[Sekto Springs]

The Abyss is actually a great movie for what it is, and it's probably the only Cameron movie I'll defend to the end. That and True Lies. Neither of which were actually from Cameron's own brain, which might explain why I like them more than his original works.

When I compare Cameron to Bay, it's not so much the quality of the overall movie, as it is his mentality when making it. The first Alien was all the beats of a haunted house movie, but in space, with the benefit of some Kubrickian ambiance and a troupe of acting greats who took a hastily written beatsheet and made it shine. Aliens is the same movie, but with lots of guns, explosions, space marines who don't act anything like marines facing off against a bajillion aliens that have been nerfed to disposable cannon fodder, the inclusion of a little girl for ham-fisted pathos, and a final showdown that feels like it's right out of a video game.

So yeah, arguably all of these things are perfectly acceptable in an action movie, but I don't like action movies. While Alien 3 is essentially just the first movie in a different setting, I was happy to see it return to the haunted house shtick, and the writing and characters didn't make me nauseous.