The Abyss – Is Something Down There?

 (1989)

When Titanic won 11 Academy Awards for James Cameron in 1997, no one seemed to remember this piece of sci-fi masterwork he once made a few years earlier. To be honest, Titanic doesn’t impress me much. To me, it’s nothing more than an old-fashioned, surreal love story, but The Abyss is a lot more than that.

Why does The Abyss so fascinate me? Well, I guess Ed Harris is part of why. He’s so cool and manly in the film. And the story, which is so mysterious that no one really knows what’s happening, or say, what they’re dealing with till the end. James is very good at telling (love) stories by using stunning visual effects (the upcoming Avatar I guess is just another trick of that). It did win the 1990 Oscar for Best Visual Effects, that’s not why it attracts me much though. As a matter of fact, it was to make us reflect on our violent nature. Can violence bring us peace and solve our problems? We all know the answer, don’t we? Why, however, do we still think violence can be the choice?

Only if we overcome our violent nature, we’ll be able to understand the mystery and beauty deep down The Abyss.

 (1997)

District 9 – Surprisingly Terrific

 (2009)

This time, it’s not about aliens trying to conquer the Earth, and men fighting back on Independent Day. It’s considered a sci-fi flick, but seriously, does it look like one? Yes maybe, coz it’s got prawn-like aliens, laser weapons and a battlesuit that reminds me of the big killing machine in Terminator Salvation. But a giant alien spaceship breaks down above Johannesburg, South Africa, after dropping a command module to the ground? And humans are able to crack into the mother ship, capture all the aliens, take away their lethal weapons and turn them into refugees? Come on, this is bullshit, isn’t it? Alright, the story may have flaws, but it doesn’t matter really. It might’ve carried some political provocations, or sarcasm if you like, but we don’t have to care either. The point is, it’s going to touch you. You may think it’s another piece of crap trying to fake a documentary (Try to look real? What’s the point?) by using hand-held cameras, like Cloverfield, but it’s far more entertaining and inspiring than that. You may tease at first, but you may cry in the end. So don’t take it as it may seem, or you’ll be let down.

 (A failure in 2008)