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| Ed
Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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'So
raise your hand if you think that was a Russian water-tentacle.'
A
team of off-shore workers are recruited by the military to assist
in investigating a sunken nuclear submarine on the edge of an immense
underwater abyss.
 An
'underwater adventure' that might have been the hit Titanic
turned out to be had it cast two teenagers in the leads and understood
that the climax should be at the end rather than two thirds into
the film. Apart from that, all of the tricks Cameron utilized to
such spectacular success on the big boat movie are here in spades:
narrow escapes from rapidly flooding cramped interiors, spectacular
underwater photography. The Abyss however feels at the same
time more adult and more misjudged than Titanic. The dialogue
is much better -- it could hardly be worse --and the characters
are somewhat more believable. Yet at the same time, both plot and
structure of this action-epic-with-a-message are so full of holes
that it's a miracle it fails to sink a lot sooner than it does.
As
it is, the first hour is simply astonishing, a clever, breathless
plunge into mysterious underwater happenings, with Mastrantonio
remarkedly well adapted to the testosteron-heavy atmosphere. The
whole thing starts coming apart though from the moment events are
(more or less) explained. This is also the starting point for Michael
Biehn's Nicholsonesque descent into campy, rolling-eyed madness.
Along with his loss of sanity, the plot loses all sense of credibility,
ultimately leading to the No Nukes aliens appearing in the Least
Spectacular Mothership Of All Time. The Special Edition version
adds another 50 minutes or so and features more build-up of character,
but also a rather embarassing expansion piece for the finale. This
only further demonstrates the silliness of the film's central idea,
one that was lifted directly from the stolid classic The Day
the Earth Stood Still (1951) and the even sillier Plan 9
from Outer Space (1953): 'Stop building nuclear weapons, insignificant
humans, or we will destroy you with our awesome powers.'
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If
The Abyss is one of your favorite movies, this is close
to the best you could wish for. An incredible amount of effort
has clearly gone into the production of this 2-DVD set. The
first disc contains the film (both the theatrical release
and the longer 'Special Edition'), the second disc basically
writes the book on every aspect of the film's production.
The Region 2 release (available from December 13, 2000) has
only a French language DD 5.1 sound mix, the English soundtrack
is (bafflingly) only available in DD 2.0. Many of the extra
features and all the Easter Eggs from the Region 1 version
are also missing. The Region 2 release is only available in
France and the Benelux.
The
movie is letterboxed at 2.35:1 and is unfortunately not anamorphic.
Both the picture and Dolby 5.1 sound however are strikingly
well executed.
The
most interesting item on the second disc is the hour-long
documentary on the making of the movie. The Abyss was
probably the most problematic major movie shoot since the
legendary production problems on Jaws, and watching
the wealth of material shot during this process and listening
to the cast and crew recount some of their stories is a riveting
tale.
For
the rest of the bonus features on the Region 1 release, you
must be willing to read (a lot!), as the other material on
the disk is mostly textual, illustrated by occasional audiovisual
interludes. Hardcore Abyss-iacs can delve through page
after page of various versions of the screenplay and literally
hundreds of storyboards. I certainly found it worthwhile -
though ultimately both time-consuming and exhausting - to
work my way through all this material, and now have the distinct
feeling I know more about this particular film than I ever
really wanted to know. This feeling is not only due to the
sheer amount of material, most of it is presented rather drily.
Occasional trivia tidbits (like the one on how Photoshop was
invented to solve a problem with the pseudopod sequence) are
few and far between, and the material is organized in a rather
odd fashion, often making it quite hard to find that bit of
info you remember having spotted somewhere. Rigorous searching
however will be rewarded by several James Cameron Easter Eggs
hidden all around Deep Core... The
menus are very nicely done. All available features
on both discs are built into a 3-D rendering of the Deep Core
station used in the Abyss. The menu options are organized
in a striking and original way and display remarkable consistency.
Keen eyes will also be able to pick out several easter eggs
related to Cameron's other films in and around Deep Core.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Abyss .
Click here
to return to the front page.
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