In my DVD library, scifi and fantasy are held in high esteem and are arranged separately, from each other as genres and from the rest of the bunch, so that I can easily peruse them when I am getting the fix to watch something in either genre. After watching Willow, my eyes traveled over both genre collections and landed on this movie from 1989. For some reason, I had to pull it out and watch it again, likely because it had been a few years since I saw it last.
Funny thing about the Abyss and my love for it: I think it's a great little film for what it is, which I will talk about in a bit. Yet, in order for the film to really work for me, I can't watch it repeatedly, over and over. I've seen the movie, perhaps, five times, all of which have been spread over the course of the years since its release. The Abyss works as a film, in my estimation, primarily for one reason--namely, the moods and atmosphere created by story and concept: tension, intensity, and even some spookiness associated with the underwater backdrop. To his credit, director James Cameron is something of an expert at fostering these emotions in the viewer.
Yes, that's right. If you don't know or remember, Cameron directed this flick. I know that the reviews of him as a director are about as mixed as those of this film itself. Even the naysayers, however, have to acknowledge that Mr. Cameron is a master at certain media, particularly science fiction. Titanic and "king of the world" aside, he's directed some popular films with mass appeal (and they appeal to me too), including Aliens and the first two Terminator films. Whatever his faults or deficiencies, I think he's adept at probing, even skewering, ordinary human emotions in extraordinary circumstances. He's also adept at weaving a good yarn, and I like this movie because the Abyss is truly an original, imaginative story that makes you think, even if that thought is spent only on imagining the possibilities of exploring the depths of sea and earth where virtually no human has traveled. This movie is, in many ways, a redesigned 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with a modern twist.
Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) is the leader of a motley crew of underwater oil-drillers who live and work in an experimental submersible oil rig, which resides at depths of several hundred feet below surface, designed by Bud's soon-to-be-ex-wife Lindsay (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). The prickly pair must reunite, as the company sponsoring the dig cooperates with the military, which is looking for a downed Russian craft. Problems arise when a hurricane damages the umbilical connecting the rig to a stable ship above-water. The rig team, trapped as they are, must weather the storm, except that strange things begin to happen below the depths, leading to an unlikely fight for survival.
Again, like some other films I appreciate, this is not the greatest film ever created. It has its flaws. The ending is a little hokey, and an unlikely and, perhaps, contrived series of events occurs before your disbeilef is completely suspended. The material is also a little dated, for later that year, the Berlin Wall came down, and the Cold War ended. For flaws, however, those are few and relatively unimportant, including the historical context, since the film does not try to project into a future based on the political status quo of the day, such as in 2010: The Year We Make Contact; it, instead, imagines a present where "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" crosses with Jules Verne.
The underwater milieu provides the perfect setting for a creepy thriller. Harris and Mastrantonio are wonderful actors who have great chemistry, as the film explores the love they still have for one another. The supporting players are interesting, particularly Michael Biehn, who leads the military group assigned to recover the Russian sub and its weaponry, though he is afflicted by pressure sickness with dire consequences for the rig's crew, providing one of the intensity-driven obstacles in their quest for survival. The special effects are groundbreaking and gave Mr. Cameron enough groundwork to create the masterful T-1000 effects in Terminator 2. Even if you don't (SPOILER) subscribe to the fanciful notion that extraterrestrials have settled in the deep places of the earth, the concept alone is a highly imaginative and entertaining one, and Mr. Cameron realizes that vision quite spectacularly in the film's final sequences.
While it was only modestly successful at the box office, and even less successful critically, the Abyss is simply an entertaining film that does not disappoint in terms of the ride it gives the viewer. I appreciate that ride, though, as I said, it's a ride best enjoyed once in a while, when the thought of being hundreds of feet underwater, surrounded by unknown life forms and trapped by a violent storm, can really work the imagination. On that basis alone, I recommend watching or re-watching this film--that is, of course, unless you are afraid of the water.