It’s possible to pinpoint the moment when James Cameron turns into a big
soft girl. It occurs a quarter of the way through The Abyss, when Lindsey (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) sees the
undersea extraterrestrial for the first time. Instead of the giant man-eating
aquatic cockroach we’d all been hoping for, it resembles the kind of pink
fluorescent plastic submarine that Barbie would ride around in. From then on,
the film descends to even greater depths.
But The Abyss is by no means without merit, which is why it remains one of my favourite James Cameron movies. Certainly, it lacks the guns blazing action of Aliens or the adrenalin-pumping chase sequences of T2, but it has a number of solid scenes. The moment when a storm shears off the umbilical cord tethering the team’s deep sea mining vessel to the surface, for example. Or the chase in mini subs. Or the scene when Bud (Ed Harris) watches his wife drowning before his very eyes. Or, indeed, Ed Harris himself, whose ornery toughness makes Bruce Willis look like a jellyfish.
The Abyss also has a number of early Cameron signatures, particularly the use of quote-ready tough-guy dialogue. It bristles with “touchdown – crowd goes wild”, “keep your pantyhose on” and, of course “let’s rock’n’roll”. (“Let’s rock” crops up in Aliens, too. These phrases are inevitably accompanied by the sound of safety catches being released or hardware being locked into place).
We'd almost forgotten the peace-and-love ending of The Abyss by the time Cameron fully immersed himself in chick flick material
with Titanic – a film only a girlfriend
could love. Billy Zane and the iceberg compete for the worst acting prize. And
as for the script…when the ship upends and they are hanging by their fingertips
from the guardrail, Leo DiCaprio advises Kate Winslet: “Hang on!” As a
character in an earlier Cameron movie might have said: “No shit, Sherlock.”
It's too early to judge whether Cameron will don his tougher persona for Avatar. But judging by the trailer, which looks suspiciously eco-friendly, I fear not.
That's funny. Abyss is like 20 years old and its cover is still as good as any new film. I watched the Avatar trailer 10 minutes ago and it really looks awesome. Can't wait to see James Cameron's new creation! :)
Posted by: Avatar 2010 | October 18, 2009 at 02:45 PM
No Doubt..looking to be fantastic movie. I saw the trailers of this movie last night and really very much excited for this movie.
Posted by: Action Movies | November 20, 2009 at 04:53 PM