My Review of "The Abyss"

The Abyss is a science fiction movie that came out in 1989. It's actually incredible how well the special effects for this movie stand the test of time. Then again I think a lot of it was based on practical effects. This movie was one of the first big blockbuster movies that I really got into back in the day. It was big and bombastic and I thought it was amazing. Fast forward over 30 years and I had to see if this movie still holds up.

The movie starts off with a gigantic American submarine. We're still in a time when the cold war still in the minds of the world. They crew of this military crew are cruising the ocean when all of a sudden there's a large unidentified object on their radar.

Since this is in the midst of the cold war they're worried that it could be a Russian vehicle. What scares them is the fact that the vehicle seems too fast to be real. When the object finally approaches the submarine their instruments start to go haywire. The object curiously swims by the submarine at an obscene pace. This causes a current and knocks the submarine off course. Their instruments go back online but it's too late. They hit some large rocks and this causes a huge hole in the submarine. Ultimately, they're doomed but before they go down they send out a distress call.

Meanwhile, up above a terrible hurricane has engulfed the area. There's no time to call onto the rest of the military to help out with the rescue. Instead the military has asked an off-shore oil rigging company to help them with a search and rescue. When the oil rigging company agrees the military sends in some top military men to go in to get the job done.

What they will find in the deep ocean is not what they were expecting. This movie shows the dangers of the depths of the ocean. It also dives into the psychosis of people when they go that far deep into the ocean. There's relationships, teamwork and questions of our own paranoia. All of these elements are added to what is pretty much a simple story of survival. The unidentified object is the big curveball.

Again I have to reiterate how much I appreciate the special effects in this movie. There was so much done with the details of the set and the props within this movie. Even the early CGI effects are quite impressive if you consider the year this movie was created.

Some might wonder if watching the special edition is worth spending the extra 30 minutes to watch through. I would say no. From what I saw of the special edition it doesn't really add much to the story. In fact, I think it kind of creates more questions about the unidentified objects. Although, the ending makes me think that there should have been a sequel or something after this movie. I kind of wanted to know what happened after the events of the ending happened.

Watching it so many years later I could still appreciate the story and the fun of the whole movie. I also recognized some of the terrible acting and weird dialogue in there too. There's some really good acting but there's a handful of actors that really shouldn't have been cast in the movie. Their performances were pretty wooden and novice.

Overall, I still had a heck of a time with this movie. It's a good popcorn movie. Though not all of the logic makes sense, I found myself so enamored with the characters and the environment that I was quick to forget them. I think this is a fun ride for anyone. For those that like James Cameron movies you'll also see a ton of things that he recycled from this movie to his future ones. I have to give this one a 7.5 out of 10.