THE ABYSS

		Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
THE ABYSS - 1989 USA Release: AUG! 9, 1989 Lightstorm Entertainment, Pacific Western, Twentieth Century Fox Rating: USA: PG-13 Page 1 - Page 2

I don't know about you, but there are times in my life when I saw a movie I enjoyed, that I'd later see again and enjoy even more. I'd wind up buying it and every time I see it I still enjoy it and every time for more or different reasons.

And -

There are also those times I saw a movie that I didn't like, but after some time of thinking about it, gave it another chance and I enjoyed it, even to the point of eventually loving it.

And -

Of course the opposite is also true. There are times I enjoyed a movie, only to discover that it didn't hold up to repeat viewings.

Yet -

There are times I didn't like a movie, but due to a friend's encouragement, I watched it again only to find that I disliked it even more.

When it comes to movies I'm firmly in the J.C. camp of John Carpenter and James Cameron. They've made movies that not only endure through the years for me, but have become my definition of what cinema should be.

Yet -

They aren't all winners and after putting it off for decades I decided it's long past time to write a review of THE ABYSS.

Which means I had to watch it again.

A U.S. Navy submarine, deep sea and on a routine course. Suddenly radar picks up something odd. Something is moving toward the sub and it is fast.

The crew listens. It sounds like nothing they've ever heard. No sea life makes that sound, certainly nothing man made.

Whatever it is its moving faster. Submarines have all manner of sensors but what they didn't have in 1989 was a way to put actual eyes on visual confirmation. All they see is a bright dot heading toward them on a graph.

40 knots, 80 knots, well over 100: Nothing we know can move that fast underwater and then, whatever it is, passed the sub.

The worst is yet to come as the sub is caught up in that powerful undersea wake and 156 human lives inside the tube go spiraling out of control off into the depths of the ocean, crashing against undersea mountains.

Because this is James Cameron, whether on a giant movie screen or my TV, I nearly feel the panic the actors convey through their characters.

It doesn't hurt that I'm a Navy veteran, so while I was surface, not sub, to a point some of this resonates with me.

This is James Cameron's THE ABYSS.

Remember: Every single James Cameron movie is a love story.
The entire story is only building up to the moment(s) where
either of the two characters will show just how far they'll go for love.
There are no exceptions to the Cameron Rule.

As blind luck would have it, an experimental submersible drilling rig called Deepcore (experimental because it's manned instead of automatic) is nearby. Like remote controlled automated systems, Deep Core sits on the ocean floor where it connects to the well and pumps the oil from the bottom, up through a long flexible "umbilical" hose to the floating platform above it.

An emergency rescue mission has to be cobbled together fast and since there is no one with the necessary equipment who is closer, who can get to the sunken sub sooner, the oil company that owns the equipment, Benthic Petroleum, is more than happy to work with the military.

The same cannot be said for Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris: COMA, THE ALIENS ARE COMING, CREEPSHOW, NEEDFUL THINGS, WAKING THE DEAD, MOTHER!, GEOSTORM, WESTWORLD [TV]), the boss of Deep Core.

They have all of the expensive robot rigs and piloted submersibles you could want, but Bud won't risk his crew, who aren't trained in deep sea rescue.

As a young man seeing this for the first time in the theater, my first reaction to that was,

A Deep Sea crew isn't trained for Deep Sea rescue?!?

'This entire crew living on an underwater rig at deadly pressures, with everything they could possibly need to perform deep sea rescues, aren't trained in deep sea rescues? What if they need to rescue a crew member or, you know, the entire Deep Core rig? Who do they plan to wait for?'

Then the oil company executive up top on the oil platform promises three times their pay to participate in the operation and suddenly everyone is ready to rock.

READY TO ROCK?

But how? How can they do a job they aren't trained to do?

Again, seeing this for the first time I was appalled at these inhuman cretins who, when faced with an emergency life or death situation, wanted to negotiate human lives for padding their wallets.

You know, like criminals negotiate the lives of their hostages.

At this point you want to see the crew die. So what did James Cameron do?

HE WROTE THESE FOLKS AS THE "GOOD GUYS".

So who are the bad guys?

The rescue team, of course.

TheNavy SEAL team is led by Lt. Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn: THE FAN, THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, RAMPAGE, THE SEVENTH SIGN, TIMEBOMB, JADE, CHERRY FALLS, MEGIDDO: THE OMEGA CODE 2, PLANET TERROR, THEY WAIT, PSYCHE:9, BEREAVEMENT, THE VICTIM, JACOB, THE NIGHT VISITOR, THE GIRL, SHE RISES) and since he and his team are risking their lives to save others, but they are also military, he's the bad guy.

It gets worse when a woman named Lindsey (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio: AMOK, GRIMM [TV]) enters the picture.

Lindsey arrives by helicopter along with the SEALS and, however long their trip was, they already don't like each other.

The crew of Deepcore discover that Lindsey is topside and coming down and nearly all of them from Lisa (Kimberly Scott: FLATLINERS, BODY SHOT, BATMAN FOREVER, BATMAN & ROBIN, IMPOSTOR) to Lindsey's estranged husband on Deep Core, react to the news with revulsion.

In short order Lindsey makes it clear that the Deepcore oil drilling station is her personal project that she fought for four years to achieve, and it's more important to her than human life itself.

Lindsey is specific when she says this, meaning any human lives that are not her own are expendable. She also despises her estranged husband for agreeing to take on this rescue mission, calling him a coward.

Rescuing people is Cowardly?!?

It is to Lindsey.

Rescue people? I designed this oil drilling rig to get rich!

The oil company, working with the government, is forcing Lindsey's hand. The only reason she is here is to make sure that no one hurts her machine, as she knows it better than anyone. She is angry, despises everyone, and would rather let the sailors on the submarine die than so much as scratch her pet project and cap off the oil flow.

Yuck!

Lindsey pilots the mini sub that will take her and the SEALS from the floating oil platform down to Deep Core itself. From there they will go inside Deep Core but first they must endure 8 hours in a sealed enclosure to safely adapt their bodies from ambient sea level pressure to the 57 atmospheres of pressure in the deep sea drill rig.

Meanwhile the victims must wait.

Continued on Page 2.

This review copyright 2020 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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