Rating: 
Summary: You Have To Wonder
Review: I can't help but wonder if everyone was watching the same flick. On one hand, a studio released it, and it was accompanied by considerable hype. You have to think they thought it was pretty good. And, the fact is, it wasn't a bomb at the box office. On the other hand, a critic describes THE ABYSS as "ponderous and predictable" and having a "lumbering pace" that's "ultimately lethal".Well, I like THE ABYSS. It's not great. It's a bit long and a little slow in places. Also, the ending is somewhat over the top, conveying its final message in a rather heavy-handed manner. Be that as it may, THE ABYSS also tells a good story, has some first class special effects, and I liked the way the players handled their roles. There are some pretty intense moments along the way and, though some of them may be improbable, improbabbility isn't novel or necessarily a liability in a scifi movie. As scifi movies go, THE ABYSS isn't a classic. I've got several on my shelf that I like better. Still, I like it enough to have bought it. Go into it with the understanding that you're not getting another ALIEN or STAR WARS and you won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: ABYSS - MAL
Review: Like coffee with so much milk and sugar you can't taste the coffee, so the Abyss pours on so many "special" effects that you can't stomach the movie. I saw this big hunk o' nothin' in the theatre and the whole house walked out in silence shaking their heads. I doubt if fifteen years of ripening will have made it any more palatable. Indulgent, excessive and ultimately juvenile fluff.
Rating: 
Summary: The Abyss - A true Science Fiction classic!
Review: "The Abyss" is one of the most intriguing Sci-Fi/action movies to have ever been made. From the very beginning of this exceptional movie to the end, for the first time viewer or for those that have watched it many times, it is a highly inventive and an ultimately captivating movie. Although there have been many movies made about events under the surface of the ocean, few can match up to the intensity that "The Abyss" is laden with. One of the more intriguing aspects about the edition of "The Abyss" that I'm reviewing today or any other version that contains both the original theatrical release and the Special Edition with twenty eight minutes of additional footage is how the whole tone of the conclusion of the film changes between the two. This is not something that I wish to go in to in great detail; suffice it to say that the Special Edition gives a whole new meaning to this classic movie. From Ed Harris to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to Michael Biehn and all of the other marvelous actors that performed in this film, they all deserve high praise for their collective efforts in creating this Science Fiction classic. It isn't too often that Ed Harris or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gets the lead roles in films but in the case of "The Abyss," they both proved that they were quite ready for such roles. In 1984 first time director, James Cameron gave millions of movies fans just the first taste of his directing talents when he burst on the scene with "The Terminator" which started a run of extraordinarily successful movies culminating in "Titanic" which is one of the highest grossing films of all times. "The Abyss" was the third in this run of incredible movies and arguably the most intriguing of them all as the script, while being science fiction and adventure is "that much more" inventive than the rest of those films. In addition to James Cameron's exceptional talents on this film, the musical score by Alan Silvestri makes "The Abyss" that much better, greatly enhancing every scene! The Premise: Welcome to what appears to be the mid eighties or early nineties and we have an American nuclear submarine that is patrolling an abysmal trench in the Atlantic. Their tracking something that is going faster than anything they've ever seen before and suddenly they lose all power as the "thing" goes by; a minute or so later, all power is restored but it's too late, they slam right into the abysmal wall and the ship goes down, fortunately for them, they get a beacon off before the bridge is consumed by water... Some twenty odd miles away is a deep sea oil rig operation with a control ship on the surface and an underwater station at about fifteen hundred feet below the surface. The US Navy comes in and wishes to send a SEAL team down and use the station and the crew to find the sub... What follows from there is one of the most intriguing, captivating and enthralling Science Fiction films ever made that only gets better every time you see it and if you've never watched it before, you will most certainly be blown away by what director James Cameron created in this film! I highly recommend this film to any and all who are fans of Science Fiction or fans of very good dramatic films with a "splash" of Sci-Fi in them. {ssintrepid} Special Features: -Theatrical Version
-Special Edition with 28 minutes of additional footage.
-Audio Commentary for both versions.
-Collector's edition 12 page booklet.
-Bio's for all of the actors, director and several others.
-DVD-ROM content.
-60-minute documentary - "Under Pressure: Making the Abyss."
-James Cameron's complete screenplay.
-Multi-angles of pseudopod sequence.
-3 DVD-ROM games.
-Extensive storyboards and original concept art and more!
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Poor DVD
Review: Don't waste your time with this 're-issue' unless you do not have the previous release. It adds nothing, and what's worse is Fox Home Video failed to do an anamorphic widescreen with this release, a feature sorely lacking in the previous release. Without any new features and no anamorphic widescreen added to the re-issue, this is just another attempt to milk money by adding nothing but pretty new packaging. Boo, Fox Home Video.
Rating:
Summary: Slow story devlopement
Review: This movie is overall great and had amazing special efects, good acting, and a great plot, but the plot unfolded to slow. It was that one hour you were wacthing an undersea drama, and in about ten minuets, you were watching an E.T. type movie. I'm just saying that the overall plot devlopement was kinda slow, but it was a good movie. I'm the kinda person that watches the special features, so if you were an actor and you had to spend up to tne hours every day in a 7,000,000 gallon pool and wearing a 200 pound special diving suit, while being an overworked actor all togeather, show some respect.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor writing and direction.
Review: Regretfull when James Cameron writes and directs a movie, it useually is a poor story and way- over-kill. This movie was all that and more. Lots of effects and no substance. Sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Weak plot and bad acting
Review: This is a really bad film- a sprawling mess by any standard. Nice effects though- its like they took 6 different science fiction films and blended the plots into one large mess. And as I said the acting is terrible- just awful. This film destroys acting careers in a hurry.
Rating:
Summary: Great film, poor DVD edition
Review: Beware, this widescreen edition is not enhanced for 16:9 televisions.
Rating:
Summary: Non-anamorphic disapointment
Review: This DVD was transfered in a "letterbox" format. In my opinion the result was a VHS LIKE picture quality which was very disapointing. This is the kind of classic special effect extravaganza that deserves way better quality picture and that is what you get when a dvd is transfered in a anamorphic process. This dvd wasn't done properly and the result is a far lower quality picture than I was hoping for. Also disapointing was the fact it doesn't state that it is a "letterbox" presentation. My mistake was buying it without looking here on amazon first toi find out. In my experience, 99.9% of dvds that are non-anamorphic result in a way lower quality of picture.However, this dvd does have alot of extras that will make the hardcore "Abyss" fan happy. The 5.1 audio transfer was very good however it would've been better in DTS.I loved this movie and hope that when or if it is re-released they do it in a anamorphic format to drastically improve the picture quality. On any standard tv the picture quality would be ok but I have a 65in. widescreen tv and even with a progressive dvd player the picture exhibits alot of elements and pixelzation resulting in color loss and a crisp clean presentation. For those that don't understand "anamorphic", when viewing on a standard tv it will be just the black bars at top and bottom, meaning "letterbox". On any projection tv, big screen tv, or especially a widescreen projection television, the letterbox non-anamorphic dvd makes it so the viewer has to "zoom" in to see it correctly, thus resulting in seeing more of the quality of transfer.When in an anamorphic process, the viewer with a large projection tv has the picture automatically set for normal viewing without having to adjust the picture to fit the screen. Thuhs resulting in a better picture transfer for the dvd itself and for the complete presentation. "Letterbox" versions in my opinion are as good (bad) as watching it on a VHS tape like quality picture.Anyways, although this dvd had great features and it is a great movie, the dvd in my opinion is not that great due to the picture quality. But, it is ok enough to watch and not as horrible as alot of other dvds I have seen transfered non-anamorphic. I guess it's worth buying if you can't wait and are a hardcore fan of the movie.If you can wait, I'd find the widescreen vhs tape instead for a cheaper price and get almost the same picture quality if you have a super-vhs player.
Rating:
Summary: Good effects offset by weak story
Review: It has been an increasing obsession in Hollywood that visual effects are the most important part of a movie and that to draw customers, all you need is a colorful dog-and-pony show. The fact that so many of these efforts bomb - think of such recent duds as The Core or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - is an indication that you can't have a good movie unless you have decent writing. It's not necessary that it be GREAT writing (no one will confuse the Matrix with Shakespeare), but it needs to be at least decent. Otherwise, you have a movie that, despite all its flash and fury, will be little more than another forgettable effort in a ocean of such works. Which leads to The Abyss, a movie that looks good but is offset by poor writing. Only because it is directed by James Cameron - of Terminator and Titanic fame - makes this movie at all noteworthy. But if you disregard its well-known director, you find that this is little better than Wild Wild West or the Avengers (the movies, not the TV shows) were in their times. The story involves a submarine that is involved in a fatal accident after an encounter with a mysterious object. A rescue crew is sent to retrieve any possible survivors and inspect the damage. The crew is beset with problems, most significantly getting marooned two thousand feet below the ocean surface. While Cold War tensions build above - along with a hurricane - the characters deal with their own problems as well as an alien presence that seems benevolent but has mysterious motives. The movie looks good, but is riddled with story problems. Even dismissing the scientific inaccuracies (after all, we're not watching this to learn), there are still all sorts of flaws. The first hour is slow and the final portion is corny and preachy. There are implausibilities from the get-go: for example, wouldn't the sub crew have a better knowledge of ocean topography to avoid crashing into an underwater mountain even with the minor distraction of a mystery object and a brief power outage? When things are at the darkest for the characters, there is always a miraculous intervention to save them. Somehow, despite the many problems, there is enough in this movie to make it exciting in places and if you're willing to not think at all and just go for the ride, you might be entertained. The problem is that you most likely will not be able to turn off your brain; as a result, like a cheap roller coaster ride, you may have had some fun, but when you look back at it later, you will find the experience to have been emptier than it first seemed.
| 
