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| Abyss, The |
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  (9/10)
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Runtime: 140 |
| Public Rating: 8.43 (47 votes) |
Director: James Cameron |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Sci-fi |
Year: 1989 |
| Writer(s): James Cameron |
| Distributor: 1 |
| Reviewed by: Greg C. |
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25,000 feet below the surface of the water, something strange has happened. A U.S. nuclear sub has inexplicably sunk, apparently from a missile attack. The navy requests the help of Bud Brihgman (Ed Harris) and his crew of underwater oil drillers to investigate the accident. Accompanying them is Bud’s wife, Lindsey. They don’t get along very well, and are going through a divorce. Lindsey is more concerned with the state-of-the-art underwater rig than she is with Bud (or at least that’s what she would like him to believe), and she doesn’t really get along with the other core members of the crew.
Also attending the rescue mission are four Navy SEALs, led by Lt. Coffee. Coffee is slowly sliping into insanity due to the extreme water pressure, but is trying to keep it a secret.
Things become increasingly bad as Bud and Lindsey come closer to the truth as to what happened to the sub, and what lies at the bottem of the abyss may be the keyThe movie boasts excellent performances all-around, mostly from Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrintonio as the estranged couple. The atmosphere is both tense and dramatic; these are characters that you can relate to, people you start to care about by the end of the film.
The only reason this film does not have a perfect rating is because I've seen the special edition of the film, with a half-hour added back in. That 30 minutes could have been left in there, it all worked fine, and the only reason it was cut out, according to Cameron, was because he didn't want an intermission to distract the audiance from the film. Still, those 30 minutes, after you see them, are sorely needed in the final cut. If you haven't seen the special edition, though, the theatrical cut works just as good.
Rated PG-13 for language, violence and brief nudity.
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