The Abyss (1989)

Director: James Cameron
Starring: Ed Harris, Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn

Synopsis:
The crew of an underwater oil rig are called in to assist a SEAL team with the rescue and recovery of a downed nuclear submarine, but they come across something else in the depths.

Impressions:
While The Abyss is the undisputed winner of the deep sea movie battle of '89, it really wasn't much of a competition. Some find this movie a bit heavy-handed and preachy, especially in the director's cut and that's not entirely unfair, but if you can shrug that off, this is a well-made and well-acted movie. Ed Harris and Elizabeth Mastrantonio are quite good as the lead characters, as is Michael Biehn in a rare antagonistic role as the increasingly unstable Lieutenant Coffey. The incidental cast is rather varied and colorful, but perhaps because I'm not as close to this film as, say, Aliens, they don't leave as deep of an impression. I can appreciate Cameron integrating his love of deep sea diving into one of his movies, even if his thematic elements are about as subtle as a brick to the head. (Fortunately, this isn't remotely as bad as it gets in Avatar, so I'm inclined to give this one a pass.)

The special effects for this film include some major breakthroughs, such as the "water tentacle" for fluid sim, though it looks a bit dated now. Most of the FX are practical, though, which I always like.

Now, I haven't seen the full director's cut, so I can't fully comment on it, but I did at least make a point to go out and watch the alternate ending. You know that brick to the head I mentioned? Yeah, make that a ton of bricks. (And even then, still not as bad as Avatar.) I recommend the theatrical cut. Save the director's cut for curiosity.

Rating:
Watch It