A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean’s surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Virgil ‘Bud’ Brigman: Ed Harris
- Lindsey Brigman: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
- Lieutenant Hiram Coffey: Michael Biehn
- Catfish De Vries: Leo Burmester
- Alan ‘Hippy’ Carnes: Todd Graff
- Jammer Willis: John Bedford Lloyd
- Lisa ‘One Night’ Standing: Kimberly Scott
- Bendix: Chris Elliott
- Arliss ‘Sonny’ Dawson: J. C. Quinn
- Lew Finler: Captain Kidd Brewer Jr.
- Wilhite: George Robert Klek
- Schoenick: Christopher Murphy
- Ensign Monk: Adam Nelson
- Dwight Perry: Dick Warlock
- Leland McBride: Jimmie Ray Weeks
- DeMarco: J. Kenneth Campbell
- Captain: Peter Ratray
- Barnes: Michael Beach
- Gerard Kirkhill: Ken Jenkins
- Dr. Berg: Michael Chapman
- Bill Tyler: William Wisher
- Navigator: Frank Lloyd
Film Crew:
- Original Music Composer: Alan Silvestri
- Supervising Sound Editor: Dody Dorn
- Producer: Gale Anne Hurd
- Casting: Howard Feuer
- Director: James Cameron
- Editor: Conrad Buff IV
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Dennis Muren
- Production Design: Leslie Dilley
- Set Decoration: Anne Kuljian
- Set Designer: Thomas P. Wilkins
- Foley Mixer: Marilyn Graf
- Art Direction: Joseph C. Nemec III
- Assistant Art Director: Dan Webster
- Costume Supervisor: Deena Appel
- Stunts: Clay Boss
- ADR Mixer: Robert Deschaine
- Stunt Coordinator: Dick Warlock
- Editor: Howard E. Smith
- Conceptual Design: Ron Cobb
- First Assistant Camera: Ian Fox
- Steadicam Operator: J. Michael Muro
- Costume Design: Deborah Everton
- Effects Supervisor: Larz Anderson
- Producer: Van Ling
- Director of Photography: Mikael Salomon
- Set Designer: Andrew Precht
- Visual Effects Assistant Editor: Erik Henry
- Orchestrator: James B. Campbell
- Set Designer: Gershon Ginsburg
- Visual Effects Supervisor: John Bruno
- Assistant Editor: Christopher Koefoed
- Editor: Joel Goodman
- Production Coordinator: Laura Greenlee
- First Assistant Director: Newt Arnold
- Assistant Production Coordinator: Beth DePatie
- Construction Coordinator: George Stokes
- Color Timer: Bob Hagans
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Hoyt Yeatman
- Editor: Steven Quale
- Stunt Double: Jon H. Epstein
- Best Boy Grip: Scott R. Davis
- Key Grip: Bobby Huber
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Steve Johnson
- Technical Advisor: Gene Witham
- Set Dressing Artist: General Fermon Judd Jr.
- Sound Designer: Blake Leyh
- Property Master: Charles Stewart
- Key Set Production Assistant: Hilbert Hakim
- Weapons Master: Randy E. Moore
- Sculptor: Screaming Mad George
- Painter: Karen Steward
- Foley: John Roesch
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Mike Chambers
- Special Effects Technician: Donn Markel
- Craft Service: Stephan Schultze
- Production Manager: Charles Skouras III
- Production Assistant: Matt Brown
- Additional Music: Robert Garrett
- Art Direction: Russell Christian
- Makeup Artist: Kathryn Fenton
- Production Supervisor: Paul Tivers
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Don J. Bassman
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Richard Overton
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin E. Carpenter
- Stunts: Michael Cassidy
- Foley Artist: Kevin Bartnof
- Additional Second Assistant Camera: David Luckenbach
- Visual Effects Editor: Miller Drake
- Construction Foreman: Tom Jones Jr.
- Sound Recordist: Robert Renga
- Visual Effects Producer: Leslie Huntley
- Music Editor: Kenneth Karman
- Leadman: John D. Kretschmer
- Art Department Coordinator: Mary Alice Palmer
- Property Master: Emily Yudell
- Sculptor: Brian Cole
- Scenic Artist: Michael T. Daigle
- Foley: Greg Orloff
- Foley: Joseph T. Sabella
- Special Effects Coordinator: Joseph A. Unsinn
- Special Effects Coordinator: Joe Viskocil
- Visual Effects Producer: Laura Buff
- Visual Effects Editor: Kathy Chasen-Hay
- Visual Effects Producer: Ned Gorman
- Visual Effects Producer: Diana Shornstein
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Walt Conti
- Still Photographer: Richard Foreman Jr.
- Camera Operator: Paul C. Babin
- Camera Operator: George D. Dodge
- Underwater Camera: Jordan Klein Jr.
- Gaffer: Mark A. Shelton
- Gaffer: George S. Neil
- Steadicam Operator: Bob Gorelick
- Gaffer: Dwight Campbell
- Transportation Coordinator: Chuck Clarke
- Script Supervisor: Sharron Reynolds-Enriquez
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Kevin F. Cleary
- Animation Supervisor: Jeff Burks
- Assistant Sound Editor: Howell Gibbens
- Foley Supervisor: Marian Wilde
- Video Assist Operator: David Schmalz
- Foley Recordist: Carolyn Tapp
- ADR Editor: Joe Dorn
- Unit Publicist: Anne Marie Stein
- Hairstylist: Emanuel Millar
- Sound mixer: Lee Orloff
- Propmaker: Neil Gahm
- Second Assistant Camera: Marc Brown
- Boom Operator: George Leong
- Visual Effects Production Assistant: Christopher Warren
- Editorial Staff: Timothy Greenwood
- Storyboard Artist: Phillip Norwood
- Best Boy Electric: James M. McEwen
- Negative Cutter: Gary Burritt
- ADR Recordist: David Jobe
- Grip: Robert Hoelen
- Production Illustrator: Michele Moen
- Standby Painter: Joe Cooper
- Carpenter: Jack Cornish
- Driver: John Anderson
- Set Production Assistant: Nancy Blewer
- Stand In: Dominic Jack Pizzo Sr.
- Transportation Captain: Brian Delahanty
- Electrician: Vince Pace
- Lighting Supervisor: Richard Mula
- Rigging Grip: W.D. Hill
- Casting Associate: Dennis Osborne
- Location Manager: Andrew Chapman
- Production Accountant: Vince Heileson
- Sound Editor: Stuart Copely
- Stunts: Mike Johnson
- Key Rigging Grip: Charles ‘Tom’ Hinson
- Apprentice Sound Editor: Roy Seeger
- Visual Effects Production Manager: Kristina Birkmayer
- Second Assistant Director: Verónica González Rubio
- Assistant Property Master: Linda Waxman
- Concept Artist: Jean Giraud
- Construction Buyer: Charlotte Patterson
- Title Designer: Ernest Farino
- Assistant Camera: Michael Griffin
- Dolly Grip: Jimmy Leavens
- Wardrobe Assistant: Joshua Keep
- Project Manager: Jim English
- Assistant Accountant: Robert Gordon
- Assistant Unit Manager: Tekin Cetinkaya
- Production Secretary: Jennifer C. Bell
- Underwater Gaffer: Patrick Murray
- Supervising Art Director: Peter Childs
Movie Reviews:
- John Chard: Cameron’s Marvellous Close Encounters Of The Sea Kind.
Special Edition
A deep sea oil crew are called upon by the military to investigate the events that saw an American Nuclear Submarine crash down in the abyss. As the crew, and their hot headed Navy Seal passengers, get down deeper, it would seem they are not alone down there.
The Abyss is a flawed movie when put under the microscope, even allowing for the reinserted (and much better) ending that James Cameron was forced to cut by idiot studio executives. Most glaringly obvious as a fault is that The Abyss, after holding us for 2 hours of engrossing cinema, can’t quite seal the deal as a deep (hrr hrr hrr) message movie for the modern era. What isn’t in doubt upon revisits to the piece is that it’s at times spectacular, at others it’s joyously ambitious, both things coming together in one big loud boom of being a blockbuster with brains. James Cameron can never be accused of not trying to entertain the masses, and here, with a bit more thought on a humanist level, then we would have been talking in the realms of masterpiece.
The making of the film is itself worthy of a movie, a fraught and angry shoot with many problems, of which I wont bore you with as they can be found at the click of a mouse. But Cameron pushes hard because he wants to please and dazzle, and he does, every buck and sweat drop is up there on the screen to be witnessed. The lead actors put in great work, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio give the film its centrifugal emotive heart as the warring Brigham’s, while Cameron fave Michael Biehn does a fine line in Gung-Ho decompression nut case! The technical aspects do dazzle, the visual effects rightly won the Academy Award in that department, and both the cinematography (Mikael Salomon) and art design (Dilley/Kuljian) are worth the price of a rental alone.
It’s true to say that The Abyss is a fusion of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind & The Day The Earth Stood Still, but really I don’t personally see anything wrong with that! As a spectacle it rewards the patient in spades, as a deeply profound moving picture it falls just about short, but even then a less than 100% Cameron picture is still one hell of a ride to be on. 8.5/10