Being a sucker for disaster films it was only a matter of time before I viewed this Swedish-Finnish co-production regarding a town collapsing into a mine.  I had seen good things about it and, despite its derivative title, was looking to seeing it.  And while the film certainly has merit, I was underwhelmed by the end result.

Richard Holm’s film takes place in Kiruna, a Swedish town basically built on top of a massive mine complex.  Because of the danger, some of the town’s buildings have been moved to a location three kilometers away, but many citizens refuse to move from their cherished area.  After a series of earthquakes, safety inspector Frigga (Tuva Novotny) determines that a collapse is imminent, yet she is distracted by her tumultuous personal life, which includes a missing son and a new boyfriend who visits without warning.  Can she get everyone to safety before it is too late?

To its credit, The Abyss puts a great deal of time and effort into creating meaningful characters and their relationships.  The disaster stuff stays in the background until called for by the script, and it’s fairly impressive when the big moment does arrive.  And the acting, especially by Ms. Novotny, is consistently solid or better.  That said, the film suffers from easy, rather clichéd choices and situations, bad dubbing, wild overuse of profanity and a post-climactic sequence that, while well done, goes on far too long.  By disaster film standards it is decently done and is perhaps more meaningful than most.  Yet it could have been even better with more tinkering.

Perhaps I am too jaded about these kinds of movies, which are among my favorites.  I noticed as I was watching that I was silently criticizing the good citizens of Kiruna for their abject stupidity.  It is perfectly clear that absolutely no one should be residing in this death trap.  The teenagers are playing in the danger zone, the mine personnel are ambivalent to their imminent doom, the multiple warnings are completely unheeded.  It doesn’t help that Frigga essentially judges the mine’s safety by touching the rock walls meaningfully, listening for telltale signs instead of relying on solid science.  It almost seems as if everyone deserves what is coming to them, and coming soon, and that is not a positive aspect of a disaster film story, unless one is rooting for total annihilation.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  18 July 2025.