The Abyss (1989)

Director: James Cameron

Story: James Cameron

Cast: Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Music: Alan Silvestri

Time: 145 minutes

Bottom-line: A spooky, visually breath-taking sci-fi drama

A mammoth cinematic effort by James Cameron – and of course, his crew – The Abyss might be one of his unrecognised and underrated movies, but it is a sci-fi marvel. The film stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn in the lead roles, with few others in minor supporting roles. Among all of Cameron’s major films, I think it’s certain that it is The Abyss that pushed every crew member to his/her limits.

Cayman Trough: The submarine USS Montana has an encounter with an unidentified object underwater, and sinks near the trough. The US government sends a SEAL team to Deep Core, a private rig, to use as a base for operations to recover the sunken submarine, which also carries a nuclear warhead. The foreman of the SEAL team is “Bud” Brigman (Harris), and his ex-wife, Lindsey (Mastrantonio) is the designer of the rig, who also goes with the team. While hurricane threats cause panic on the surface, the underwater exploration has its own surprises, when Lindsey spots an unknown colourful object, that she later claims to be non-terrestrial intelligence. Soon, danger mounts as the rig is rocked by the hurricane, knocking off their mini-sub deeper into the trench and cutting off contact. The SEAL leader, Lt. Coffey (Biehn) seems to have plans of his own, and his selfish motives could well lead to a terrible disaster.

 

Harris as Bud, and Mary as Lindsey 

Most of the film is actually shot underwater. Cameron’s crew built two gigantic artificial tanks in the studio, with capacities of 2.5 and 7.5 million US gallons of freshwater (at that time, the largest freshwater tank!), and the crew spent as much as 6 hours underwater every day. Special suits, cameras and settings were used to create the depth of the ocean, and to ensure clear visual and sound underwater. Shooting also took place in an actual underground lake, in Missouri. This rigorous process is what led to a lot of tension and physical and emotional breakdowns among the acting crew, as well as making the film go $4 million over budget.

 

Biehn as Coffey

With this much effort having been put, the final result is visually dazzling in every way. The lighting and hues used, the action, camerawork and the beauty of the underwater world has been captured superbly, with assistance from Silvestri’s score as well. It’s no surprise that the film won the Oscar for best Visual Effects. The tension is masterfully created in the spooky and unknown atmosphere, and there are few scenes that intensify it even more – the one where Lindsey suffers from hypothermia and Bud’s final plunge into the trench, and the part where the crew meets the alien species, to name a few.

The film has a slow start, but picks up pace after Lindsey’s encounter with the alien species. The thing about the storyline that I didn’t like is that Cameron introduces the NTI species just enough to tempt our imagination, but never actually explores the idea. The species are just shown for about 5 minutes in between and then only at the end, while he could have used more of them in the story (he does, to some extent, in the special edition, with 25 more minutes of screen time). The climax is a bit of a disappointment too.

Usually, in Cameron’s films, there is one standout performance and the others just play along; here however, Biehn, Mary and Harris have all done their best (under enormous stress, given their working environment!). Biehn, after playing the good guy in The Terminator and Aliens, plays a cunning, psychotic, murderous villain with such panache (I also like his new look: with a moustache!) that it is jaw-dropping to watch! In short, watch The Abyss for its stunning visuals and grizzly atmosphere and superb acting; the storyline might put you off, but the film is a delight.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89%