Review of The Abyss (1989) by Danny R — 06 Dec 2011

The greatest underwater epic ever filmed that is unique and totally original, written and meticulously directed by James Cameron. Towards the end of the Cold War the U.S.S. Montana a American nuclear submarine mysteriously crashes against a undersea canyon and goes down in 2,000 feet of water, a Navy SEAL team expedition is dispatched to unearth the sunken nuclear submarine with the help of "Deep Core," a deep-sea underwater drilling oil platform rig run by Ed Harris, during their rescue mission they discover that they are not alone and that a unearthly presence that lays deep beneath them and is starting to rise.

Cameron creates tension and plenty of suspense with his incredible action sequences and his claustrophobic underwater sets that make it all seem so astonishingly real that it will take your breath away, Mikael Salomon's cinematography is truly stunning, there are strong characterizations and intensely emotional acting from the entire cast who are all terrific, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are the true standouts and they deliver brilliant performances and are absolutely electric together, another high-point performance is by character actor Michael Biehn, as the slowly-going-insane leader of the SEAL team who is suffering from pressure-induced psychosis, he gives one of the most realistic portrayal of a delusional man ever committed to the screen.

A superlative score by Alan Silvestri and dazzling Oscar-winning visual effects that are truly mesmerizing, like a lot of Cameron's hits this film was also an innovator in visual effects, particularly with the water-tentacle sequence which was the first modern-day computer-generated digital matte sequence.

"The Abyss" is spectacular one-of-a-kind cinemaitic entertainment by one of the great visionary directors of our time. Highly Recommended.