The Abyss

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Year:	1989
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	James Cameron
Genre:	Invaders from the deep
Starring:	Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096754/
Tagline:	There's everything you've ever known about adventure, and then there's The Abyss.
Favourite line:	"We all see what we want to see. Coffey looks and he sees Russians. He sees hate and fear. You have to look with better eyes than that."

You know how it is. You're a successful movie director and have recently completed one of the most accomplished sequels in movie history (Aliens) and, in the back of your mind, an idea is forming about another sequel, one with Arnhult, Asta La Vista and all that jazz.
Trouble is, Hamilton isn't available for a few years and Arnhult has commitments up to his nutsac.
What to do?
Well, why not direct an underwater sci-fi spectacular, making use of one of the most expensive and elaborate sets ever designed to whet your appetite for future projects?
Eh?
Eh?
Why not just go and direct The Abyss?
Well?
Beautifully shot, much admiration must be expelled in the general direction of Cinematographer Mikael Salomon for the visuals which truly captivate, right from the off.

The plot:
An American nuclear sub has been lost and it is up to an expedition led by a young looking Ed Harris and the weirdly sexy Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to seek, locate, extricate anything useful, be that people or equipment.
A bunch of Navy SEALS are sent along to assist, though they seem to have an agenda all their own whilst, most worryingly, it seems they may not be alone in the depths as something altogether alien stirs.

Whilst this is essentially a monster movie, it is a monster movie with a difference. Here, the gribbly-ibblies aren't befanged and hungry for human flesh, they are more cerebral, content to float around and look beautiful.
At times heart-stoppingly evocative, the film does occasionally delve into mawkish territory, particularly the soap opera-lite relationship shared by Harris and Mastrantonio, which is the single reason this did not gain top marks.
An excellent, ideas driven sci-fi movie that will, if you have any semblance of humanity in your cold, empty heart, leave you simply breathless.