The Abyss (1989)

Sick Product of a Sick System

A Masterpiece!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The Abyss is one of Jim Cameron's lesser known efforts and one can see why. Its rather long, most of it is underwater(probably 90%) and the subject just might not be of interest to most people. The film itself is more known for its behind the scene shenanigans. The plot takes a bunch of civilian divers who go down to the trenches of the Ocean to recover a lost submarine. What they don't realize is that there are far more powerful forces at play here. The original version of the film was derided on release but a director's cut with additional footage sets most of the detractors straight. The last few minutes of this director's cut are rather good so watch this version of the film. Still, the film is just alright and nowhere on the level of say The Terminator or Titanic.

"The Abyss", directed by James Cameron and starring Michael Biehn, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, was released in 1989 raking in approximately 55 million dollars in the worldwide box office. "The Abyss" is an underwater thriller, science-fiction and action film which follows a diving team who encounter an alien species. The alien is a pink glow of light which, at first seems quite splendid and alluring, but slowing fades to an awkward "Close-Encounters-of-the-Third-Kind" meets a stingray, which looks poor and disgusting. Due to these awkward designs, the aliens derive from the actual plot of the film and manage to drag out the nonsense for another hour with unlikeable, paper-thin characters.Speaking of which, the characters are underdeveloped and lack any varying emotions and personalities. Ed Harris, who also performed in "Gravity" (a similar but much better film) does not give a good performance, constantly over-dramatising scenes. His poor performance in this is also due to the terrible, nonsensical script which is painfully long and extremely boring. Despite the extremely poor, lengthy script (but under-developed characters), Michael Biehn, who stars in much better James Cameron films such as "Aliens and Terminator", performs exceptionally as a slowly crazing marine. Unfortunately, Biehn cannot enhance the experience of this film which, despite all other factors, manages to involve terrible choreography and illogical movements.The setting and sets are, in fact, incredible despite useless dialogue and repetitive "I love you" scenes which never fail to get old.The worst James Cameron film I have ever (and hopefully will ever) witnessed, "The Abyss" is a terrible film plunged into plot convolutions, cringe-worthy choreography and laughable dialogue.

James Cameron loves to be underwater and made a few documentaries about it...and two movies, one was his kitsch-drama "Titanic" and the other one was his slightly overlooked masterpiece known by the name "The Abyss".And his love of the theme is there to be seen in every second of film, the set is actually underwater with all the cast and crew inside, some of them couldn't even resist the pressure.Technically everything's near perfection, the camera-work, lighting, and sound. The soundtrack is composed by Alan Silvestri and one of my favourites written by him, the emotional parts feel even more powerful thanks to him.The special effects are amazing, everything's practically made with models, puppets, real tech and/or optical projections. There is one incredible CGI-effect when the aliens use their power to bend the water and give it the shape of a human face.The acting is incredible and the interactions between the characters the reason why the whole movie works. My favourite scene in the movie is when the two ex-married protagonists are stuck in a flooding Submarine and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonios character has to temporarily die, because they only have one diving suit. After that they have to bring her back to life in a nail biting resuscitate scene.The movie is intense, but takes it's time to build everything up and the pay-off at the end is fitting and great in my opinion.I all in all adore this film, because of the excellent acting, incredible effects and it's emotional core...

The Abyss certainly feels like James Cameron's most personal and low-key directorial effort. The big action set-pieces and ahead of their time special effects are still here, yet the story he's trying to tell feels much more human and conscious of its time period. It's his first film to mainly concentrate on humans and have the science fiction elements play more of a side role. On a technical and atmospheric level there is nothing to hold the film back, only Cameron himself does that with some inconsistent plotting and writing which leads to a frequently spectacular but unbalanced film. We follow the workers of an underwater oil rig as they are joined by navy seals and asked to investigate the crash site of a navy submarine and find out what caused it. The rigs designer Lindsey insists on going along despite her estranged husband Bud being the foreman. You can see that this will lead to their personalities clashing and it does which creates an interesting dynamic to the films credit. It's no surprise when we learn that something alien caused the crash, after Lindsey comes face to face with a life form that can manipulate water. This alien story works best when it's shrouded in mystery, yet I really don't like the eventual resolution to it. After a lot of interesting build-up we end on a note that feels straight out of E.T and doesn't fit the films tone at all. The real meat of the story comes when navy seal Coffey steals a warhead from the wreckage. Struck with paranoia he believes that the life form is a Russian spy and turns on the crew when they don't cooperate with his plan to attack it. The tension during these scenes is wonderful. Coffey is the most interesting character and seeing him slowly snap is disturbing in all the right ways. The clashes between him and the crew are always brimming with intensity too. The film is at its best when it lets the claustrophobia of these situations wash over it. The sense of isolation and unease does get appropriately strong, as scenes like the crew trapped as water floods in or racing to stop the warhead being launched are what really suck you in. I actually think that if the film discarded the Sci-Fi elements then it could probably work even better as a straight-up thriller.An area of weakness is in regards to the characters. Most of the crew just don't have much personality because of a lack of development and bland writing. Having characters like Hippy whose trait is being a conspiracy theorist and carrying a rat or Standing whose nickname is One Night (which is the worst excuse for a nickname you'll see) stinks of laziness. Ed Harris is solid as usual and Mastrantonio does a serviceable job, yet its relying on their acting talents to carry bland characters. The only real standout is Michael Biehn who provides a genuinely chilling performance as the paranoid Coffey.With that said Cameron's direction and staging is as impressive as ever. The set itself is simply incredible. Not only does it look gigantic, but it is lit perfectly and gives a real sense of being deep in the ocean. The special effects are impressive and still hold up well, while the in-camera effects still amaze too. I didn't think it was possible to make a fight scene between two mini-subs gripping but they managed to pull it off. There are also a number of sequences that are really deliver the tension necessary. Notably the resuscitation scene which, though a little ludicrous, is almost overwhelmingly intense and superbly acted by Harris. The same goes for Harris attempting to retrieve the warhead, it's heart-pounding in every way you could wish.When The Abyss reaches its conclusion I was relatively satisfied. It is an intelligent and frequently thrilling film based around an interesting idea. The issues arise from when that idea isn't fully realised and the writing gets in its way. When the film concentrates on offering thrills and intensity in a unique environment then it really does engage. Yet all the talk of alien life forms feels out of place in such an oppressive setting and the majority of characters aren't strong enough to really involve the audience for such a long film. In saying that I was never bored or confused by the film, and with a little fine-tuning it could have been something special.