Review of The Abyss (1989) by Stephen C — 05 May 2011

Its hard for this reviewer to fathom (pardon the pun) James Cameron.

He is a solid director make no mistake but I feel he lacks something which makes directors like Spielberg and Copploa great .

Its my view that the first Terminator and Aliens are still his best movies as they have a certain some thing the later works dont have for all their flare and show.

This 1989 film has some good elements but is sunk by some clunky dialogue and the feeling your watching Close Encounters set underwater.

The cast performances are mixed too ,Ed Harris is always good and his realtionship with Mary Elizabeth Matrantonio gets abit icky in places ,but their both too good an actor to let the chemistry feel reel.

The rest of the crew are fine ,but Michael Biehns performances scuttles alot of the films climatic moments,he chews the scenery so hard his role becomes a parody almost of the role he played in Aliens.

Cameron does know how to stage a set piece of course and their are plenty here on offer ,but what made Close Encounters so brilliant is the sense of wonder that Spielberg infused the film with .

Here its hard to feel that wonder as the story changes tack from action drama to feel good movie and back soo rapidly your head is left spinning by all you see.

Not a total clunker then ,but after the heady brew of Aliens,this feels like very thin beer indeed.