THE ABYSS (1989) *** A good story will carry itself, and James Cameron has written a good story with more twists than a month of soaps, more monsters and disasters than a horror festival (or a month or soaps), and pathos to rival a Greek tragedy (or a half hour of soaps). To translate all of this onto film he renders it in epic length and scope, and serves it up with epic effects. Some have said that it's not all terribly original, and I guess that's fair-there isn't much that's all that terribly original. Think about throwing Close Encounters, 2001, and The Deep into a fine-grade cinematic blender and you'll end up with most of it. Of course it's not that easy, or everyone would do it. Ed Harris and Michael Biehn register the testosterone scenes, and Harris combines with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in the inevitable boy and girl bit. Her role is close to impossible-street smart scientist with a major in empathy. I'm not saying her performance is flawless, but it's where the film could have most easily gone wrong and she keeps it on solid ground. Underwater, even! Solid ground,... Now about Harris, and the bits that don't happen to most of us every day...is it really possible that the universe, nature, the unknown...something opens up to save a hero every time? We all know that it doesn't work like that in real life, but does it? I mean, with only five senses, who could really tell? We tend to believe what we want to believe, and those of us who do this the best will have the least difficulty with this film.
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