The Abyss - The Special Edition
The Abyss is James Cameron's difficult third movie. After the success of The Terminator and Aliens, Cameron produced this ambitious and commercially unsuccessful watery sci-fi, and gained his reputation for being a spectacularly expensive filmmaker. (I don't count Piranha II Flying Killers, partly because Cameron was locked out of the production by the producers so it probably isn't pure Cameron, but mostly because I've never seen it. It is, by most accounts, dreadful.)
Nowadays Cameron is famous for vastly expensive movies like Titanic, Terminator 2 Judgment Day and Avatar. It is difficult to remember now that he used to make very cheap and very effective sci-fi. The Terminator was made for buttons and even Aliens was not particularly expensive. In The Abyss, the studio opened its wallet and Cameron helped himself to its contents.
The film had a famously difficult production. Ed Harris almost drowned. Yet, in spite of the chaotic shoot ("Life's Abyss and then you dive") and the film's commercial failure, it is worth noting that it was a milestone in cinema due to its ground breaking CGI. The NTI's water tentacles seem basic now, but they were revolutionary in 1989.
"Hands up who thinks it's a Russian water tentacle".
When I first heard about the Abyss , I was very excited. The Terminator and Aliens had blown me away. This was going to be great. Then when it limped out into the cinemas, it was a bit slow and saddled with a dreadfully weak, almost icky ending ("They must have done something to us" says Hippy). I'd seen some very exciting stills in a movie magazine of incredible special effects with tidal waves threatening cities, but these were missing. If I had been aware of the word in 1989, I would have said "Meh."
But I don't own this version of The Abyss. I own The Abyss - The Special Edition. All of the missing effects are reinstated. It makes more sense. The ending works. It's still far too long, but it's so much better.
Producer (and Cameron's then wife) Gail Ann Hurd says that whenever she watches the movie with anyone else, she notices that during the scene when Bud (Ed Harris) swims underwater without scuba gear from one part of Deep Core to the moon pool, the audience holds its breath with him.
Me too.
Nowadays Cameron is famous for vastly expensive movies like Titanic, Terminator 2 Judgment Day and Avatar. It is difficult to remember now that he used to make very cheap and very effective sci-fi. The Terminator was made for buttons and even Aliens was not particularly expensive. In The Abyss, the studio opened its wallet and Cameron helped himself to its contents.
The film had a famously difficult production. Ed Harris almost drowned. Yet, in spite of the chaotic shoot ("Life's Abyss and then you dive") and the film's commercial failure, it is worth noting that it was a milestone in cinema due to its ground breaking CGI. The NTI's water tentacles seem basic now, but they were revolutionary in 1989.
"Hands up who thinks it's a Russian water tentacle".
When I first heard about the Abyss , I was very excited. The Terminator and Aliens had blown me away. This was going to be great. Then when it limped out into the cinemas, it was a bit slow and saddled with a dreadfully weak, almost icky ending ("They must have done something to us" says Hippy). I'd seen some very exciting stills in a movie magazine of incredible special effects with tidal waves threatening cities, but these were missing. If I had been aware of the word in 1989, I would have said "Meh."
But I don't own this version of The Abyss. I own The Abyss - The Special Edition. All of the missing effects are reinstated. It makes more sense. The ending works. It's still far too long, but it's so much better.
Producer (and Cameron's then wife) Gail Ann Hurd says that whenever she watches the movie with anyone else, she notices that during the scene when Bud (Ed Harris) swims underwater without scuba gear from one part of Deep Core to the moon pool, the audience holds its breath with him.
Me too.
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