In The Abyss an American submarine called the U.S.S. Montana was sunk after accidentally colliding with an unidentified object. The Soviets and the Americans both begin planning trips to get to the sunk sub. The Americans decide that the quickest assembly of help they could put together was a SEAL team that would make base at an experimental underwater oil platform. The designer of the platform is Dr. Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), the wife of one of the SEALS, Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) decides that she should accompany the SEALS on their mission. Lindsey and Bud are in the process of getting a divorce and are none too thrilled to be working together. During this time we also learn that there is a huge hurricane coming which may threaten their pursuit. The SEAL team heads down to the U.S.S. Montana to seek the cause of its destruction and while doing so end up finding some other-worldly creatures which they call NTI's (non-terrestrial intelligence). The team becomes curious of these creatures and plan on learning about them. In the meantime,they also are forced to deal with one of their shipmates going crazy and attempting to destroy the mission.
This movie is an action-packed adventure that will have you holding your breath (literally) throughout. The shots are phenomenal and Cameron is a master at creating tension. It really makes you think about evil and corruption and how the bad guys aren't always who you'd expect them to be. Also, like in his more recent film, Avatar, James Cameron presents his viewers with a sense of morality at the end of the film. Some may find this a bit over the top cheesy, but it is an overall good message.
Fun facts:
- James Cameron came up with the idea for this movie when he was 17 and attended a high school science lecture about deep sea diving. The lecturer claimed to be the first person to breathe fluid in his lungs.
-Cameron based the character, Lindsey on the producer with whom he both married and divorced during the making of the movie, Gale Anne Hurd.
-The film was shot at the abandoned Cherokee Nuclear Power Station in South Carolina, which was at the time the largest fresh water filtered tank in the world. The tank held 7.5 million gallons of water and was 55 feet deep and 209 feet across. It took five days to fill this tank. Another 2.5 million gallon tank was also used.
-The background for several shots was also filmed at the world's largest underground lake: a mine in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
- $2 million was spent on construction.
- The cast and crew spent so much time deep underwater that they sometimes had to go through decompression.
- On the first day of shooting, the main tank sprang a leak and lost 150,000 gallons of water per minute. Dam repair experts were brought in to fix it.
- The breathing fluid shown in the movie actually does exist and they did really give it to the rat in the movie (this was cut out of the version shown in Great Britain because they believed it was cruelty to animals). Ed Harris did not breathe in the fluid, but just held his breath instead.
- Many of the actors had nervous breakdowns and/or walked out during shooting because of the extreme situations they were in and how long it took to complete each scene.
- James Cameron asked everyone to just pee in their wetsuits to save time.
- The Abyss won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1990.
This movie is rated PG-13 for language and some scenes of action. I think a kid as young as 10 would be alright watching it, so long as they're up for a long movie.
***SPOILER ALERT***
The director's cut version actually makes more sense because it shows that the aliens are causing the hurricanes and that they are threatening to essentially kill all of humanity if they don't stop hurting each other. I would recommend watching this version.
Link to the trailer
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