Review – The Abyss

After James Cameron’s smash hit Aliens, I think everyone figured his next movie, a big-budget underwater epic, would be something along those same lines. Instead he serves up something a lot closer to Close Encounters. The story centers around a deep-sea drilling operation that gets caught up with an attempt by the Navy to check out a downed submarine. Michael Biehn plays the SEAL officer in charge of the mission, a pressure-sickness-psycho who’s the closest this production comes to a villain. Once he’s gone, the action is devoted almost entirely to the main plot, a touchy-feely bit of fluff about human contact with underwater extra-terrestrials. Also note that there’s a director’s cut out there with a fair amount of extra plot, footage and happy message. Mildly amusing