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Post by janntosh on Oct 8, 2020 16:33:52 GMT
 finally watched it for the first time after getting a solid 1080p rip of the special edition. (For whatever reason there is no anamorphic DVD and No Blu ray release WTF!). I thought it was great. Great underwater cinematography. This was a hard movie to shoot but it was worth it in the end. The special effects for the most part hold and look real (with the exception of the part where the alien brings Harris aboard the ship), Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are both great and bring real emotion to their roles and to the entire movie, and what happened to Michael Biehn? Him vanishing was a huge blow to Hollywood. Alan Silvestri also delivers one of his best scores. Of course the ending turns from an underwater sci fi action flick into Close Encounters/The Day the Earth Stood Still but Cameron manages to not make it cheesy. He brings out his inner Spielberg and I say it works. I am not too shocked the movie bombed originally. No stars and the theatrical cut seems like a chopped up version. An incomplete movie. Watching this however makes me sad as it reminded me that James Cameron will spend the rest of his career/life making Avatar sequels. Instead of different types of movies. Honestly IMO Avatar is his weakest film.
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Post by lowtacks86 on Oct 8, 2020 18:26:57 GMT
finally watched it for the first time after getting a solid 1080p rip of the special edition. (For whatever reason there is no anamorphic DVD and No Blu ray release WTF!). I thought it was great. Great underwater cinematography. This was a hard movie to shoot but it was worth it in the end. The special effects for the most part hold and look real (with the exception of the part where the alien brings Harris aboard the ship), Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are both great and bring real emotion to their roles and to the entire movie, and what happened to Michael Biehn? Him vanishing was a huge blow to Hollywood. Alan Silvestri also delivers one of his best scores. Of course the ending turns from an underwater sci fi action flick into Close Encounters/The Day the Earth Stood Still but Cameron manages to not make it cheesy. He brings out his inner Spielberg and I say it works. I am not too shocked the movie bombed originally. No stars and the theatrical cut seems like a chopped up version. An incomplete movie. Watching this however makes me sad as it reminded me that James Cameron will spend the rest of his career/life making Avatar sequels. Instead of different types of movies. Honestly IMO Avatar is his weakest film. "Honestly IMO Avatar is his weakest film. " Did you watch "Piranha 2"?
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Post by dwightmachinehead on Oct 8, 2020 19:12:00 GMT
Hopefully one day the Abyss and True Lies will get the blu ray treatment.
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Post by politicidal on Oct 8, 2020 19:20:56 GMT
The special edition is one of the better ones I've seen.
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Post by Vits on Oct 8, 2020 20:09:31 GMT
In THE ABYSS, a diving team goes on a rescue mission. 2 of the members (Bud & Lindsey Brigman) used to be married. Let's get this out of the way. If you've seen it, you want to know which version I saw. If you haven't seen it, let me explain. There's a special edition with extra scenes and people debate on which version is the best. I usually choose to watch the director's cut of a movie, because that's supposed to be the original vision. However, while the theatrical cut of this movie doesn't contain all of James Cameron's ideas, he still approved it, so I saw that one. The underwater filming techniques are impressive, but I was more fascinated whenever the characters would run. The camera work feels seamless even though there doesn't seem to be enough room for the operator plus each actor that passes by them. In fact, the corridors are so narrow that they give the viewer a sense of claustrophobia. Unfortunately, this race-against-time story ironically drags on for 140 minutes! I can't imagine having to sit through the additional 30 minutes of the special edition! Everyone is a stock character, including Lt. Hiram Coffey. Why does a series of disastrous accidents even need a human villain? The heroes encounter some aliens and communicate with them. The tone of these scenes is majestic and a little whimsical. However, the aliens first appear relatively late in the story and they're pretty much gone until the last part. None of this matches the rest, which plays out like a gritty thriller. Why not remove them from the script and have a new ending? Or why not make them the main focus of the plot? There's a scene where Lindsey drowns. Her coming back to life shouldn't be that much of a surprise, but the scene is quite subversive based on the time span between CPR and the resuscitation, as well as how (purposefully) off-putting Bud's reactions become. Unfortunately, not long after, Bud also cheats death at the last minute. As if the movie needed more reasons to feel repetitive. 4/10 ------------------------------------- You can read comments of other movies in my blog. |
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Post by ck100 on Oct 8, 2020 20:21:03 GMT
Maltin Movie Guide Review:
The Abyss (1989) - 3 out of 4 stars
"Spectacular underwater saga about an oil-rig crew that gets involved in a perilous mission to rescue a sunken nuclear sub. Better as underwater adventure than futuristic sci-fi, with a couple of crises too many, but still a fascinating, one-of-a-kind experience. Great score by Alan Silvestri; Oscar winner for visual effects. Special edition includes 27m. of extra footage, some of it all-too-obviously cut from theatrical release. It fleshes out characters, amplifies plot points, and includes some spectacular special effects--but "literalizes" the other-worldly finale."
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