The Abyss (1989)

So raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle.


Ahh, The Abyss.  Brought to you by the same gentleman who brought us Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic.  Mr. James Cameron.


Story here is simple.  Giant underwater alien bitch slaps a US SSBN (that's the one that caries the nukes).  Since there is no one else that can do the job, the US Navy recruits a team of deep sea oil drillers.  Starring Bruce Willis Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastriano, and the delectably crazy Michael Biehn, I would say this is not one of Mr. Cameron's stronger efforts.  Its a great movie to be sure, but I think it drags at times.  Oh, I should mention that I watched the directors cut which clocks in at about 2.5 hours.  And while it drags, I never lost interest


This movie actually had some scientific accuracy going for it too!  The breathing fluid showcased in the movie is real science.  There's a scene where a rat is used to demonstrate the fluid, and the rat is no shit breathing the fluid.  Now, when Mr. Harris gets his turn with the fluid breathing, he's not really breathing fluid.


But really, the best part of the movie is Mr. Biehn.  He goes bat shit crazy.  Kinda like the bends, but more hardcore.  A series of events leaves him as the last SEAL alive, and then the crew of the oil rig need to stop him from blowing shit up.  Needless to say, they do.  And then, I think this is where the movie falls apart.  Mr. Harris disarms the bomb and then is brought to the underwater alien city where Mr. Harris convinces the aliens to not destroy the world.  After the action and (relatively) quick pacing of the movie, I thought it stumbled to a halt here.


I like it though.  Its fun, doesn't get too preachy, and has some real science to it.  Special effects are awesome, and while they are dated, they are not distracting, and allow you to seamlessly enjoy the film.


I give it 20/24 ICMBs.