MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Deepstar Six’ a Shallow ‘Alien’

“Deepstar Six” (citywide) tries to be the underwater “Alien” but ends up a dull, routine action-adventure in which the suspense is mechanical at best. Although there are a couple of gory moments, those expecting the jolts director Sean Cunningham brought to the original “Friday the 13th” are sure to be disappointed.

Fledgling writers Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller trap 11 people in a secret undersea naval laboratory base, Deepstar Six, and have them menaced by an unseen monster--”something very big and very fast.” Their predicament is not as exciting as it should be.

First of all, they are a fairly colorless lot, and instead of allowing them some individuality the writers weigh them down heavily with a tremendous amount of technical jargon; so much that the film seems more complicated than it really is. Little is made of the fact that the mission is a trade-off involving potentially conflicting goals: the crew is to be allowed to pursue an undersea exploration project in return for installing a missile base.

We’re not allowed a good look at the monster until one hour and 16 minutes into the one hour and 39-minute movie. After such a long tease, the creature had better seem pretty scary, but it looks merely like a reptilian variation of King Kong, improbable rather than fearsome. Worst of all, “Deepstar Six” is virtually humorless, which means that the grimmer it gets for its people the more unintended laughter it evokes.

The cast, headed by Nancy Everhard and Greg Evigan, is uniformly competent and conscientious. Only Miguel Ferrer, as a stir-crazy communications expert, has the chance to express some personality. “Deepstar Six” itself (rated R for some grisliness and some four-letter words) seems likely to be deep-sixed quickly.