DeepStar Six (1989)

Very Cool!!!

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Project leader Van Gelder is driving most of the crew nuts. He's behind schedule on constructing an underwater missile platform for the US Navy. Unfortunately, pro forma sound checks reveal a cave beneath the seabed over which the platform was to be built. Van Gelder orders that explosives be used to collapse the cave so that building can continue. Burciaga and Collins register their objections due to structural risks. Scarpelli objects since she will lose any chance of studying possible life forms that normally reside in the caves. Captain Laidlaw sides with Van Gelder since the Navy is likely to shut down the project if there are any more delays.Hodges and Osborne set off the charges as ordered. When they send down a tethered remote unit to record stills and video, they manage to lose it. They detach from their tractor housing to pursue the remote, since losing it would be so expensive. The cavern is rather huge, and the likelihood of filling it in to continue construction looks bleak.That's when the elimination derby starts. The rest of the film is about survival: the crew versus whatever took out that the remote.This was a rather ordinary entry. It's sci-fi set underwater with some nasty creatures. This one turns into a more or less by-the-numbers elimination derby, with none of the characters (except perhaps Snyder) showing any awareness of what was happening. It was just not that interesting.

What happens every time a highly anticipated movie is about to be released? The cuckoo effect! A rival studio rushing into production a similarly themed lesser film to cash in on the free publicity of the other film. It's been going on for decades and isn't going to stop.In 1989 we got TWO cuckoo films trying to cash in on the release of James Cameron's much anticipated 'The Abyss.' One was 'Leviathan' and the other was 'Deep Star Six.' While it would be impossible for either of the two to even be in the same league as 'The Abyss,' 'Leviathan' was an enjoyable cuckoo film. It had a fantastic A list cast, a scary build up, and quality FX. 'Deep Star Six' had... Miguel Ferrer.That's the major problem with 'Deep Star Six,' it's doesn't fail because it never even tries on any level. For example, 'Leviathan's limited budget required them to film dry for wet for its underwater shots, which it did surprisingly well. 'Deep Star Six' ONLY HAS ONE 30 SECOND UNDER WATER SHOT! That's right, an under water sci-fi action film which only has one under water scene! The plot, a deep ocean under water base... well, they never really explain WTF there is a giant under water base. They only mention something about it being a nuclear missile site for the Navy or something.Unlike 'Leviathan' the characters are extremely forgettable and the cast is totally devoid of any namable stars, save Miguel Ferrer whom is terribly miscast in his role. The only other three actors I recognized were Greg Evigan ('My Two Dads' 'PSI Love You' 'Tek War') Matt McCoy (husband in 'Hand That Rocks The Cradle') and Elya Baskin (token Russian guy in EVERY MOVIE).I looked up the filmographies of the other actors just in case I missed anyone. Nope. They've barley done any other work.Their mini subs are attacked by a sea monster or so we're told. Remember, there's only one under water shot in the beginning so we never actually see the monster under water or the destruction its blamed for.The monster eventually gets inside the base and this is another example of 'Deep Star Six' not even trying as Matt McCoy being cut in half is NEVER SHOWN! In one shot he's alive, in the next he's cut in half. Maybe the monster is innocent? So far we haven't seen it cause any of the deaths. In fact, we haven't even seen the deaths! When we finally see the monster it's bigger than an elephant which begs the question, how the hell did it get inside and how does it later fit through airlocks the size of manhole covers?The surviving crew members do the only sensible thing and close the airlock, thus trapping the monster inside the base! While the airlock was leaking water they'd already decided to abandon the base anyway so what would one flooded room matter? Anyway, five crew members escape the room alive. Alright, so letter lock the door and NEVER go in that room ever again! At this point the film reminds us that they will decompress and evacuate the base in four hours. Good! Just leave the monster alone for four hours and they'll never have to see it ever again!!! Of course they go back into the room!!! What's the worst that could happen? Thus the monster causes more death and destruction. Maybe it just wants out? Open the airlock and let it out!As I said, there's nothing to hate about 'Deep Star Six' except how little it tries. It was a cuckoo project to begin with that really comes in a distant third behind 'The Abyss' and 'Leviathan.'

People keep making excuses for this film and how it doesn't have the budget or flash of a James Cameron movie. Actually, what it lacks is a script editor or writer who has any idea what it is like to watch a movie.The first thirty minutes demonstrate utterly nothing happening. The crew recycle old jokes, complain, and chatter on all without establishing any real personality to the characters. You could cut this down to a five minute montage of one-liners and lose nothing. Then, there's lots of stumbling around while trying to figure out what is happening. Are we supposed to believe the Navy entrusted this crew of people with a $600 toilet lid, much less a submarine? Once the movie gets going, it improves marginally, but not really. Characters cannot identify a reason for any action they take. Instead, they just flail about and burn screen time doing stuff that tells us nothing about the characters, doesn't contribute to the plot, and builds an "atmosphere"...of tedium. It is excruciating to watch the filmmakers stumble again and again without making a point or providing any kind of actual tension. Instead, it's like watching a second-rate imitation of Seinfeld that got filmed underwater by accident.As others have noted, the short synopsis of this is: incompetents undersea are trying to build a missile base, dynamite a cavern, and unleash a terrible monster. Everything else happens exactly as you would expect past that point. Then at some point, anticlimax happens when the monster turns out to be not as exciting as you might hope, and implausible as the terror of the deep that keeps these people in "suspense." What makes all of this interesting is that aspects of this movie are well done. The sets are beautiful, the cinematography is great, and the soundtrack is well-above average. But it feels like a sitcom, has cardboard characters, and never gets any depth (har-har) to the motivations of anyone in the film, so it ends up being like "Moby-Dick" retold by the town drunk. I got a lot of laughs out of this film mocking it MST3K style but definitely do not recommend it.There are films with $30,000 budgets that beat this one palms down simply by having edited their scripts for what an audience might find interesting. Did anyone read this script? When they typed it, maybe, or when they started filming, or when they xeroxed it for crew members? It's as if no one could look at this and think, "You know, that's going to be a COLOSSALLY BORING MOVIE, let's drop the shtick and go for the action... or add some personality to these stick figures." But nope. Zero out of four billion stars.

DSS is a frustrating movie...not as bad as the contemporaneous "Leviathan," but not nearly as good as "The Abyss." Quite a bit of money and effort went into the movie, and the reasonably good SFX show this. Unfortunately, it falls back into the same pit of horror-SF clichés that plague most movies of the genre.Lots of "clang" moments here, too. For one thing, how are the creatures getting around the station when the crew keep closing all the water-tight hatches behind them? It's not like there's a suspended ceiling they can crawl through. And in a later scene, it seems like a good idea to open the fuel dump on a submersible vehicle and pour highly-flammable fuel all over the creature before igniting it with a flare. Huh? Since when do submersible vehicles use internal combustion engines that require petroleum-based fuels? (I'd personally like to see the air filters that extract air for the engines from the surrounding seawater.) And how do you decompress from that depth in less than three hours? But, all things considered. it's serviceable as a monster flick. Just don't expect any common sense. Oh, and don't get attached to any of the characters.