Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC (19.00 Mbps) Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
... (more) Note: The 5.1 track is for Deep...
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit) Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 French: Dolby Digital 5.1 French: Dolby Digital 2.0(less) Note: The 5.1 track is for Deep Rising.
Mill Creek Entertainment | 1998 | 106 min | Rated R | Region A (B, C untested) | No Release Date
When a band of ruthless hijackers invade the world's most luxurious cruise ship, they're shocked to discover the passengers have mysteriously vanished! But that doesn't mean they are alone! Something terrifying is lurking just...
A brand new luxury liner dubbed the Argonautica has just set sail. She's packed with wealthy guests and promises a fortune for her owner,
Simon
Canton (Anthony Heald). Unfortunately, disaster strikes: something hits the ship, sending people and material flying. A deep sea creature is to
blame,
and it's feasting on the liquids inside the guests' bodies, leaving only bone and sinew behind. Meanwhile, a small for-hire ship captain named John
Finnegan (Treat Williams) is ferrying a group of mysterious individuals, led by the sinister Hanover (Wes Studi), to remote ocean coordinates. One
of
Finnegan's men (Kevin J. O'Connor) discovers weapons and torpedoes in the hold. Finnegan's not one to ask many questions, though, and he keeps
his mouth shut until they approach the Argonautica. Hanover, his men, and Finnegan's crew board the vessel but find it devastated and
deserted save for a few survivors, including Canton, Ship's Captain Atherton (Derrick O'Connor), and a sexy high-rolling thief named Trillian (Famke
Janssen). As they piece together the mystery of the Argonautica, they find themselves fodder for a ravenous creature who will stop at
nothing to consume its next meal.
Deep Rising fails to capture the terror and suspense of the best of the Monster genre. The movie is halfway entertaining but populated by
uninteresting and eccentric characters with bland dynamics and a boring range of attributes, from tough guy to comic relief, from femme fatale to
levelheaded hero. The movie is fairly executed but hindered by its underpowered and phony computer graphics, a boring structure, an
unimaginative
plot, and mediocre direction. Deep Rising hedges its bets on its action scenes and moments of excess gore, both of which grow tired rather
quickly. Unlike a movie such as Alien that captures a dark atmosphere, good characters, and a serious
tone, Deep Rising strives to entertain as wide an audience as possible through the dumbing down of its elements rather than impress
viewers with tighter features. This is a classic case of a movie that sets the bar too low but, really, when it's just a rehash of tired elements, the bar
cannot get that high by definition, anyway. Deep Rising works well enough as mindless entertainment, but it'll definitely kill a few brain
cells as payment for absorbing its drivel.
I'm not good enough for my own Blu-ray?
The Puppet Masters
Score: 2.0/5
The small Iowa town of Ambrose is about to find itself on the map. Several teenagers discover an unusual object. Soon, a local attraction charges
one
dollar to all visitors to bear witness to an unidentified flying object that's obviously homemade. Three government agents investigate, anyway, using
satellite intelligence to verify that something did in fact penetrate Earth's atmosphere and land in Ambrose. Andrew Nivens (Donald
Sutherland), his son Sam (Eric Thal), and exobiologist Mary Sefton (Julie Warner) travel to the attraction. There, they find people behaving
somewhat
suspiciously, but only to very well-trained eyes. The people act a little robotic, the teenagers don't stare at Mary's cleavage, the ground reveals
evidence of a burn, and Mary feels something dark and dangerous from within the vessel. They soon discover that they are up against alien
beings
that attach themselves to the host, take on the host's biological characteristics, and form a symbiotic relationship with the human victim. The
human hosts do the aliens'
bidding, and the team has only hours until what is still a localized problem spreads across the country and around the globe.
The Puppet Masters may be named for a cherished Robert A. Heinlein novel, the main characters may share their names, and the stories
may be
about alien parasites, but the similarities largely end there. The Puppet Masters is an overlong, repetitive, and shallow picture that fails
to capitalize on its gripping opening minutes, sinking rather quickly into absurdity and boredom as more and more characters predictably come under
the control of the parasites. It's one "character A is infected, now character B" series of events after another. The story never really goes anywhere
but through
these same motions. It lacks chills and legitimate scares, coming across instead as goofy and, eventually, exhausting, leaving audiences rooting for
the takeover of
mankind just so the experience can be over all the faster. The cast is forgettable and only adequate in performing dual duties, one not-too-sharp
government spooks and the other mind-controlled alien hosts.
Deep Rising isn't a very good looking movie, but Mill Creek's Blu-ray handles the film's dreary photography well enough. The picture appears
quite flat and dull. Details are sufficient, but not mind-blowing. The image is best served by the uptick in resolution and heightened clarity of Blu-ray.
Colors are decent, particularly early on inside the Argonautica's main hall before disaster strikes. Low-light murkiness defines much of the
movie,
however, leaving objects appearing bland and dark. Black levels waver from overly deep to too bright. Light grain remains and a few speckles pop up
here and there. The image doesn't excite, but this is a serviceable high definition transfer of a movie that wasn't made with eye candy in mind.
The Puppet Masters
Score: 3.5/5
Like Deep Rising, The Puppet Masters features a fairly good high definition transfer. It's unspectacular but solid, a fair catalogue
image
with no real major problems, a surprise given the low cost of the release. The image offers a stable, consistent picture quality. Details are good but at
times a
bit pasty and occasionally smeary, particularly across background elements. The image never captures the absolute precision and intricate textures of
the finest Blu-ray transfers, but audiences should be satisfied with the general stability, clarity, and accuracy on display. The same may be said of
colors. The palate
is even and accurate, never perfectly rich but not really dull, either. Very light grain remains, but a few edge halos appear here and there. Blacks and
flesh tones are largely accurate. It's not a
showstopper, but Mill Creek's transfer is quite good all around.
Deep Rising swims rather than sinks with an aggressive and highly entertaining DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Mill Creek's audio
presentation is packed with plenty of surround sound elements, robust effects, and hefty gunfire. Music blares with good clarity and plenty of back
channel support. The energetic party aboard the Argonautica packs in a bunch of people and pulls the listening audience into the middle of
the
festivities. Dialogue carries nicely through the main hall in silence, but the track shines once mayhem takes over. Heavy crashes, all sorts of twisted
metal sounds, creaks and moans, and other sounds of a ship in peril and under the pressure of a dangerous sea creature play with an exciting feel.
Gunfire erupts loudly and practically tears the soundstage to shreds. Dialogue is clear and accurate. This track certainly doesn't lack effort. It's not
absolutely seamless and sometimes favors energy and volume over precision, but no doubt it's a fun ride that makes a fairly insipid movie a bit more
palatable.
The Puppet Masters
Score: 3.5/5
The Puppet Masters lands on Blu-ray with an adequate DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. Listeners will enjoy sufficient heft and
space to the opening music. Clarity satisfies, though never does any element really pass for real life. The track spreads the sides out fairly wide.
Ambience and action effects fill up the entire front position of the stage, but the lack of rear support lessens the impact of the film's generic action
scenes. Dialogue is firm and clear, focused up the middle and refusing to unnaturally drift off to the sides. This is nowhere near as dynamic and
exciting a presentation as Deep Rising, but the material suits what is a rather lame movie well enough.
Mill Creek's double Blu-ray release of Deep Rising and The Puppet Masters brings a couple of midlevel Monster movies to high definition
with very good results when matched with the very low price point. The movies are little more than throwaway time killers, though Deep Rising
has found a small following as an ultra-violent and entertainingly brain-dead sort of roller coaster ride. The Puppet Masters lags far behind the
source novel and
the movie is far, far too long, but it might make a decent back end of a double feature with Deep Rising on a long sick day. Both movies offer
good video. Deep Rising's soundtrack is aggressive and fun, while The Puppet Masters' is merely adequate. No extras are included.
Recommended largely on the price.
Beginning next week, Mill Creek Entertainment will be releasing 12 double feature Blu-rays. The films range in variety from Father Hood to Mafia!. If any special features will be included, they have not yet been announced. The first wave of double feature Blu-rays ...
Deep Rising / The Puppet Masters Blu-ray, Forum Discussions
