The Abyss Review

Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account."

Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?"

And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten."
Genesis 18:16-33 (more or less)

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

James Cameron as a director is a bit of a mixed bag. He has created some of the most phenomenal action showcases cinema has ever seen. His movies make loads of money and create spectacle like no other. He has been part of the Alien quadrilogy, Terminator, and there was that little movie about a couple of lovers on a sinking boat. For that little picture he even won an Oscar. However, as a writer he has also given us some patently ridiculous dialogue. It's like he can create some pretty interesting story concepts, generate a great deal of tension between characters and pull of amazing action, but when it gets to finding the heart and soul of a character he pulls out the cheese. It is interesting then that my favorite Cameron movie would be so character driven with only a few moments of grandiose action.

The Abyss came out in 1989 with a trimmed down 146 run time. Later when the movie came to video Cameron released his directors adding a significant amount of footage and bringing the time to 171 minutes. Most of this extra footage comes in at the end of the film and stands to clear up some major confusion wrought in the theatrical version. It seems that there are some creates living at the bottom of the ocean and are rather perturbed at humanities prevalence for violence. It seems these creatures (aliens?) can manipulate water and have forced giant tidal waves to start approaching every major port. Humanity is saved when the creatures see the true love between the two main characters. It reminded me of the beginning quote from Genesis where God agrees to save Sodom and Gomorrah if He can find just 10 righteous people. In their case He didn't, and the cities were destroyed by sulfur and fire, but in Cameron's tale it seems that the rekindling of love between Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio does save humanity.

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Article Author: Mat Brewster

Mat Brewster is a periodic ex-pat wondering if he'll ever find a home. You can find him musing on pop culture, and obsessing over concert bootlegs at The Midnight Cafe.

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