The Abyss
September 30, 2008
Another great addition to the Modern Classic series is The Abyss. Easily the greatest water movie ever made. Because James Cameron (Titanic) chose to shoot in real life full scale in a gigantic converted nuclear reactor turned into an ocean. The depth and realism are unequaled. Everything looks real because it is. You can feel the weight and cold of the abyss all through the film. It has some wonderful moments of suspense and action that only James Cameron (Aliens) movies can bring. For its day, cutting edge special effects and film making. For all Cameron’s movies (Terminator 1 and 2) The Abyss has some of the best acting yet. Ed Harris is great as usual.
Plot: When a US nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks in the open ocean the Navy must begin rescue operations before the approaching storm. The only thing the military can do is enlist the help of a deep ocean drilling station sitting on the ocean floor. The oil rig is run by a tough, no nonsense group of guys who’s leader is Bud (Ed Harris) Once the Navy SEALS arrive at the drilling station with their leader, Coffey (Michael Biehn) and Buds soon to be ex wife Lindsay (Mary Mastrantonio) the entire group is cut off from the surface by the storm. That’s when movie takes off. Everything thing you can think of, drama, suspense, action, and there’s something else down there with them, and its not human. They must battle each other for power, sanity, and rescue in this absolute top notch action thriller.
Acting: Excellent, Ed Harris is great as always. He’s wonderful as the films hero trying to juggle his wife, the emergency, the foreign presence, and still handle the SEALS and there problems. Mary Mastrantonio is wonderful again as Buds almost ex wife who is always on his case and who is sure the foreign presence down there is friendly. Micheal Biehn is at his best as Lt. Coffey The SEAL commander who looses his mind and tries to destroy it all. The rest of supporting cast is good as well.
Special Effects: For 1989 it has some of the best special effects. But like James Cameron (True Lies) always does, a lot of his effects are subtle, so what you get is a movie filled with effects that looks like there’s only a few if any. The real accomplishment here are the real life effects. The water is all real, they are really underwater, deep, and it shows. Some things you just cant fake. Fire, water, humans, those have to be real or the movie doesn’t work. This film has great all around effects as well as real life cinematography.
Final Word: As my Modern Classics category grows I make sure that not only add the movies that have the best acting or story, but, those movies that changed the way they make movies and those films that changed the industry with new technologies and effects or opened whole new genres of film. The Abyss changed they way they made water movies and it is certainly What-to-watch.
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