The Abyss (1989)

"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.

Why the low rating? Same reason it's on the Sundance Channel - because I watched the Director's Cut, rather than the original theater version. This may be called the Special Edition but I have no interest in figuring that out any longer.I had enjoyed the theater version on DVD since the concept seemed a relatively benign underwater alien encounter. It seemed disjointed, I had seen on TV the filming difficulties, and James Cameron is a preachy anti-Christian scumbag who was miserable to work with, but yeah OK it was watchable and has some decent scenes.Sundance Channel, of course, is Robert Redford's pet cable channel, and Redford is another notoriously noxious anti-American kinda guy (who earned much of his wealth playing military heroes &c.) So I thought I'd be interested in seeing what wound up on the cutting room floor. I was horribly mistaken, sitting through 4 hours worth of this atrocity (commercials included though, so I have no idea what the real length was; Special Edition is reportedly almost 3 hours).First, the movie lost nothing by such substantial cutting. The theater version was often turgid, but that was due to bad direction. The portions cut out of the backstory that are NOT directed at the main theme don't account for much; there's some more bits about the failed marriage of the two primary characters but nothing that builds any better empathy. About the only meaningful thing is that Ed Harris is presented slightly more "good ole boy" and Mastrantonio a bit more arrogant bitch.The bulk of the difference which was cut from theatrical release deserved to be. With Cameron's intent included, the movie turns into a preachy, clumsy anti-American screed that fails on pretty much every level. The American-Soviet antagonism which is not much more than a backdrop in the theatrical version is instead the main plot: the Cold War is about to explode into nuclear confrontation purely on the basis of the sunken US sub and an at-sea collision. The SEAL team are monsters, rather than just having a crazy leader. The aliens conjure a world-wide tsunami with their water magic, only to cause the wave to stop, with subsequent scenes of mindless human rejoicing.There's additional dialogue from Harris on behalf of the aliens which is more of the same "UFO angels won't destroy you... THIS TIME" Apparently the only reason the aliens didn't wipe out most of humanity was Harris' goodbye message to Mastrantonio? You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD3vOduCwu0THOSE are the grounds for the not-well-explained saucer-city rising to the surface at the end of the film. It seemed pretty meaningless in the theatrical release, but now it's an obvious threat by a superior intelligence that humans are evil and better stop acting like children or we'd be wiped out be the angelic aliens.

Dear James Cameron, what a piece of crap this was. It started off OK. In fact it was very intriguing. Ed Harris is a very competent actor. The thrills were excellent. The sets were great. The film had this ominous and claustrophobic feel about it. A bunch of people confined in these small and closed spaces where death could be imminent. But everything fell apart after that phony alien made an appearance. It was a tough survival flick until then. The Abyss might have created the prototype for big budget sci-fi flicks like The Martian. Especially the bit where a bunch of people are in contact with some guy who is in grave danger. And they are guiding him or something and he snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. At this point they all jump around like a bunch of monkeys shouting and yelling as if someone invited them to an orgy. Jeez! Yes. I know it is supposed to be an allegory and all. But all this humanitarian crap was boring. I'll take Alien and Terminator over this, alright? Best Regards, Pimpin.(5/10)

After creating two of the most instantly recognisable science- fiction films in the 80's (Aliens and Terminator), Cameron ended the decade by embarking on a unique and original project with an underseas setting. Whilst it may not live up to some of his other action masterpieces, The Abyss remains a great adventure through it's focus on suspense and unique underwater environments.Similar to the Terminator films, The Abyss is focused on reflecting Cold War fears of complete annihilation of the human race. It is set in the midst of the cold war and the story of an oil rig crew, searching underwater for a crashed nuclear submarine and investigate the causes of the crash. To do this they must work in harsh conditions with the regular pressures of submarine work, passing hurricanes and the threat of Russians causing increasing pressure and insanity amongst the crew. Whilst on their mission they begin to realise they may not be alone there and encounter a mysterious alien species who seem to be able to control the water around them.Whilst the story is interesting at points, the film is problematic in handling it as the script is constantly trying to push the story in different directions. At times the film is very dark, with one storyline going in to the growing madness and paranoia of one of the Navy SEAL's as he is on the verge of attacking the other crew members. Then at other points it grows very soppy with the aliens friendly presence and the way they're used in the film being more reminiscent of something like ET. Particularly its ending (which I won't spoil here) does go in to gag levels of cheesiness. But whilst the films writing may be scattered at points the visuals never fail to disappoint. Whilst the film is well known for its revolutionary effects in using the first 3 dimensional CG character, what's truly impressive is the films breathtaking underwater setting. James Cameron and the crew spared no expense to create realistic underwater environments, buying a 7 million gallon tank at an abandoned plant and filling it with water. At times this way of filming led to an extremely troubled production including the likes of algae infestation and even lead actor Ed Harris almost drowning, presumably in an attempt to take method acting to the next level. But the results of this are astounding with the lighting and use of colour creating a real sense of how this submarine crew are cut off from the rest of the world. Its style is also a nice step away from the usual Hollywood blockbusters with the film favouring a slow tension building scene than the usual fast paced action movies. For example, in one of the film's best sequences Bud has to descend into the Abyss and has to deal with the pressures that such a dive would bring with depleting oxygen and difficulties in keeping consciousness. Sequences like this are both visually spectacular and more successful in putting us in the perspective of our characters and experience the same pressures they do. Whilst it's writing has its weaknesses, the visuals are truly something spectacular and deliver on creating some great moments of tense atmosphere. Beyond this the ambition and technical brilliance of the effects used in the film are truly astonishing creating the most realistic underwater environment put to screen.