If ever there was a movie which summed up the expression "so bad it's good" then Stephen Sommers' 1998 sea-faring monster extravaganza Deep Rising could be the one. A huge mess of a film which bombed at the box office, it's undeserving of the intense criticism it gets much in the same way critics decades ago missed the point when analyzing the films of Ed Wood. The arrival of a bunch of mercenaries aboard the maiden voyage of the luxury cruise liner Argonautica might seem like the worst thing that could happen to the wealthy passengers, but by the time the mercs arrive on the ship it's already deserted. As they explore the ship and find ominous blood stains, mysterious tentacled creatures start to attack, killing them off one by one. It's about as stupid and over the top as movies come, wearing its B-movie influences with pride. Some readers might think that Guillermo del Toro's recent movie Pacific Rim might be a much better choice for an ocean-going guilty pleasure, but Deep Rising - while perhaps an "inferior" film in many respects - lacks the interminably dull exposition. Its characters are hardly more rounded, but they have a lot of fun, and the final reveal of the kraken is hilariously entertaining.
