A slight slip-up inbetween the brilliant "Aliens" and "Terminator 2," James Cameron's "The Abyss" is an indulgent and overlong foray into themes and techniques much better explored in Cameron's aforementioned classics. For instance, while Cameron again demonstrates his mastery over tense, cramped interiors, he never even approaches the pulse-pounding fervor of Aliens, and the occasional action pieces, particularly a dull underwater-probe duel, completely lack the hyper-kinetic flow of Terminator 2. Of course "The Abyss" is intended primarily as an emotional human-drama, and two scenes, a desperate CPR revival and a heroic but doomed dive, work exceptionally well. Unfortunately, these scenes fail to save what amounts to a ridiculously long "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" retread, especially when this near three hour movie has such an anti-climactic ending. "The Abyss" is a decent movie but a disappointing James Cameron film.
*Note - don't bother with the special edition: it only serves to exacerbate things by adding even more length (!) and including one of the most cloyingly cliched and sophomoric anti-nuclear war subplots this reviewer has ever witnessed.
*Note - don't bother with the special edition: it only serves to exacerbate things by adding even more length (!) and including one of the most cloyingly cliched and sophomoric anti-nuclear war subplots this reviewer has ever witnessed.