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The Abyss poster

Movies that feel likeThe Abyss (1989)

A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.

If you loved The Abyss, the closest films we have are The Rocketeer (1991), Fantastic Voyage (1966) and Predator (1987). All three share The Abyss' epic and cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Until the End of the World (1991).

🍅 75% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. James Cameronepictensecerebral
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Disney Plus

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If The Abyss hit the spot, these will too

The Rocketeer poster
The Rocketeer
1991 · dir. Joe Johnston
🍅 73%★ 6.6adventure · science fictionDisney+

Epic where it counts, cerebral underneath

The difference: Easier on the tension than The Abyss

A stunt pilot comes across a prototype jetpack that gives him the ability to fly. However, evil forces of the world also want this jetpack at any cost.

Fantastic Voyage poster
Fantastic Voyage
1966 · dir. Richard Fleischer
🍅 91%★ 6.8science fiction · adventure

Both keep coming back to the same thing: submarine

The difference: 23 years apart, and the 1960s show

In order to save an assassinated scientist, a submarine and its crew are shrunk to microscopic size and injected into his bloodstream.

Predator poster
Predator
1987 · dir. John McTiernan
🍅 65%★ 7.8science fiction · action · adventure

Adventure with a pulse of tension, in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to action than The Abyss does

A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

Colossus: The Forbin Project poster
Colossus: The Forbin Project
1970 · dir. Joseph Sargent
🍅 90%★ 7.1science fiction · thriller

Both lean on tension more than on thriller

The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

Forbidden Planet poster
Forbidden Planet
1956 · dir. Fred M. Wilcox
🍅 96%★ 7.5science fiction · adventure

Both are built on the same subject: flying saucer

Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for twenty years. They find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.

Until the End of the World poster
Until the End of the World
1991 · dir. Wim Wenders
🍅 89%★ 6.8drama · science fiction · adventure

Epic science fiction in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into drama than The Abyss does

In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.

The Day After Tomorrow poster
The Day After Tomorrow
2004 · dir. Roland Emmerich
🍅 46%★ 6.5science fiction · thriller · adventure

Cerebral adventure, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

After paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by UN officials when presenting his environmental concerns about the beginning of a new Ice Age, his research proves true when a superstorm develops, setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. Trying to get to his son, Sam, who is trapped in New York City with his friend Laura and others, Jack and his crew must travel to get to Sam before it's too late.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
1983 · dir. Douglas Trumbull
🍅 57%★ 6.4science fiction · thriller

Thriller built on tension, twice over

Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.

Push poster
Push
2009 · dir. Paul McGuigan
🍅 23%★ 6.1science fiction · action · adventure

Epic science fiction, and it commits to that

After his father, an assassin, is brutally murdered, Nick Gant vows revenge on Division, the covert government agency that dabbles in psychic warfare and experimental drugs. Hiding in Hong Kong's underworld, Nick assembles a band of rogue psychics dedicated to destroying Division. Together with Cassie, a teenage clairvoyant, Nick goes in search of a missing girl and a stolen suitcase that could be the key to accomplishing their mutual goal.

Jurassic World Dominion poster
Jurassic World Dominion
2022 · dir. Colin Trevorrow
🍅 28%★ 5.6adventure · science fiction · thrillerNetflix

Different title, same corner of the shelf

Four years after Isla Nublar was destroyed, dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history's most fearsome creatures.

Battleship poster
Battleship
2012 · dir. Peter Berg
🍅 33%★ 5.8thriller · action · adventureNetflix

Both play thriller straight

When mankind beams a radio signal into space, a reply comes from ‘Planet G’, in the form of several alien crafts that splash down in the waters off Hawaii. Lieutenant Alex Hopper is a weapons officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones, part of an international naval coalition which becomes the world's last hope for survival as they engage the hostile alien force of unimaginable strength. While taking on the invaders, Hopper must also try to live up to the potential that his brother, and his fiancée's father—an Admiral—expect of him.

Superman poster
Superman
1978 · dir. Richard Donner
🍅 87%★ 7.4science fiction · action · adventureMax

Common ground: nuclear missile

Mild-mannered Clark Kent works as a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside his crush, Lois Lane. Clark must summon his superhero alter-ego when the nefarious Lex Luthor launches a plan to take over the world.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Abyss’ defining feeling.