, and his screen presence is dominating. Everyone in the cast of "Deep Rising" plays bad guys: Guns smugglers, jewel thiefs, embezzlers and con-artists. You'll have a blast trying to figure out which bad guy will get devoured next. And when that happens -- trust me -- watch the popcorn fly! They eat their victims whole. Gulp!

Dave: What movie did you see, Jeff? It sure sounds like a great night out at the movies! The special effects that I witnessed are again lost by fast-cut editing (much like last week's "Phantoms") or the creature would simply "ooze" way too fast and look like some silly psychedelic trip. "Deep Rising" is a film that looks and acts like a summer movie with all the action (lame), explosions (yawn), special effects (dismal) and weak one-liners ("I have a bad feeling about this"), but ultimately will leave its audience in "Deep Hurting."

Jeff: I saw a movie about giant sea creatures that attack a cruise ship, with action (Pow!), explosions, (Boom!), special effects, (cool!), suspense (watch out!), and gore (eeeewwww!) that's worthy of a summer release and will leave the audience squirming and screaming in their seats. Plus, "Deep Rising" has an ending that demands a sequel. So, if sea monsters, gun fights, skeletons, cruise ships and corny dialogue aren't your style, maybe you should choose another film. If it is, have a good time.

MOVIE BUZZ

* Box office bug: Variety reports that Warner Bros. has purchased a script titled "Y2K," a thriller about the much-publicized "millennium bug" that causes some of the world's computers to crash at the beginning of the year 2000. Let's hope they finish the film before their own computers fizzle.

* ShoWest buzz: The March 9 opening-night program of the ShoWest Convention here in Las Vegas will feature the "ShoWest ShowCase," a collection of four independently produced films selected by the organization's exhibitor committee. The features to be screened in "ShoWest ShowCase: An Evening of Independent Film" will be chosen on the basis of their artistic merit, as well as their crossover and box office appeal.

* 'Superman' dies?: Nicolas Cage is reportedly on the verge of quitting "Superman Lives" because he's sick of waiting to don his cape. The actor is apparently fuming over the endless delays that have disrupted the shooting of the film. Mostly negative reaction concerning Cage being cast as the Man of Steel hasn't helped either. "Superman" director Tim Burton may also dump the project in favor of DreamWorks' remake of the sci-fi classic "X-The Man With the X-Ray Eyes."

NEW ON VIDEO

"Event Horizon" (Paramount Home Video: Rated R; VHS/Laserdisc, Grade, D-): When I was growing up, I would stay over at my best friend's house and his dad would rent these horrible movies for us that were fun to watch and ridicule! So let me just say that this sci-fi horror film about a ghost ship reappearing after seven years carrying an evil intergalactic entity from another dimension would be suitable fodder for my buddy and me.

Arguably, the movie is quite chilling and disturbingly graphic, but not on its own merits! Visual director Paul Anderson commits what the Movie Guys call "cinema plagiarism." In this case, scenes virtually mirror such popular films as "Alien," "The Exorcist," "Hellraiser" and "The Shining" (to name only a few), simply calling attention to itself as an obvious rip-off. Poor Laurence Fishburne -- first "Hoodlum," and now this.

"Hercules" (Walt Disney Home Video; Rated PG-13; VHS/Laserdisc, Grade, C): What do you get when you cross Greek mythology with obnoxious gospel music? You get Disney's 35th animated feature, "'Hercules." The creative team behind "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin"" have put a contemporary twist on the legend of Hercules. Hercules sets out on an exciting journey to discover what it means to be a true hero and along the way matches wits with one of the most cunning and comical villains ever, Hades (voiced by James Woods), who will stop at nothing to rule the universe.

"Hercules" is brimming with modern quips and quotes that are sure to please kids and historians alike (now that's sarcasm). This is not one of Disney's best efforts. The animation is sub-par, the story is slow and often dull. But Hades makes the feature tolerable. Now, if there was something we could do about the music. I don't even think Zeus himself could do anything about that mistake.

VIEWPOINT

As we begin our fourth year as movie critics, we feel incomplete. We Movie Guys have an empty space in our souls. We see hundreds of films a year, and we receive cool promotional items and schmooze with the Hollywood studios. But there is one claim we can never make: We have never been to a film festival.

With the Sundance Film Festival well underway this week, we can only sit at our computers and read the news bulletins that come across Yahoo! about all of the wondrous happenings in Park City, Utah. "Why aren't you there?" you may ask. Well, do to an error on our part, we missed the cutoff date, so we can only wonder what it would be like.

We want to know if we should drive or fly to Park Ridge. We want to know what it's like to stroll underneath the majestic banners at the Shadow Ridge Resort announcing "Sundance Film Festival," lit up in crimson and gold lettering. We want to struggle along the narrow sidewalks, with the some 13,000 people descending on this sleepy town in the wilderness over the span of 11 days. We want to hear the chorus of cellular phones ringing, watch the cheek kissing of Hollywood deal-makers and gaze at the newest, hottest stars and directors of tomorrow.

We want to rub elbows with agents, lawyers, publicists, producers, distributors and directors. We want to meet Roger Ebert on the ski slopes. We want to eat a hamburger and french fries for $15 and cram into a hotel room with 10 of our best friends. We want to have coffee with Janet Maslin of The New York Times and argue film theory with Gene Siskel while standing in line for the hottest film at the festival. We want to complain that Sundance has gone too commercial and that it needs to return to its roots as an independent exhibition. We want tickets to movies such as this year's Grand Jury prize winner "Slam" or films such as "Buffalo 66" or "Hav (CQ) Plenty." We want to shake Robert Redford's hand.

We want to go! Well, there's always next year.

NAME THAT FLICK

Gotcha! We had the usual amount of phone calls in response to last week's quote: "Don't get saucy with me, Bernaise." But not everyone who called our hotline made the right ID. It was Brian Lowery who first recognized the quote spoken by Count D'money (Harvey Korman) in Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part One." Way to go Brian! One caller thought it was from "Top Secret." Wrong! Let's try a harder quote for this week.

What movie is this lengthy quote from: "And I felt my body dwindling, melting, becoming nothing. My fears locked away and in their place came acceptance. All this vast majesty of creation, it had to mean something. And then I meant something, too. Yes, smaller than the smallest, I meant something, too. To God there is no zero. I still exist."?

Have you heard it before? If so, call us at 225-9026 or e-mail us at movieguys5@aol.com. Be the first one to nail this one and we'll print your name right here in our column. Be sure to spell your name and leave your daytime telephone number.

And remember: Please refrain from smoking during our feature presentation.

Thank you -- The Management.

THE MOVIE GUYS, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears every Friday in the SUN (additional material provided by Thomas Feeney). You can also read their capsule reviews of movies in Scope magazine; listen to their reviews and commentary every Friday at 7 p.m. on their radio show "Quiet on the Set" on KVBC 105.1-FM; and watch their reviews every Friday on Channel 3's 11 p.m. newscast. Plus, check them out online at: www.lasvegassun.com/sun/sunlife/ movies.

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