The Abyss | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Where to Watch The Abyss What to Know Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Related Movie News Videos The Abyss Photos The Abyss

89%

Tomatometer

56 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are formerly married petroleum engineers who still have some issues to work out. They are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on Earth.

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The Abyss

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Critics Consensus

The utterly gorgeous special effects frequently overshadow the fact that The Abyss is also a totally gripping, claustrophobic thriller, complete with an interesting crew of characters.

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Critics Reviews

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Duane Byrge

Hollywood Reporter

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

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Variety Staff

Variety

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

Jun 19, 2008

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

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.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 6, 2007

Full Review

Don Shanahan

Cinephile Hissy Fit Podcast

This has all of the James Cameron signatures, some before this and many that would come after it.

Oct 22, 2024

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The Abyss works so well as a straightforward thriller that the e.t. angle, basically Close Encounters of the Nautical Kind, almost feels like an afterthought.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 22, 2024

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Even as The Abyss is Cameron’s least successful film in terms of profits—a bar he usually sets to record-breaking heights—the film negotiates his recurrent themes and lifelong fixations with more effort and sensitivity than any other in his career.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 27, 2024

Full Review

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Audience Reviews

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W S B One of my top 10 films of all time, finally mastered to modern a/v standards! I love the special edition of this movie so much that I haven’t watched it in almost 20 years, because it’s never even gotten a proper anamorphic transfer, much less an HD remaster, and I won’t watch it in inferior quality. James Cameron has finally given us the 4K iteration of this film (and True Lies) that we’ve waited for. I’m thrilled to have gotten to see it on the big screen, the way he intended it to be seen. When the digital release hits on 12/12/23 (or best yet, the UHD disc release on 3/12/24), DO NOT sleep on this! Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Steven Wonderful. James Cameron was already thinking in 3D — every scene just has so much depth, it’s hard to describe. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Edward W The Special Edition is my favorite movie of all time. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Seth C One of Cameron's best films. Amazing use of practical effects as well as ground breaking cgi that still (mostly) holds up today. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review john k Great movie. The big screen with Atmos is the best way to see it Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review M The theatrical experience of THE ABYSS (SPECIAL EDITION) trounces and shames all other options available. Choose wisely. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 12/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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Cast & Crew

James Cameron Director Ed Harris Virgil "Bud" Brigman Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Lindsey Brigman Michael Biehn Lt. Hiram Coffey Leo Burmester Catfish DeVries Todd Graff Alan "Hippy" Carnes

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The Abyss

The Abyss: Trailer 1

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The Abyss

The Abyss (1989)

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Synopsis Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are formerly married petroleum engineers who still have some issues to work out. They are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on Earth.

Director: James Cameron
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd
Screenwriter: James Cameron
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Lightstorm Entertainment, Pacific Western
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Sci-Fi, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 9, 1989, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $54.3M
Runtime: 2h 19m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Surround, Dolby A, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: 70mm, Scope (2.35:1)