Save me from the ending!

In The Abyss, James Cameron weaves a number of plot lines - a rescue mission for a submarine, encounters with alien life, the perils of the Cold War and the redemption of love - in a manner that actually works until the ending.

The movie is at its most successful when it plays on your fears of the deep to create a tense atmosphere. What is more remarkable is that the special effects and cinematography are still stunning after 18 years.

While the characters may be stereotypical at times, the actors make you care what happens to them. Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio do a great job in walking the tightrope between intense and vulnerable as the estranged couple who come to settle their differences. Michael Biehn is wonderfully over the top in playing the rapidly unraveling Navy SEAL team leader.

My main problem with The Abyss is that the coda neatly ties up the movies plotlines in one grand Hollywood-style gesture.
This feel good ending doesn't do the previous 2 and half hours of the movie justice at all. If The Abyss ended 15 minutes earlier I would have been very satisfied.

7/10