Review of The Abyss (1989) by Jeannette G — 02 Mar 2010

Uring the height of the Cold War the USS Montana, a US nuclear ballistic submarine, sinks into an ocean abyss due to unknown circumstances. The US Navy scramble to the scene to rescue survivors and recover the nuclear missles on board before nearby Russian forces do. Their best hope are a team of divers attached to a submersible drilling platform not far from the crash site. During the operation freak weather conditions damage the platform and sever its communication with the surface. As World War III looms above and tensions rise between the divers and a deployed SEAL team the rescuers discover that there is something else besides the submarine in the Abyss. An American ballistic missile submarine, the USS Montana, sinks near the edge of the Cayman Trough after an accidental encounter with an unidentified submerged object. As Soviet ships and submarines head towards the area in an attempt to salvage the sub, and with a hurricane moving in, the Americans decide that the quickest way to mount a rescue is for a SEAL team to be inserted onto a privately owned experimental underwater oil platform, which they will then use as their base of operations.

In a subplot the SEAL team is accompanied by the platform's designer, Dr. Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). Her estranged husband, Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) is the foreman of the platform. Unbeknownst to anyone, the Navy SEAL leader Lt. Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn) has developed High Pressure Nervous Syndrome, and is losing his ability to reason as he passes slowly into a paranoid state.

As the oil workers and SEAL team investigate the wreck, the workers have strange encounters with a creature they can't identify, the same being that inadvertently caused the submarine to crash. Meanwhile, the estranged Brigmans argue a great deal; yet underneath, they clearly have affection and respect for one another.