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Summary: "If you look deep into an abyss, the abyss looks into you"
Review: James Cameron, the master of blue-coloured movies has created the most beautiful movie of all times. This is my absolute favourite movie! When I first saw it, I couldn't open my mouth 'cause I was like hypnotized by those incredible images. This movie has it all: realistic characters, played by great actors, stunning visual effects and heart-pounding action, a moving lovestory and humour. The Special Edition really tells you more about the characters, than the original release of the movie did. Buy it! You won't regret it! I'm out of words....
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Summary: The Total Abyss
Review: The difference between the theatrical release and the special edition version is the difference between 2-D and 3-D. All the questions you were left with in the theater are spelled out for you in the complete version. The movie takes on a completely different feel, and rightly so. The cut version, as good as it was, pales next to the re-cut or (re-glue) so to speak. Give it a try. It's well worth it, even if you already own the the regular one.
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Summary: An Experience Like No Other
Review: What can be said about the Special Edition version of The Abyss besides the fact that it is an experience like no other. Aside from the unbelievable special effects, the universal message that this movie delivers is one that everyone should hold dear to their hearts: stop hating each other, youre all among the same. With Added scenes to this Special Edition, scenes that were very important for the theatrical release, but cut for time, make the film a haunting masterpiece that should remain talked about and viewed for generations to come.
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Summary: The Abyss is a great movie. The special edition rules!
Review: The Abyss was a very good movie. It combines sci-fi, action, fantasy, and drama. I love the special edition because you get to see the full 3hr. version. Which has some wonderful and important scenes that are missing from the 2 1/2 hr. version. I love the tidal wave sequence! I really dont understand why the original version was cut. So what, its long but the cut up version does not completly get the point across. The 3hr. version definetly does! Its a task to sit down to watch, but the film is well worth it. This film will satisfy most anybody!
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Summary: James Cameron at his best
Review: ``The Abyss: Special Edition" DVD is the reason I buy these shiny disks in the first place. The first disk gives you the choice of seeing the special edition (near 3 hours) and the theatrical version (2 1/2 hours). Both are good, but the special edition is more complete and realizes the scope only hinted at in it's original release. It can be tasking, but that's why there's a fast forward on a DVD player in the first place. The second disk is chock full of material on the movie, including trailers, storyboards, games, documentaries, the screenplay, and a lot more. (I've had this DVD for a few days and I'm barely halfway through all the material!) But by and large, the reason I got this one is because this is a great movie. It's not just one of the best thrillers of the 1980's, but it's also one of writer/director Jim Cameron's best movies ever. A great DVD for a great film.
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Summary: Now this is a special edition!
Review: SO many things now adays come out with _Special Edition_ attached to their name and the end result is pretty anemic.20th Century Fox, however, shows us with this DVD that a SPecial Edition can really be special. We get a 60 Minute Documentary that is absolutely fantastic. We get the screenplay. All sorts of concept art. But while all the above is great, what really makes this DVD a truly special edition is the fact that it contains both the Special Edition of _The Abyss_ as well as the original version as it played in the Theatres. It is absolutely awesome to see the Old version and compare it with the new. The graphics have aged incredibly well, in fact there are several Hi_Tech movies from 1999 that looked more fake than _The Abyss_ . The Story is pretty good, and the first time you see it, the movie will keep you on the edge of your seat. The enseble Cast is nothing short of astounding. If you own a DVD player you owe it to yourself to get this DVD. Now if only Fox will do the same thing for _Star Wars_ :-)
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Summary: Why this is not anamorphic
Review: The Abyss is one of the best DVD ever made, it as the Original Version of The film and the Director Cuts, that has 29 minutes more. The Audio is very good. And the Video too. The only problem for me is WHY the Video is not Anamorphic. I will never understand that. The extras are terrific, and I could write here more of 10.000 lines, about the extras because are too much. Say that The Abyss Comes in 2 DVD. One for the movie. And the other for the extras. The menu is the best menu I see in any DVD, is 3D interface made especially for the DVD. I think this menu is at the same quality that the Menu of Alien and Aliens. If You want a Good Movie and a Good DVD. This is one of the best 5 DVD you can Buy. Matrix. The Mummy. Saving Private Ryan. Aliens. Are The other Four. Until comes the Special Edition of T2: Terminator 2. And the Star Wars.
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Summary: High pressure excitement
Review: When The Abyss first came out at the cinemas in Australia I shot off to see it. Whilst it was an exciting action film, I thought the plot took a strange and almost unnecessary turn when the Aliens came forward at the end of the story. Let's face it, with a lost nuclear submarine, a claustrophobic underwater drilling rig, a hurricane and a world military crisis building, why does the story need aliens. Especially when they seem to be tacked on in a thoughtless way.
Then I heard about the directors cut version of The Abyss. All I had heard was that it was much better especially concerning the aliens. So out I went and bought this edition on Laser Disc. Wow, what a difference 28 minutes can make. The characters had more depth, Bud's near death decent becomes very touching and the aliens have a purpose after all. I find it hard to believe that Cameron could have sent the first amputated edition out to the cinemas. So let's forget the first edition and move on.
How can you not like a film that has so many exciting facets. Just the basic setting is suspense filled. A drilling rig with crew sitting on a rocky shelf two thousand feet below the surface of the ocean. Compared to this, the vacuum of space is a walk in the park. Just imagine the pressure at that depth. It's pretty scary even for me and I've been diving for years.
Add to this scene a mother ship floating above the rig, both of them connected by a thick umbilical cable which acts as communications link to the outside world. Now crash a US nuclear submarine nearby, (off the coast of Cuba), in suspicious circumstances and ask the drilling rig to come to the rescue. But the rig's engineers know nothing about military subs so lets send a group of Navy Seals down to take over the operation.
Okay, at this stage everything still seems fairly under control but not exactly failure tolerant. So it needs to be brought to the boil with a bit of pressure induced psychosis suffered by the head of the Seal team. And in order to trigger a little extra conflict lets get some glimpses of unknown craft, whizzing around the sub and you are about ready to rock and roll. Hmm, but there seems to be no time pressure. Maybe an imminent hurricane would help to focus our minds.
Let her rip. In a response to the perceived Russian threat, the Navy lads rush off to salvage a nuclear war head to obliterate the downed sub and keep it out of enemy hands. The trouble with this is they take the only machine that can uncouple the rig from its mother ship. They therefore don't have time to unhook before the storm hits, ripping the cable and crane from the mother ship and sending it plummeting down towards the rig. But not to worry, it misses, only to fall off the abyss a moment later, and subsequently drags them to the edge of the drop off. Lots of action, deaths and loss of equipment ensues. Which is about when the internal conflicts start to heat up.
Lt. Coffey played by Michael Biehn, becomes paranoid and thinks the rig's crew is against him. As his plans to nuke the enemy (actually aliens) emerge, Bud (Ed Harris) and his estranged wife Lindsey, (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) rally the crew to try to stop him. After fights and lots of near death events take place, the bomb is on its way, Coffey is dead and Bud is trapped with Lindsey in one of the little subs with no motor, a giant leak and only one diving suit. This is the best scenes in the film. They decide to let Lindsey drown on the slim hope that the freezing cold water will allow her to be towed back and still be revived. Ed Harris does a great job of acting as Bud struggles to revive his Wife.
After this, everyone becomes understandably focussed on stopping the atomic weapon from detonating. It would not only kill them all but would also start a war with the an alien race of unknown power. The plan is for Bud to use a special navy diving suit to go down the further two miles to the bottom of the abyss and then defuse the bomb. The suit in question is interesting as it requires Bud to breath an oxygenated liquid hydrocarbon. His decent is not easy and Lindsey helps by recounting intimate memories of their past life together.
Bud eventually makes it and stops the explosion but his decent has not left him enough oxygen to make it back. We are witness to his courage as he waits to die. Which is about when the aliens reappear to save him. But whilst they are doing this they are also setting up 1000 foot tidal waves to hang over every major coastal city in the world. Bud becomes their messenger. It is time for we humans to put away childish things and stop harming each other. Either that or learn to breath under water. Everyone is saved by the relatively friendly ETs and all is right with the world. A corny ending to be sure but very satisfying.
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Summary: You Just Can't Cut James Cameron...
Review: The Abyss: Special Edition shows why you really can't take a heavy hand to James Cameron's films. Sure, if left the way he wanted them, they tun out to be three-hour epics. The problem is, it's often the case that plot-vital scenes, like the tidal wave sequence in this film, get left on the cutting-room floor. If you liked The Abyss, it's more than worth getting this product for the restoration of that scene alone. If you didn't like it... Give the Special Edition a look anyway, the movie might make sense now. I must admit, James is a bit heavy-handed in his anti-nuke stance in this movie. His NTIs give us the message during the tidal wave sequence, and we get it again when Bud Brigman relays the NTIs' message to Deepcore and the surface (another partially cut scene). Nonetheless, the Special Edition of The Abyss is definitely a worthwhile buy.
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Summary: Top class DVD package from 20th Century Fox -- again
Review: This two-disc DVD package is nothing short of stunning in both it's content and presentation. 20th Century Fox DVDs of late are top class examples of the power of DVD, which put the simple video-to-DVD transfers which some companies put out to shame. THE ABYSS is a fantastic film and the ability to choose which version to watch (Theatrical or Special Edition) is a real boon. The aminated menus are brillant, based on the Moon Pool part of the rig, an example of which is the selection of the version of the film to watch. There are two doors - you pick the one for the version you want to watch. Then before the version you've picked starts a water tentacle rises up and goes through the door you picked. It's touchs like that which distinguishes the class from the dross. After watching the film, there's the second disc. This positively bursts with in-depth background information: The one-hour documentary "Under Pressure: The Making of the Abyss" and a supplemental guide containing a mass of material relating to the film including the original treatment, a shooting script and every single storyboard! Not to mention all the other stuff (one of my favourites being the 7 minute time lapse sequence showing the building and filling of the main Deepcore exterior set). A must for any serious DVD collector. Essential for any fan of this superb film.
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