Deep Rising is a 1998 action horror film directed by Stephen Sommers. It was distributed by Hollywood Pictures and Cinergi Pictures, and was released in the United States on January 30, 1998.
Plot
The film opens on a boat being piloted through a storm on the South China Sea by John Finnegan (Treat Williams). He has been chartered to transport a group of suspicious men and a cargo to a specific destination in 'the middle of nowhere, squared'. Despite their boss' determination, Joey "Tooch" Pantucci (Kevin J. O'Connor) and his girlfriend Leila (Una Damon) are unhappy with the situation.
The focus shifts to the Argonautica; an ocean liner which has embarked on its maiden voyage with many wealthy passengers. The ship is the dream and brainchild of Simon Canton (Anthony Heald) and is under the watchful eye of seasoned Captain Atherton (Derrick O'Connor). Mingling among the guests and taking full opportunity of the facilities and entertainment is Trillian, (Famke Janssen) a glamorous thief. The party reaches full swing as Canton delivers a speech, christening the ship and those sailing in her to 'good times, forever'.
With the crew and passengers occupied, Trillian makes her way toward and successfully enters the room containing the ship's safe, and the valuables within. She is removing the jewels when she is caught by Canton, Captain Atherton and two stewards. She is placed in a storeroom as the brig is currently incomplete.
The party races on, and it soon becomes apparent that the ship's navigation and communication systems have been brought down by a problem the crew cannot identify; the ship is running blind, leading Canton to go into hysterics.
The crewman manning the sonar brings an unusual object to their attention, and they can only watch with growing alarm as the object hurtles toward the ship from the ocean floor. Moments later the party, as well as the ship itself are brought to a sudden and violent stop. The sudden deceleration sends guests crashing to the floor and causes several of the ship's fittings to break loose; one of the loosened objects is a speed boat which drops harmlessly into the ocean. Reeling from the stop, the passengers begin to panic as a series of unusual sounds echo up from somewhere beneath the liner.
It is revealed that Finnegan's transport consists of a group of mercenaries who have been hired to rob the Argonautica's passengers and set them off safely before sinking the liner with a hastily installed torpedo launcher. Finnegan's boat runs into the drifting speed boat, damaging its engine. Using information and schematics given to them by an insider, the team, led by Hanover (Wes Studi) boards the liner, taking Finnegan and Joey along, and enters the Main Atrium. However, all they find are the shattered remnants of the party and blood. Hanover orders the group to split up; he, Vivo (Djimon Hounsou), Mason (Clifton Powell), and Mulligan (Jason Flemyng) will find the vault; Finnegan and Joey, escorted by T-Ray (Trevor Goddard) and Mamooli (Cliff Curtis), are sent to the below to get the parts they need to repair their boat.
As they explore each of the key sections of the ship they find signs of chaos everywhere. The lack of life makes the team uneasy to the point of joking, suggesting that the inside contact murdered everyone. After performing as much of the securing as they can manage, they head down to the safe room and find Trillian. She escaped the store room by short circuiting the electronic lock. She intended to have another go at stealing the contents of the safe, this time using Canton's access card.
With the card in hand and Trillian being held by one of Hanover's men, the safe is unlocked and the contents revealed. Vivo is immediately killed accidentally by Canton who drives an axe into Vivo's head and two of the other pirates open fire into the vault killing three surviving passengers; leading to Canton and Captain Atherton being pulled out at gunpoint.
In the engine room, Finnegan and Joey witness Mamooli and T-Ray being dragged underwater by some unseen force, while back on Finnegan's boat, Leila and the mercenary who was watching her suffer a similar fate.
It is revealed that the ship has become infested by creatures that resemble giant worms, which swallow and digest their prey alive. Canton speculates that they are members of the Ottoia family of deep-sea worms which have evolved to immense size in the extreme depths of oceanic trenches. They know that the infestation is too large to kill with conventional weapons and so plan a drastic last ditch effort to stop it from getting to anyone else. They mount one of the mercenaries' torpedos on Finnegan's boat and program the autopilot to crash it into the Argonautica. The creature is seen in the ship's main atrium where the monster bursts through the floor and grabs Finnegan, but is able to free himself by shooting the creature in the eye with a shotgun. It is revealed that the creatures are actually a single octopus-like creature which uses its many tentacles to digest prey. Finnegan and Trillian use a jet ski to escape the ship as it is destroyed.
The survivors are able to take a moment to relax on the only nearby island they saw during the night on the liner. They find out that one other survivor made it to shore, Joey. However it appears that this break will be short lived when a roar echoes across the island and something is moving towards them in nearby forest.
Cast
Reception
The film received mostly negative reviews. A Rotten Tomatoes "Rotten" rating of 30% based on 27 reviews, 0% of Top critics based on 5 reviews and 44% of the user score based on 165 reviews. It also made Roger Ebert's most hated films list. In his own words, "Deep Rising is essentially an Alien clone with a fresh paint job...." On its opening weekend it made 4,737,793(42% of it total gross)ranking # 8. Deep Rising's total intake was just alittle over $11,000,000 , which on a $45,000,000 buget makes it a big boxoffice bomb
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