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The Abyss SPECIAL EDITION |  | Director: James Cameron
Actors: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Jr. Kidd Brewer, Leo Burmester
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: Movie
Buy New: $9.99
as of 9/8/2010 12:42 MDT details
Seller: Amazon Video On Demand
Rating:  365 reviews
Sales Rank: 22020
Genre: Action
Rating: Unrated
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 172 Minutes
ASIN: B001GXYC1I
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver (Ed Harris) 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. The Abyss is written and directed by James Cameron and produced by Gale Anne Hurd, the team responsible for The Terminator and the Oscar-winning Aliens. |
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 365
 MMMMMMMMMMMM....cheesy! July 30, 2010
sissyboy (Where you can marry your sister)
br /What else can be said about James Cameron that hasent already been said? Well, how about this....he is a dual-edged sword. On the one hand, you have a master craftsman in all areas of filmmaking, screenwriting, and forward-thinking technical/visual excellence, vision, and ambition. It would be difficult to think of too many individuals who are in that same league.
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br /But at the same time, you have a very cheesy (ya, I said it!) individual who populates his films and screenplays with the same unbelievable stereotypes over and over again. The dialog is beyond corny, the storyline is nothing more then variations on extremely common (and tired) themes we've seen since the early days of film. He makes movies for the masses, and the masses are hungry. Hungry for what? Cheese, of course. They like their fromage any way they can get it. Do his films suck because of this? Oh farts no. But are they unique stories with complex, interesting, or true-to-life characters that turn a passive bit of entertainment into an experience which enriches your life in some way other then having a semi-thrilling 2+ hours spent sitting on your bloated rear end? Some would say no.
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br /But in his defense, I strongly doubt he'd call himself a master of unique and/or artistic storytelling. He makes entertaining action films which nearly always push the envelope of what is technically (and financially!) possible at that time.
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br /The Abyss shows him at his best, and excelling in those areas where he is quite possibly second to none. To call this film ambitious would be a massive understatement. But dont take my word for it, watch the endless (and highly informative/entertaining) bonus features on the second disc. When this film was made, it might have been historically, the most difficult film ever produced.
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br /But I must say, the usual Cameron cheesiness finds multiple opportunities to make you say "oh what, stop it"! I remember when I saw this in the theater, during one particular scene, a man somewhere in the theater screamed out "oh get the F%$K out of here!".
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br /An entertaining film, nonetheless.
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br /On a semi-unrelated rant, to those who maintain his sequel to Alien is better then the original directed by Ridley Scott...please shut your pie-holes and feed another slice of delicious chocolate cake into it. The original, made for only 8 million, was a ground-breaking film in terms of it's affect on that genre. Some would say it was the most imitated sci-fi/thriller/monster film ever made, and I would have to agree with that. Cameron's infinitely more expensive version certainly wasnt bad at all. Damn great, actually. But whom do we applaud? Most of what Cameron used in his sequel, were more expensive versions of the same themes and gimmicks that worked so well in the original.
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br /...but with the addition of cheesy dialog. He merely expanded upon a superb film with great special effects (for the time).
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br /There you have it.
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br /In this reviewers opinion, James Cameron is absolutely inhuman in terms of a brutally masterful technician and director, but an average storyteller/artist/writer (at best). Makes one sort of wonder though, how shockingly different things would be if this mans talent matched his skills...in all areas! You'd end up with films so bowel-shakingly and disturbingly good, that you'd possibly get diarrhea from the sheer brilliance of it.
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br /I hope such an individual is never born, I dont think the average movie-goer would be able to take it.
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br /Cheers.
 Great Film! July 20, 2010
S. Tyrrell
I love this movie! I've always been fascinated with the possibility of creatures from another world and this combined with the ocean makes for a great movie. Visually stunning and great special effects. I especially loved the commentary in text form that's on the movie and you also get the original theatrical version as well as the Special Edition movie with 28min. of additional footage. It's a beautifully shot movie. A MUST HAVE for a DVD collector!
Worst of the James Cameron films? July 11, 2010
Jaewoo Kim (Santa Monica, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was the only James Cameron film I had yet to see. So I took the plunge and watched it.
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br /I must say I certainly think this is the worst JC film I have seen.
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br /The film is very ambitious and was one of the most difficult films to shoot because most of the scenes were shot underwater. Allegedly, James Cameron had multiple spats with both his crew and cast members over the brutally physicaly and emotionaly difficult scenes.
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br /There were times when the film seems to be lacking direction. Many minutes are wasted meandering with dialogue and sequences that seem add little value to the overall story and character development.
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br /The film is also somewhat anti-military and certainly anti-nuclear weapons.
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br /I would actually like to see this film REDONE by JC with modern special effects and a bigger budget. Perhaps this film was made before its time.
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br /The acting in this film was great. I think JC does a good job of bringing out the best in actors and actresses.
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br /Overall, I was bored with this film and really didn't care for the characters or their outcome.
Deep in the ocean, like being on a ship in space, the action revolves around confined people in a stressful environment! May 23, 2010
Robert Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA)
A submarine with nuclear warheads sinks. The closest people that could possibly rescue any survivors are the crew of a deep water oil rig. The Navy sends over three SEALs to assist in the rescue.
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br /But a hurricane on the surface tears at the support ships, and tragedy erupts when a huge crane breaks off a tender ship and drags the underwater rig perilously close to a deep water trench. The rig is leaking, and the oxygen supply is limited.
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br /And one of the SEALs begins to show the effects of nitrogen narcosis. He begins to get paranoid that the Russians are going to capture the warheads.
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br /And then there are the mysterious lights, and water columns, and... submersibles? surrounding the stricken rig.
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br /The interactions and tensions of the crew (particularly between Ed Harris and Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are a real highlight. They seem so real! And Ed Harris' "purple hand" is an interesting symbol throughout of his marriage. And the strategy for escape from the leaking submersible, to get back to the rig, is so racking!
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br /Michael Biehn, as the delusional/psychotic SEAL diver, is another great actor in this film... believable, scary, and capable.
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br /The Abyss counts as a sci-fi flick, because of the presence of aliens. Honestly, I'm not sure they were even needed to make this a worthy film. But there they are, and their ability to negate decompression sickness at the end was a bit underwhelming.
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br /Still, this was an exciting undersea adventure!
The Abyss May 2, 2010
Jason C. Wilkerson (Green Bay, WI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When a nuclear sub goes down in the Pacific Ocean unexpectedly and a hurricane prevents the military from being able to send a team in after it, they subcontract an underwater oil rig team drilling near the area led by Bud Brigman (Ed Harris). To assist the rig team, the military sends in a group of Navy SEALs led by Lt. Coffey (Michael Biehn) accompanied with the underwater oil rig's designer and Bud's on again off again wife Lindsey Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). But as they search the nuclear sub, they realize that there might be more to the sinking of the sub than they thought, and while Lt. Coffey believes the Russians to be responsible, the rig crew believes there might be something more... supernatural involved.
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br /There are few directors that truly know how to top themselves with each endeavor the way that James Cameron does. His first movie, The Terminator set a precedent for action movies in the 80's, and he only topped that achievement with Terminator 2. With Aliens he made a movie that was at the very least equal to Ridley Scott's Alien by making a sequel that changed the mood and style while still respecting the original. In 1989 James Cameron directed The Abyss, a film that took place mainly underwater, and was filmed in the largest underwater set at the time. The set, built in a half finished nuclear reactor facility, included 7 million gallons of water. So among Cameron's other achievements, how does The Abyss stand up?
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br /The Abyss is definitely Cameron's most underrated film. Looking at movies like Avatar, Aliens, The Terminator, and Terminator 2 it's easy to see how a movie like The Abyss can be forgotten, but on closer inspection The Abyss fits right along side the others. Like Cameron's other films, he shows great attention to detail, with amazing special effects. On a technical scale, the movie feels like real life, something that's always great when it comes to a Cameron film. But also like Cameron's other films, it's not about the special effects but rather about the human element. Cameron does a great job of humanizing his characters and fleshing out their relationships.
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br /The acting if phenomenal, of course I wouldn't expect anything less from a movie that includes Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens) and Ed Harris (The Truman Show, The Rock). Biehn does great as a military man who's lost communication with the outside world and has to make calls on his own about their next move, and it's driving him insane. Ed Harris is great as the hard ass rig leader who pines for his ex-wife who keeps running off on different jobs without him, and Marry Elizabeth Mastrantonio is great as the aforementioned wife who finds being stuck with Bud and his crew repulsive, but grows close to the husband she had left behind and the crew he manages.
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br /If you haven't seen this movie, but you like Cameron's other flicks, I highly recommend you give this shot. I would argue that this movie is possibly even better than The Terminator, and since I think Aliens is better than The Terminator, I find this to be right on par with Aliens. Give it a shot, this is definitely a sleeper classic that deserves more exposure than it's gotten.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 365
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