Abyss: Director’s Cut
It’s amazing how one can almost always forgive James Cameron for his ego and sometimes extreme views by the quality of the original sci-fi films he has done that display his prodigious genius. Here in 1989 he made this underwater epic about a deep-core drilling team recruited to assist some Navy SEALS in the recovery of a downed nuclear sub only to find some mysterious creatures (which may or may not be the denizens of Atlantis) with advanced technology and something to say about the state of the world. The ante is upped by the fact that the downed sub has resulted in the U.S. and Russia being on the brink of nuclear war PLUS a raging hurricane going on above the surface of the water. At nearly three hours long, the film succeeds at sucking the viewer in during the first hour, then drags considerably for the middle portion before picking up for the big finish, during which Cameron succinctly makes the point of the story clear. He is certainly helped by his three main actors: Ed Harris is one of those guys who rarely, if ever, gives a bad performance, and here as the oil rig captain continues to play his paragon of virtue characters well, even as the mission is complicated by the arrival of his ex-wife that he has a very checkered history with; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio does fine work in that capacity, sharing both tension and chemistry with Harris as she asserts command and risks her life and the essential goodness of her character comes out; and Michael Biehn as the insane leader of the SEALS (who is suffering from underwater nervous pressure syndrome) does the best of all in essaying the de facto villain of the piece, bringing a frightening intensity to the table despite his part being woefully underwritten while he plans to nuke the beings after being cut off from his chain of command on the surface; Sadly, the rest of the supporting actors playing the other crew members are mostly annoying, uninteresting stereotypes, ranging from the Redneck Guy to the Hippie Guy (literally named “Hippy”) to the Tough Black Chick and of course the Big Dumb Guy as well. These flaws are offset by the special effects showing the creatures themselves as VERY early CGI techniques were employed by the always groundbreaking Cameron and are awe-inspiring even today in an era where we seem to have seen it all. Cameron employs himself in creating moving scenes like when Mastrantonio drowns and has to be revived (with some great emoting from Harris) or when Harris himself has to dive all 2 and a half miles down to the ocean floor in order to disarm the nuclear bomb that Biehn has activated, or even a smaller scene when a form of breathable liquid is demonstrated on an innocent pet rat. It all adds up to a technically impressive, at times well-written achievement that was unfairly ignored upon its original release but has since gained a following in the years after, paving the way for Cameron’s later penchant of routinely making big-budget movies and releasing them to record box office. Overall, an absorbing, extremely well-made film that any sci-fi fan should have the pleasure to discover…
8/10