Colossally ambitious, this logistically boggling and technically brilliant film from writer-director James Cameron is a visual tour de force, featuring overall, the greatest underwater sequences ever seen on film.

| Mar 10, 2015

A firstrate underwater suspenser with an otherworldly twist, The Abyss suffers from a payoff unworthy of its buildup.

| Jun 19, 2008

The attempt to extract the essences of several genres (cold-war submarine thriller, love story, Disney fantasy, pseudomystical SF in the Spielberg mode) and mix them together ultimately leads to giddy incoherence.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 6, 2007

This overlong concoction is scuppered by dire dialogue, histrionic performances and maudlin sentimentality.

| Feb 9, 2006

Pretty great underwater adventure.

| Mar 10, 2003

Anyone looking for a discouraging word about this stupendously exciting and emotionally engulfing film should read no further. The Abyss confirms James Cameron as a world-class filmmaker.

Full Review | May 12, 2001

I'd sooner believe that Moby Dick could swim up the drainpipe.

| Jan 1, 2000

The human stuff is more than worth the descent.

| Jan 1, 2000