The Abyss (1989)

Cameron's Marvellous Close Encounters Of The Sea Kind.

Special Edition

A deep sea oil crew are called upon by the military to investigate the events that saw an American Nuclear Submarine crash down in the abyss. As the crew, and their hot headed Navy Seal passengers, get down deeper, it would seem they are not alone down there.

The Abyss is a flawed movie when put under the microscope, even allowing for the reinserted (and much better) ending that James Cameron was forced to cut by idiot studio executives. Most glaringly obvious as a fault is that The Abyss, after holding us for 2 hours of engrossing cinema, can't quite seal the deal as a deep (hrr hrr hrr) message movie for the modern era. What isn't in doubt upon revisits to the piece is that it's at times spectacular, at others it's joyously ambitious, both things coming together in one big loud boom of being a blockbuster with brains. James Cameron can never be accused of not trying to entertain the masses, and here, with a bit more thought on a humanist level, then we would have been talking in the realms of masterpiece.

The making of the film is itself worthy of a movie, a fraught and angry shoot with many problems, of which I wont bore you with as they can be found at the click of a mouse. But Cameron pushes hard because he wants to please and dazzle, and he does, every buck and sweat drop is up there on the screen to be witnessed. The lead actors put in great work, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio give the film its centrifugal emotive heart as the warring Brigham's, while Cameron fave Michael Biehn does a fine line in Gung-Ho decompression nut case! The technical aspects do dazzle, the visual effects rightly won the Academy Award in that department, and both the cinematography (Mikael Salomon) and art design (Dilley/Kuljian) are worth the price of a rental alone.

It's true to say that The Abyss is a fusion of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind & The Day The Earth Stood Still, but really I don't personally see anything wrong with that! As a spectacle it rewards the patient in spades, as a deeply profound moving picture it falls just about short, but even then a less than 100% Cameron picture is still one hell of a ride to be on. 8.5/10

Jul 7, 2019

A fantastic movie ruined by the studio's shortsightedness. Be sure to watch James Cameron's version of this movie, aliens included, to get the full and best experience! The cinema release was a botch. The Abyss proves you can have a big action film that hits all the right marks with zero profanity!

May 9, 2023

"The Abyss" features a random assortment of sequences which look suspiciously altered to accommodate the course of the film and one of the most obvious is why Bud isn't instantly crushed to death by the pressure while plummeting to what appears to be certain death. And how can he possibly rally himself so quickly when he is already caught in the unforgiving grip of delirium? And how can he be capable of successfully defusing a nuclear warhead after enduring such trauma? The film also enthusiastically throws every conceivable obstacle at its cast of characters - that would probably include a kitchen sink if they had one available - as Murphy's Law is unleashed upon them and runs rampant like never before in any previous film to produce what is essentially a thrilling and completely enthralling motion picture experience.

Oct 25, 2024

When a nuclear-powered submarine goes missing, scientists-cum-salvagers “Bud” (Ed Harris) and his estranged wife “Lindsey” (Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio) are drafted in to find out what’s happened. The area where it was lost has become something of a “Bermuda Triangle” with mysterious power surges and electrical failures but luckily (?) they have the help of navy SEAL “Lt. Coffey” (Michael Biehn) and his team of gun-toters to assist as they dive deep under the ocean. Things doesn’t quite go to plan and they are dragged even deeper, where she is convinced that they are not alone - and that what they are seeing isn’t natural, nor man-mad either! Might it be possible that there’s another species peacefully adorning the ocean floor that’s had it’s fill of mankind and it’s dangerous tantrums? I can’t say much for the acting here, it’s all a bit wooden and with not much by way of decent or scientific dialogue here it’s largely left to the increasingly maniacal Biehn and to some stunning visual effects to deliver the story. It’s that imagery, coupled with the vivid imagination of James Cameron that keeps this slightly over-long adventure moving seamlessly. There’s a predictable, if rather heavy-handed, moral at the denouement (anyone seen “Warlords of Atlantis” from 1978?) and, indeed, the whole thing is riddled with environmental messages of some degree but it’s still essentially a quickly paced and claustrophobic adventure film with plenty going on. It looks great on a big screen with Alan Silvestri’s score compensating well for the banality of the writing, and I quite enjoyed it.

Feb 10, 2025