The Abyss

There's a built-in audience for "The Abyss" — namely those familiar with James Cameron's other movies, "Aliens" and "The Terminator." (We won't bring up Cameron's first film, "Piranha II," or his co-authorship of "Rambo.") But it's likely that "The Abyss" will widen that audience.

"Aliens" and "The Terminator" are considered by science fiction fans to be among the best in recent years. Both were made for relatively modest budgets, and Cameron, who wrote and directed those pictures, took what could have been run-of-the-mill formula stories and propelled them with an amazing amount of energy, imagination and humor, building the suspense layer upon layer.

And so it is with "The Abyss," which begins with a bang and just keeps on rolling for a very fast-paced 2 1/2 hours.

To be sure, "The Abyss" is another formula movie — a couple of formulas, actually — and echoes other films as a sort of "Close Encounters of the Submerged Kind" by way of "Dr. Strangelove." And there was nothing modest about its budget. By some estimates "The Abyss" may be the most expensive movie ever produced (some 90 percent was actually filmed underwater), and the troubles during its shooting have been well-chronicled elsewhere.

But on its own terms, "The Abyss" means to deliver action, thrills and the subtle sense of humor that permeated Cameron's other films — and on that level it succeeds very well. At least until a rather — pardon the expression — soggy ending that seems to be a miscalculated afterthought. By that time, however, the audience will have had so many chills and thrills it will likely forgive just about anything.

The story has Ed Harris leading a team of undersea oil riggers who are bribed by the military with promises of triple-pay bonuses to check out a disabled submarine carrying nuclear missiles that rests at a depth of 2,000 feet.

Harris is reluctant, of course, but his team wants the money, so he agrees to dive for the sub as two outsiders join them, hard-nosed Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, who designed Deepcore, the underwater oil-drilling facility they inhabit (and who also happens to be Harris' estranged wife), and a four-man Navy crew led by Michael Biehn.

Biehn shows signs of paranoia immediately, sure the Russians are after the downed sub, and then becomes the victim of a depth-induced nervous disorder as soon as he enters Deepcore that will eventually give way to madness. Naturally, this is the guy the military orders to rescue and arm a nuclear warhead.

Meanwhile, a hurricane topside is the catalyst for a series of disasters that allow Cameron to begin building the claustrophobic suspense. And just to add to it all, Mastrantonio encounters an alien being that will later figure in the story as an angel of mercy.

To be sure, Cameron steals liberally from other sources. Biehn's character is little more than a variation on "Dr. Strangelove's" Gen. Jack D. Ripper. The jellyfish aliens owe much to Steven Spielberg's vision of balls of light in "Close Encounters." And the ain't-it-nice-how-things-turn-out ending is as sappy as anything Spielberg or George Lucas has produced in the past decade.

But Cameron develops some delightful characters along the way and uses them to plot out a layered subtext about the human condition that parallels his action-packed set-pieces.

Ed Harris is excellent as the everyman who does what he has to do, though he'd rather be elsewhere doing just about anything else. And Mastrantonio, whose hard-shelled character undergoes an internal form of redemption, rediscovering love through crisis, is marvelous at conveying the change. Biehn is also very good, underplaying his character's madness rather than taking a more flamboyant approach.

The supporting players are also well-cast and carve out individual niches that are as memorable as the many characters who did the same thing in "Aliens."

There are also a lot of little jokes that are fun to spot, such as the suction-cup Garfield on a window of Deepcore, goofy license plates on underwater vehicles and the naming a mechanical device equipped with video equipment "Big Geek."

The special effects are fascinating, in particular a moment when the aliens use a stream of water to communicate with the humans aboard Deepcore. And the film's hardware has that dingy, battered look that is associated with Cameron's work.

If you haven't overdosed on "Indiana Jones" and "Batman" and other action-packed biggies, here's the summer's final blockbuster.

"The Abyss" is a big action picture that delivers the goods.

It is rated PG-13 for violence, profanity and brief partial nudity as a woman is resuscitated.