Deep Rising

"Now what?"

- John Finnegan

Deep Rising is an underrated 1998 Stephen Sommers film, and arguably his best work. The basic plot is that our hero, boat pilot for hire John Finnegan (Treat Williams), is contracted by a group of mercenaries to transport them to a luxury cruise liner that they intend to rob. When they arrive on board, they realize that no one is there. It appears that someone, or something, has killed all the guests.

Sounds stupid? It is. But one of the things that makes this movie such an excellent and endearing Guilty Pleasure is that it knows exactly what it is, and doesn't take itself seriously for one moment. It also succeeds thanks to a surprisingly good cast, fast pacing and good humor throughout.

"Joey: "I ask you, man, could it get any worse?" Lights go out.
 * Accidental Murder:
 * Badass Longcoat: Hanover. He loses it halfway through.
 * Better to Die Than Be Killed:
 * When is grabbed by a sea monster that will slowly and painfully digest him alive, he detonates one of his explosives before it can eat him.
 * Also played with when is grabbed by one of the monsters.  hands him a weapon as an act of mercy, only for  to start shooting at him. While  escapes,  tries to take his own life and discovers he doesn't have any bullets left.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Lampshaded. The writers, aware that the plot will require Bottomless Magazines, introduce the primary weapon of Hanover's pirates as an exotic "Chinese" minigun assault rifle that is auto-cooling, water-tight and has a thousand round magazine. The small size is still preposterous.
 * Catch Phrase/It Got Worse: "Now what?"
 * Chekhov's Gun: Or in this case, Chekhov's torpedoes.
 * Colliding Criminal Conspiracies: There's a Gambit Pileup involving a thief, mercenaries, a captured cruise ship and a pack of sea monsters.
 * Cool Boat: The Argonautica.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Joey.
 * Derelict Graveyard: In the opening scene of the film, before we switch to the main plot the creatures are seen traveling through a deep sea ship graveyard, some of them hundreds of years old, all of which they presumably attacked, ate all the people on it, and sank the ships afterwards. There are even the remains of whale skeletons besides the derelict ships.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
 * Disney Death:
 * Drool Hello: As the remaining group of survivors discuss what to do next, one of the monsters drips slime/drool onto Joey's shoulder. He proceeds to spaz out and opens fire on the monster, causing it to split and spill out the partially digested (but still alive) remains of
 * Dwindling Party
 * The Elevator From Ipanema: Lampshaded.
 * Eye Scream:
 * Fate Worse Than Death: What the creatures do to their "food." Their victims are swallowed up, have their liquids effectively drained and whatever's left of the body being spit back out. Oh, and did we mention that you're still alive when you get spit out? Dying afterwards is a mercy.
 * Foreshadowing: There are several allusions to the revelation that the creatures.
 * Ghost Ship: Somewhat subverted in that the main characters are seeking out the cruise liner intentionally.
 * Hired Guns: Hanover's team.
 * Improbable Taxonomy Skills: And how, Canton! More glaringly, the taxonomic group he claims they belong to is actually extinct in Real Life, being known only from fragmentary fossils. Yet he somehow describes its behavior, which would be pretty darn improbable even from a paleontologist ... let alone, a cruise ship designer like Canton.
 * It Can Think: At one point late in the film the monsters start herding the remaining humans towards their feeding area.
 * It's Personal:
 * Karmic Death:
 * Lady in Red: This is Trillian's outfit for the first half of the film.
 * Large Ham: Anthony Heald, especially towards the end.
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: The creatures have to open wide for this to be really noticeable, but when they do it's quite scary.
 * Oh Crap:
 * A more understated one happens when Simon Canton explains to the others what the creatures are capable of.
 * One-Liner: "What are you looking at?"
 * Outrun the Fireball: On a jet ski actually.
 * Phlegmings
 * Ruthless Modern Pirates: The mercenaries.
 * Smart Ball: Canton's theory of the creatures' origins is completely out of left field.
 * So What Do We Do Now?: The ending
 * Seven Deadly Sins: The villainous mercenary group seems to be made up of this: Vivo is always talking about food (Gluttony), T. Ray threatens with violence all the time (Wrath), Mamooli talks about his desire to have sex with women from every country (Lust), Jason Flemyng says that the group will "kick ass and take names" as well as taunts a monster and claims it is nothing (Pride), Hanover is paranoid, distrustful and later ends up shooting at someone who is going to live and not him (Envy), Mason is seen stuffing money into his pockets (Greed) and Billy complains about all the work he has to do (Sloth).
 * Super-Persistent Predator: The sea monsters, who continue to relentlessly pursue the heroes despite suffering extreme gunfire trauma from doing so every time. One might also wonder why.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass:
 * Traveling Pipe Bulge: When the worm monsters pass through pipes.
 * Vasquez Always Dies:.
 * The Worf Effect:
 * You Just Had to Say It:
 * Super-Persistent Predator: The sea monsters, who continue to relentlessly pursue the heroes despite suffering extreme gunfire trauma from doing so every time. One might also wonder why.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass:
 * Traveling Pipe Bulge: When the worm monsters pass through pipes.
 * Vasquez Always Dies:.
 * The Worf Effect:
 * You Just Had to Say It:

Finnegan: "Thanks, Joey.""