The Abyss (1989)
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A search and recovery team faces an unexpected discovery while attempting to salvage a sunken submarine in the Caribbean.
The story
In January 1994, the U.S. USS Montana sinks near the Cayman Trough after encountering an unidentified submerged object. A U.S. search and recovery team is dispatched to an experimental underwater drilling platform, Deep Core, to serve as their base of operations. As the team works to recover a Trident missile warhead while facing a looming hurricane and the presence of Soviet vessels, they encounter a 'non-terrestrial intelligence' deep in the ocean. The crew must navigate the dangers of the deep sea and the complexities of their own internal tensions while dealing with the mysterious presence beneath them.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1994, the USS Montana sinks in the Cayman Trough after encountering an unidentified object. A U.S. SEAL team and an oil platform crew, Deep Core, attempt to recover a Trident missile warhead. During the operation, they encounter 'non-terrestrial intelligence' (NTIs). A member of the SEAL team, Lt. Hiram Coffey, suffers from high-pressure nervous syndrome and attempts to attack the NTIs with the warhead. After a struggle, Coffey is killed, and the warhead is launched into the trench. Bud, the platform's foreman, and Lindsey, its designer, must then work to disarm the warhead. Bud descends to the bottom in a specialized suit and, as he prepares for a fatal outcome, is guided by the NTIs to a massive alien city. He is then brought back to the surface, where he is reunited with Lindsey. The film's Special Edition includes a sequence where the aliens provide a warning to humanity regarding their history of violence.
- First release year
- 1989
- Runtime (minutes)
- 139
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- James Cameron
- Writers
- James Cameron · writer
- Cast and characters
- Ed Harris · Bud; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio · Lindsey; Michael Biehn · Coffey
- Genres
- science fiction; adventure
- Themes
- human resilience; trust; critique of masculine violence; female intuition; anti-military fanaticism
- Tone and mood
- claustrophobic; tense; mysterious
- Setting
- The Cayman Trough in the Caribbean, 1994.
- Premise and plot tags
- first contact; underwater exploration; military operation
- Source material / true-story basis
- H. G. Wells' 1897 short story 'In the Abyss'
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews and was praised for its special effects and atmosphere, though some critics were divided on its final act.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 75% · scale: percentage · review count: 179; Metacritic · score: 62 · scale: 100 · review count: 14
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Visual Effects · 1990 · win
- Production trivia
- The script was adapted into a novel by Orson Scott Card.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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