The Abyss

A civilian diving team are enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and face danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.

• Director: James Cameron
• Genre:Action / Adventure / Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller
• Runtime:193 minutes

Cast

Ed Harris : Virgil ‘Bud’ Brigman
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio : Lindsey Brigman
Michael Biehn : Lt. Hiram Coffey
Leo Burmester : Catfish De Vries
Todd Graff : Alan ‘Hippy’ Carnes

An American ballistic missile submarine, the USS Montana, sinks near the edge of the Cayman Trough after an accidental encounter with an unidentified submerged object. As Soviet ships and submarines head towards the area in an attempt to salvage the sub, and with a hurricane moving in, the Americans decide that the quickest way to mount a rescue is for a SEAL team to be inserted onto a privately owned experimental underwater oil platform, which they will then use as their base of operations. The designer of the platform, Dr. Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), insists on accompaning the SEAL team, even though her estranged husband, Virgil “Bud” Brigman (Ed Harris), is currently serving as the platform’s foreman.

As the SEALS and the platform crew attempt to discover the cause of the Montana’s failure, they spot strange creatures they can’t identify, later discovering they have intelligence and calling them “NTI’s”—”non-terrestrial intelligence.” On orders from the SEAL leader Lt. Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn), the SEALs use one of the platform’s mini-subs to retrieve a warhead from a Trident missile aboard the Montana. However, they do so at an inopportune time, as the hurricane strikes the surface and they are unable to detether themselves from the surface ship the Benthic Explorer. Tossed by the storm, the Explorer’s crane and cable system snap off and fall into the water. The cable and crane barely miss the platform as they sink, but fall into the trench, its momentum briefly pulling the whole platform towards the trench – the rig catches on the very edge of the cliff, preventing a plummet into the depths. Several crew are lost because of flooding in the platform, while the surviving crew and SEALs tend to their injuries and attempt to restore the platform’s critical power.

An NTI, in the form of a living column of water, explores the platform, and while the platform crew believe it to be harmless, Coffey sees it as a threat. The platform crew realize Coffey is suffering from High Pressure Nervous Syndrome, making him paranoid. Using one of the remote operated vehicles to spy on Coffey from outside the platform, they discover he is planning on sending the warhead down into the chasm to destroy whatever may be down there. Bud attempts to subdue Coffey before he can leave the platform in one of the mini-subs, but is unable to do so. Coffey is chased by Bud and Lindsey in the station’s other sub; they manage to damage Coffey’s sub, causing it to fall into the trench, where Coffey’s sub is eventually crushed by the pressure. However, Bud and Lindsey are too late to stop the remote vehicle and the attached warhead, on a pre-programmed course, from dropping into the trench. Furthermore, their own sub’s hull has been ruptured, flooding the sub. Lindsey forces Bud to wear the only diving suit in the sub, while she hopes that her mammalian diving reflex will preserve her in the cold water while Bud tows her back to the platform. Bud and the crew are able to resuscitate Lindsey, and the two reaffirm their lost love. Read more

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