6. The Abyss (1989)
Writer/Director The first signs of Camerons deep sea obsession (well providing you dont count the gratuitous nudity during the sunken wreck exploration that ends in a nasty mauling at the start of Piranha II) The Abyss is for the most part a quite tense, claustrophobic, underwater thriller Until they go and ruin it with one of cinemas worst endings ever. Ignoring the inexplicable, horrible, cop-out ending though, this is trademark Cameron you can bank on a number of things with a Cameron movie: Water, aliens, technophobia and
Michael Biehn The Abyss features all of the above. Biehn arguably gives the performance of his career as the ill-fated Lieutenant Coffey who slowly and spectacularly loses it due to the high pressures experienced so deep underwater. He may be better known for his Terminator and Aliens roles, but this the performance that proves that Biehn should have become a bigger star. Elsewhere,
Ed Harris is great and carries a big chunk of the film as its leading man, but as is often the case with Cameron movies, the actors arent the only stars. The CGI techniques used in The Abyss were revolutionary at the time, just like Avatar today, and Cameron went onto to put these effects to even better use two years later in T2 with
Robert Patricks shape-shifting T-1000. Contact may have subsequently stolen its crown for worst movie ending of all time, but if you just look past the sour taste youre left with, for nigh on three hours of the
Directors Cut this is fantastic film-making and the Cameron directorial effort that is always overlooked.