My Favorite Movie, "The Abyss"

Spoilers alert! If you have not already seen this film, please proceed with caution.

The 1989 sci-fi/adventure film The Abyss, directed by James Cameron, remains to be an other-worldly oddity in the realm of cinema with its intense narrative, special effects, stellar performances and thrilling set design, transporting audiences into an underwater realm of suspense and mystery. The cinematic language of the film itself and the technical work that went into it making it has had a lasting impression on viewers since the 80's, and critics have widely regarded it as a captivating and visually stunning masterpiece.

Despite The Abyss' message and masterful delivery, it is not a very well-known film. This being my favorite movie of all time, I am often dumbfounded when I hear people claim to have never seen it, and more often than not, never heard of it. The sad truth is, the film might have been overshadowed by two blockbuster films: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Back to the Future Part II, both of which were released the same year as The Abyss, and were long-awaited by audiences who were fans of previous films from both franchises.

Regardless of it never quite achieving the fame it rightly deserved, The Abyss remains a cult classic to this day. Unlike some of the stars, submarines and underwater action sequences that help bring the marine world of the story to life, this film is timeless and will never sink into the depths of the sea, lay forgotten.

The Abyss is incredibly unique, and takes its time to build a story that audiences will remember. It does this by telling many different stories at once, each one branching off the main plot and coming together in the end.

The film begins when the USS Montana, a US nuclear submarine with 156 men aboard, sinks near the Cayman Trough in the Caribbean Sea after coming in contact with a strange unidentified object. This startling beginning to the film features an intense and claustrophobic sequence as the crewmen of the sub realize the seriousness of the situation they are in, and brace themselves for impact as the sub scrapes against an unseen seawall and succumbs to the pressure of the deep ocean water. At 00:04:18, an over-the-shoulder shot is used as the captain of the vessel shares a private moment with one of his crewmen in the midst of the chaotic struggle for survival. They look each other in the eyes and both realize the sub will inevitably sink—they have no choice but to release the distress buoy to mark their current location. This moment allows us to focus in on the faces of two men who have just accepted the fact that they are about to die, and there is nothing they can do to escape that fate. This intense scene foreshadows the high-stakes challenges and scary sequences that will surely follow throughout the remainer of the film.

After the initial sinking of the USS Montana, the US government sends a SEAL team to an experimental underwater oil drilling platform called "Deep Core," about 22 miles away from the wreckage in a rescue operation—codename, operation “Salvor”. Helicopters are flown in to meet "Benthic Explorer," a utility ship attached to Deep Core to keep the massive rig from moving from its current position on the ocean floor below. The SEAL team is dropped in, descending below the depths to meet the crew of the oil rig alongside chief engineer Lindsey Brigman, soon-to-be ex wife of Virgil “Bud” Brigman who is foreman of Deep Core. Thus, the complex branches of the subplots of the story begin to grow.

Bud and Lindsay are the two main protagonists of the film and share a rocky relationship, and their marital issues are only exacerbated by the escalating life or death situations that bombard continuously bombard them as the film unfolds. The peculiar circumstances surrounding the sinking of the sub and the resulting interference from the US government that ultimately forces the crew of Deep Core to “cooperate in a matter of national security” (00:10:30) to perform a rescue mission serve as catalysts for disaster in the near future.

As the crew of the Deep Core are given the details of the rescue mission from 00:10:40 to 00:12:20, Bud and colleagues speak face-to-face with the head of the military operation, who is talking to them on-screen via a small television set. This sequence shows the disconnect between the stoic military personnel and the rough around the edges oil workers, foreshadowing the tension that will inevitably build through their forced collaboration. There are elements of extreme distrust that emerge as the Navy SEALS speaking to the oil workers through the screen appear out-of-touch, and indifferent toward the safety of the oil rig crew. The SEALS are depicted in dull coloring thanks to the static of the tiny television set. This highlights the disconnect between the two groups of people and eludes at the SEAL team potentially hiding ulterior motives.

The technical form and environment of all of these opening scenes of the film are extremely important. We are given many long, wide angle shots of Benthic Explorer, Deep Core, the USS Montana, cruising mini subs and stormy waters as we are teleported into this tense, mysterious world surrounded by ocean. In order to film all of these large vessels and rigs, James Cameron built a massive underwater set in the containment unit of an abandoned nuclear reactor, filling it with 7.5 million gallons of water. In this containment unit, model ships, aquatic robots, submarines and the cast members themselves were put to the test to work through the mechanics and technical issues associated with filming underwater. Many people may not realize after seeing the film for the first time that very few stunt doubles were used—in fact, the majority of the stunts we see in the final product of the film are done on by the stars of the film itself.

The cast underwent special training to be able to pull off so many underwater scenes, spending many hours practicing with professional diving gear and filming in diving suits. For their safety, every detail of the film's action sequences had to be carefully planned out and rehearsed. There are numerous sequences in the story where rooms are flooded, characters are drowned, oxygen tanks are damaged or fail and submarines are subjected to intense deepwater pressure. To make all of this believable, Cameron needed the opening scenes of his film to maintain a certain flow in editing, set design and cinematography—and his courageous cast had to be very well-prepared.

Camera shots taken underwater near the rig had to capture the essence of the other-worldliness of the deep ocean. Dark blue lighting was structured around the rig to give it an intense bluish hue, making it look like an alien spacecraft perched on another planet. Minimal music was used in the beginning of the film as well. In lieu of music, specific sound effects graced our ears that would not make sense anywhere above water—the ominous “ping” of a sonar (as heard in the very beginning at around 00:00:10), the screech of metal against underwater casm walls (as heard at 00:03:52), the bubble and hiss of oxygen masks (as heard at 00:40:12) and the loud blaring of the oil rig's alarm systems (as heard at 00:53:54). Cameron also wanted to clearly establish who we should consider the protagonists versus the antagonists of the film. We see many close-up shots of each of the oil workers, yet none of the SEAL team throughout the first twenty minutes of the film, eluding to the disconnect previously discussed. Lighting is focused on the faces of the crewmen of Deep Core, allowing us to see every detail of their faces and every emotion they feel. We immediately relate to the crew and are ultimately are routing for them, while the SEAL team comes across as vacant and unfeeling in comparison, deepening our distrust toward them.

As we dive further into the entwined stories of each character and their relationships with one another, we can already see conflict on the horizon. As the SEAL team arrives on the rig and prepares for the rescue operation, the main antagonist of the story, Lieutenant Coffey, is given an important camera shot. Rack focus is used to guide our attention from his face down to his trembling hand as he puts away his gear. Lindsey Brigman had already shared a dialogue with the SEAL team by this time where she mentioned trembling limbs, sweating and slurred speech were all tell-tale warning signs that a person might be experiencing the early stages of pressure-induced psychosis. These symptoms can often result when people are confined in a submarine or any confined space at extreme depths. At 00:19:36, we see Coffey’s hand beginning to shake. As the focus cuts back to his sweating face and alarmed expression, we understand this is just the beginning of his descent into madness.

The journey continues as the crew of Deep Core and the military SEAL team finally locate and approach the sunken submarine to search for survivors. With a storm moving in, the characters are on a tight schedule, and the divers waste no time entering the USS Montana and performing a thorough search. Throughout this disturbing sequence, we are shown medium long shots of the divers as they cautiously explore the sub. As they test different closed-off sections of the vessel for air pockets and pry open hatchways, we see bodies of the crewmen of the sub emerge, pale and drowned. The detailed set design of the rescue scenes is carefully constructed, and the final product is difficult to forget. Floating bits of paper and debris endlessly circle the flooded rooms of the sub. Mattresses and pillows from the crew's bunk beds drift against the ceiling, bulbous and water-logged. The characters are the only thing illuminating the inside of the sub. Their flashlights and glow sticks provide very little lighting, adding to the building anxiety each character feels as they navigate forward through a maze of dead bodies. These scenes are grim and dark—there are no survivors from the sub's sinking.

Two significant things happen by the end of the rescue mission. First, Lieutenant Coffey separates from the group to explore the sub on his own, and ends up taking top secret files labelled "CRYPTO" from one of the more hidden sections of the USS Montana. And second, one of the Deep Core crewmen Jammer Willis damages his oxygen tank after seeing a glowing bright light appear before him that causes his flashlight to die. Intense music plays as the characters struggle to rescue Jammer and exit the sub. The audience is left to wonder: what is in those files Coffey stole? What was that bright light? Why did the power go off? Is the bright light seen here somehow affiliated with the same one we see just before the USS Montana sinks?

From this point on, the suspense of the mystery behind the sunken sub and the bright light that keeps appearing is palpable. The film becomes more fast-paced as unfortunate events begin to unfold one right after the next. First, we see the storm, now confirmed Hurricane Fredrick, move in right on top of the rig. We then see the SEAL team steal one of the smaller subs to recover a warhead from the USS Montana, a sub needed to disconnect Deep Core from Benthic Explorer when there is a major storm so the rig does not get dragged along the ocean floor. Failing to return in time, the SEAL team stores the warhead away and helps prepare the rig for impact as it is dragged along the ocean floor towards the edge of a seemingly bottomless deepwater abyss. Throughout this mayhem, the rig is badly damaged, resulting in flooding and the loss of several Deep Core crew members. All of a sudden, the rig is cut off from Benthic Explorer, almost out of power, partially flooded, and “cold as a meat locker” (Lindsey Brigamn, 01:03:56) due to the freezing water surrounding it. Not only that, but now the Deep Core crew is trapped underwater with an unpredictable SEAL team, one member of which has been showing increasingly worsening signs of pressure-induced psychosis.

James Cameron pulled out all the stops for this series of action sequences, especially when it came to depicting panicked people in a situation where they could drown if they didn’t move quickly enough. The camera cuts between the well-lit, pleasant atmosphere of the inside of the rig itself to the almost menacing loom of the deep ocean just outside its walls. The cuts back and forth between the two vastly different settings pick up the pace quickly, suggesting the impending disaster of the situations the characters are about to face. This is when the audience gets a major taste of the acting abilities of all of the actors and actresses involved in the film as well. Here we see the easy-going, collected Bud struggling to free his crew from a locked room in the midst of flooding, the controlling yet determined Lindsey struggling to put out a fire in the control room, and the goofy conspiracy-theorist “Hippy” struggling to rescue his pet rat from falling debris and rising water. As the chaos of the nightmare unfolds, the character’s clothes are shredded, burnt, and soaked, their faces bloodied from being thrown about the rig. This is a major turning point in the film, when the dust settles and what characters are left standing are trapped together in a metal box with no way out. They have already been through so much, and yet we’ve only made it halfway through the film. Throughout this sequence, numerous shots stick out. From 00:53:50 to roughly 00:54:14, the camera moves with the crewmen as they sprint to secure the rig before all hell breaks loose. Rather than using a smooth dolly as the characters run about, Cameron has cameramen chase after the characters as they run in all directions. This allows the audience to drop right into the scene with the characters, and we suddenly feel as if we are also running about in the mayhem. This creates palpable anticipation as the situation only gets worse. At 00:54:22, we also see snake-like debris falling from the surface down towards the rig. Shown through wide angle shots, it almost looks as if a sea serpent is wrapping itself around the rig, wrapping itself around us, and sealing our doom. Close-up shots are taken of Bud and his crew members as they show their horror, frustration, and fear as they deal with the heart-pounding dangers at hand (close-ups are taken specifically of Hippy 00:58:06 and Bud 00:59:26). We now come to understand that despite their qualms with the SEAL team, and despite their good-hearted, easy-going personalities, the Deep Core crew can quickly transform into quick-moving, determined heroes, selfless and courageous in their efforts to secure the rig and save as many lives as possible.

This drastically different direction the narrative suddenly takes is strategic: it sets up a situation where everyone is trapped, and so, must focus on the same thing, which in this case is survival. From here on out, as the SEAL team and the Deep Core crew learn to at least live together, our focus turns to the odd goings-on the story has been alluding to up until this point in regards to the strange unidentified object and glowing light. By this point, we need answers, so Cameron begins to weave new elements into the film. By 01:08:28, we once again see the power cut out, but at this point, it comes as no surprise to the crew. The only one who finally comes face-to-face with the “other” in this sci-fi film for the first time, is Lindsey, who is outside the rig fixing a valve. As the crew inside the safety of the rig shrug off the disturbance, Lindsey is forced to pay attention, as shown in the wide shot at 01:08:48 when all light but that from her green glow stick ceases to exist. Now, she is alone, surrounded by blackness, and the odd green hue of her glowstick is as unsettling to her as it is to us. Finally, at 01:09:16, we see the film take a very different turn. In a medium shot of Lindsey, we see a jellyfish-like creature appear from behind her, nimble in its movements, and giving off a bright pinkish glow that completely lightens up the water around her. As Lindsey turns around at 01:09:30, we are given a close-up shot of her shocked face, illuminated by the pinkish glow as she takes in the strange sight before her. It is here we see the deepwater aliens show themselves clearly and for longer than a few seconds for the first time. The design of the creatures was important in terms of stage presence and Mise-en-scène. How can aliens look believable in an underwater world? James Cameron wanted them to reflect the concept of “bioluminescence”, or the ability of an organism to give off light through chemical reactions. Many deep-sea creatures are known to utilize this ability to survive in such dark, harsh conditions, so even in a supernatural, sci-fi sense, it works. The alien creatures were given their own close-ups in this sequence, and whatever questions we had based on their appearance earlier on were answered after Lindsey reached out to touch one. They seemed gentle, maybe even friendly; they were liquidy, even mushy to the touch (similar to a jellyfish); and they seemed intelligent in that they engaged with and made contact with a human.

The strangeness of the alien creatures is revealed again at 01:26:00 when they operate a moving water tentacle, and at 02:24:50 when one of them rescues Bud. At 01:26:00, we are taken through hallways and corridors, seeing everything through a point-of-view shot from the perspective of the water tentacle. This incorporates a clever element into the narrative as it allows the audience to understand an unwanted guest is making its way throughout the rig, but none of the characters know it yet. Our awareness of the creature is paramount, as we can only see things through its temporary point-of-view, and this terrifies us, as we have no idea what is in store for the unsuspecting characters nearby. At 02:24:50, we again see an alien creature in all its “otherness” reach out to help Bud after he runs out of oxygen in the dark depths of the abyss. The alien we see here is different from the ones we have seen earlier in that it is humanoid, reminding us of the alien creatures shown in Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (Barsam and Monahan 93). Both the aliens in this 1977 film and the aliens from “The Abyss” are benevolent, only different in the sense that one is built for life in the water. This final design of the alien creatures reassures the main characters and us that underneath their mysteriousness, the aliens are inherently good, and mean us no harm.

In his 1989 science-fiction film “The Abyss”, director James Cameron wanted us to experience a world so unlike the one we know, yet not so alien to us in the sense that it rests at the bottom of the oceans we have come to love. Human beings are all about discovery and adventure, yet we have left so much of the oceans worldwide unexplored, especially the deepest darkest parts we see in the film. While we have found comfort in advancing technology and knowledge which have both allowed us to make it a little farther, travel a little deeper, and discover a few more new species here and there, there are several implicit meanings in the film Cameron doesn’t want us to ignore. The first underlying meaning is that no matter how much we know and understand about the world we live in, there is still so much we don’t know, and still have to take the time to understand better. The second meaning, and perhaps the most important meaning, is that while we think we might have control, we are powerless against forces beyond our understanding. Throughout the film, while Lieutenant Coffey slowly descends into madness due to his pressure-induced psychosis, he dismisses all evidence that the strange goings-on are the result of coming in contact with an underwater alien species, and is quick to say the odd things that keep happening are due to Soviet interference and sabotage. Through cinematography, production design, acting, editing, and sound design, Cameron reminds us that humans, while innovative and determined, are insignificant despite our machines and technology.

To really hone in on these meanings, Cameron created on-screen comparisons for us to dissect. He designed the look of the rig, the ships, the submarines, all of the man-made vessels and machines to look like clunky steel cans hopelessly out-of-place in the environment they occupy. Meanwhile, the aliens and the “vehicles” they used (like the tentacle for instance) were designed to look symbiotic with their environment, creating a sort of harmonious feel to them. The aliens looked like they belonged, and the humans came across as the invaders, or the “others”. The seamless acting also forced us to see the underlying conflicts between countries during the late Cold War where people were still fearful of the Soviet crisis and a possible third world war. With everyone so scared and anxious, there will be inevitable conflict, as shown in the breakdown of Lieutenant Coffey. He was in an unfamiliar place cut off from his chain of command, and we quickly saw the transition from a heroic navy SEAL into a trembling, psychotic maniac in this dynamic character. This conflict between civilian oil workers and the military reflects the impulsivity and tension seen in the real world during this time period. Ultimately, Cameron wanted us to see the truth behind endless world conflict, and so, he showed us the warhead Coffey stole in the beginning, and the threat was always there from then on.

The cinematic language, and the tools and techniques used in a film are both extremely important in creating a truly memorable visual spectacle. “The Abyss” was artful in its conception and creation of an underwater world, designing the alien creatures in a biologically realistic way and maintaining accurate costumes of the different characters so everything seemed believable. The lighting and sound throughout keeps the audience on edge. Not only are we subjected to that other-worldly bluish hue of the deep ocean, but also those hyper-realistic sounds associated with submarines and underwater machinery. The shot angles and camera movements serve to keep us not only invested in the film, but keep us literally in the midst of the whirlwind of the film’s narrative. We see through the alien’s eyes, we run with the panicked crew, we drown in the water right along with our beloved characters. The editing between shots kept our heart rates fluctuating as cuts became more frequent in the action sequences and dragged on and on as suspense was building. “The Abyss” lives on to be one of James Cameron’s masterpieces, not only for the inspiring story it tells, but for the elements and efforts that went into telling it.