The Abyss (1989) - WTF Happened To This Movie? 

Same as NASA they film under water lol CGI added in ...BAM outer space

@@me3ksdagoat279 Tut Tut Tut, how dense...

@Straya 83 I"m reading the book came after the film, books always adds the extra layer of development.

What's absolutely nuts is the fact that the oxygen enriched water (which is actually an existing, real thing apparently) that was tested is mind blowing. And that it was really tested as a huge inspiration for the movie is a testimony of mankind in my opinion. The fact that it was the sparking of this idea that made Cameron dive deeper into the abyss (pun intended) of the idea took a real visionary!

Watching the Blu-Ray now :) Absolutely fantastic!

Your dad is a top chap.

Sounds epic

Brilliant film, absolutely gold!

Was their LSD in the water? LOL.

Intramotive Jones : It was great up until the last few minutes. They must have run out of $$$.

Which version do you prefer? The theater version, or the extended version?

I prefer the extended version

Victor ~ me too!

Yes I watched uncut version... Loved it

Yes, the uncut version is the best.

@Johnny Five Next you'll be waxing poetic about the latest comic book adaptation from Disney.

..still under rated in 2019..and this kid who is narrating this video is a clueless moron lol

stars out good, becomes schlock toward the end

underrated? I knew that some movies which liked by most in my country could be fail in America. But how it's came that Abyss was disliked by American audience?!

Leviathan and Proteus are both way better than The Abyss.

right I love that movie

Yup, same here!

I enjoy it even more than back then.

I can't count the number of times I watched this movie.... I love it plus the making of it was absolutely breathtaking....it's a masterpiece...the only thing I would do now is the CGI ...just tweak it, don't replace it

30 years later and I should probably watch it. I was nine in my defense.

Because they're Philistines.

Because uhhhh.... profit margins

That Rotten Tomatoes score they showed is actually quite good. Well above average.

Definitely the directors cut though! The cinema cut suffered with the cuts!

It has numerous scripting issues - the worst are the false act breaks. With a bit of restructuring it could work because the quality of the performances is pretty damn good.

Roger Kincaid ranking?

I really liked the concept of benevolent aliens in this movie, most movies portray aliens as the enemy. It seemed like a lot of people complained about that aspect of the movie but for me it really makes it a winner! Definitely one of my favorite sci-fi movies.

Which version do you prefer? The theater version, or the extended version?

@@michaelsong5555 Extended 🎬📽 Though it does get overlooked, there is no denying that the meticulous work done for this film paved the way for T2. Kudos!

@@mysterious144 I totally agree! I love the aliens! People say the aliens should have been totally left out of the movie but that was my favorite thing in it. Like you I love that they were benevolent.

Yes! I absolutely 'LOVE' this movie. It is by far my favorite Cameron film.

right? Now that I know what it took to make it, I want to watch it again. That alone, makes it an amazing movie.

The Director's Cut is a damn good movie....the US Theatrical Release is just OK. That Tidal Wave sequence is critical for the end making any real sense.

@@raythulhu5143 - Both cuts are bad. The original has too little, the DC has too much. There's a lot of stuff he cut out that should have stayed out.

It was a boring film.

It's one scene that has made me shed a few tears.

Absolutely

Magnificent to this day ! Take any other actor and you have a disaster

Really Liz was great too. I have never seen two actors being so good and real in a Cameron movie before or since

Couldn't agree more... def one of Harris' best moments. Beihn is also perfect in this movie.

I liken it to “The Day the Earth Stood Still” in the ocean. Especially when you compare it to the Director’s cut.

Yes he does!

no. PERIOD.

Well, COMMA, I don't think so. FULL STOP.

Can we utilize the full range of punction when discussing movies please?

Well, in America, The Abyss IS one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. Fuckin PERIOD.

Space balls is the best SciFi film ever made , Space Comma ,

Well, it costed 45 million and the world wide boxy office was 90 million. The 54 was just the US income. Never understand why they count only that some times. Amazing movie btw. Specially in their time.

This movie blew my mind as a kid... Remains one of my top 3 favorite movies.. (abyss, Jurassic Park, top gun)

cairo because the marketing budget is usually the same cost as the movie so that’s why they refer to that

@@kashmirha $90 million on a $45 million budget _is_ barely breaking even, since the box office earnings are split between the cinema and the studio. How much it's split varies - in the US the studio gets around 55% of every ticket sale, in other countries less, so round it out to about 50%. 50% of $90 million is $45 million, so yeah - barely broke even.

@@Werrf1 home cinema, screening, tv rights - I think overall, the movie did more than just break even

Absolutely/ It was back then what Avatar is today. Technical masterpiece. Not many directors can pull that off and age well with time.

Absolutely. It rips your heart out.

@Cherish God Lol. I felt the same. She was a little much.

I agree! When I first saw it I didn't expect her to survive! I am glad they made it to where her character did come back. I never really thought about it until seeing this though, about how hard that must've been on her. I feel bad that she was so traumatized she could never even talk about it. Sounds like PTSD, actually. They were all so amazing and should be proud of themselves!

@Cherish God I don't remember them calling her a bitch except when Ed was trying to revive her and said "bitch you've never backed away from anything in your life now FIGHT!". But it's been a long time since I've seen it! I need to watch it again. And as far as her response to him when he was going down the abyss, I just chalk it up to people being different and handling things different. She was freaking out afraid she was going to lose him as she saw he was starting to have trouble typing. The part where he wrote "knew it was a one-way trip from the beginning" or something to that effect and "don't cry...wife" reeeeally got to me! I don't think that her acting ever made me doubt her character 's love for his character, though. But like I said, it's been awhile!

I'm trying NOT to divulge TOO much information but the opening scene was based on actual events, and I would like to know how, and from whom Cameron acquired that information. It was classified. OS-3 US NAVY inactive reserve NAB Little Creek Virginia🇺🇸🫡

I thought making the marines evil was a real shtty move, they are on the same side and they turn on their own? Sorry Chew, but the film lost me on that one.

@@LandersWorkshop Haven't seen it in a while, but didn't the marines want to nuke the site the moment they saw indications of intelligent life?

@@chewface In the story and film they did, thus making the marines 'evil'. Very fcked up decision by Cameron to do this, he did a massive about face from being patriotic and supporting of his own countries military (in an allegorical sense) to making them the antagonist. He did so more times afterwards as well with Avatar etc.

@@LandersWorkshop I mean, it kinda makes sense though. Sure, its a pessimistic view of our military...but its realistic. If we were to ever discover alien life, or an alien planet....our governments first response would either be a hostile takeover, leeching of resources, or utter annihilation if the first two options arent possible.

@@chewface That's more a current age view of things it's only in the recent history that such things in the Post-WW2 sphere have come about. In fact it's only in the past 30 years that shit really got out of hand to be quite honest with you.

It was poorly received because it was poorly crafted and poorly executed. The least they could have done is actually ask a member of the U.S. military how they actually do things and perhaps even check with a real deep sea exploration crew about how that works. Beyond that, they could have sent the main actors to acting lessons . . . basic ones . . . They needed them desperately. --note on edit -- I absolutely hate these programs that "correct" your spelling and do it wrong.

@@bobski8203 To be fair, the actors received months of deep diving training before even getting a chance to actually start filming. The problems arose with the suits that Cameron wanted them to wear. They are very, very different from what your typical SCUBA is like, which is what all of the actors were already used to. Add on top of this the confusing setpieces and I can understand why there were so many complications. They were basically thrown into an entirely alien environment, wearing equipment that they were never given an adequate chance to get familiar with. "Poorly crafted" is probably the most insulting thing I've ever read about this movie. Nearly half of the movie was shot underwater, and it actually managed to work because Cameron didn't want to let the idea go. His obsession also gave ILM a chance to completely revolutionize how CG effects were done back then, giving birth to an entirely new generation of amazing CG for the era. That's dedication to the craft, and when you're dedicated like that, you will make it good no matter what. Every fiber of his being was invested into this movie. The dude was even willing to give up half of his salary just to appease Sony so they would grant a production extension. If you don't think that's dedication to the craft, then I think you might need to re-think what it means. Poorly executed, I can agree with that 100%. But there's also plenty of reasons why it was poorly executed. Hollywood studios do not like when movies go over budget, they also don't like it when movies take longer to make than anticipated. Cameron jumped to shooting prematurely, even before many sets were completely finished, because he knew that sooner or later the corporate overlords would be hounding him big time. Eventually they did, and the movie still wasn't ready yet. If he hadn't made the choice to start shooting earlier, the movie would have never been finished. If James Cameron were given all the money and time in the universe to make a movie, this wouldn't be a problem. This wouldn't be a problem for every film in existence, either. But money and time are finite resources, so sacrifices have to be made somewhere. Not really sure what you mean about "acting lessons", considering all of the major actors in this movie were (and some of them still are, to this day) big name actors. And, for what it's worth, I'm not even that big of a fan of James Cameron. I didn't like Titanic, I didn't like Avatar. And funnily enough, Avatar is his highest grossing movie of all time and it's really not that great. It was awesome the first time, because it features many incredible technological advancements in film. But it's just not that great of a movie. Cameron has always been about pushing the boundaries of film, and Avatar manages to do that, but it's not the same as something like The Abyss. This is a movie that took place in a domain that no other director or film studio wanted to mess with. The guy literally conquered a domain that nobody else wanted to touch, and he made a damn good movie while he was there. This all happening in the late 80's makes it all the more technologically impressive.

@@spartan456 -- Oh, I absolutely loved MOST of the special effects. What I don't appreciate about the move is that none of it happened the way it really would have happened, and the actors, if they had ANY talent at all, must have been horribly distracted. That only happens with an extremely bad director. You talk about pushing the boundaries of film, and my contention is that this was done quite unsuccessfully and with a great deal of inattentiveness (i.e.by a hack).

Bob Ski I don’t see where the acting was bad. I own the director’s cut and watch it several times per year. It still sets me on the edge of my seat and conjures emotions. Maybe you need glasses?

@@bobski8203 You sound like the .00001% who had some technical knowledge. The rest of the audience wouldn't know and wouldn't care. Also, Harris and Mastrantonio are solid actors in everything they do. The "villain" also acted well and the rest of the crew was standard. I think the reason it wasn't well-received was because of the length and pace of the movie. I was 21 when it came out and loved it. When I saw the director's cut, I wished they would have gone with that. It would have pulled more viewers just because of the threat that was portrayed. It still holds up today.

Apparently it's ready for Cameron's approval but he needs to sit and watch it and check the colour grading ect. Same for true lies

@@paullynch1246 its been 'ready' for years. studios and cameron are still are being cunts to each other at the cost of the release.

Not to mention True Lies never being re-released after 9/11 (so no bluray format). It's not even AVAILABLE on iTunes.

Level 99 I was lucky to get it on dvd. As of this date, no online digital download or Blu-ray. They must not like making money, cause I’d buy it in a heartbeat, and tell all my friends to buy it. Some who’ve never heard of this awesome movie.

they updated the Wiki for this; supposedly it was supposed to be out in 2017; and they were doing direct 4k scans of the master using a "wet scan" ?? it's reported to be absolutely amazing but; in true fashion; still not complete. double-edged sword apparently it actually took a very long time for them to approve the BD/4k release; but hey, transfer methods have improved, riiiight?

Exactly but suppose people are running out of ideas on how to be a youtuber so are just finding ways by being negative about movies or whatever just by nitpicking.

Totally true. Ask ANYONE, it's one of those films that you can, not only, enjoy watching COUNTLESS times... but you don't EVER change, when you stumble upon, when channel surfing...

@@jshorto this guy doesn't do vids BASHING these flicks, he just focuses on the history behind films with batshit crazy stories, and incidents, attached to them. This video isn't meant to be negative OR positive. It's a subjective history of the films production, and release, based on old interviews and aricles, that's all!

My laser disc is pride of place......👏🏼

That's why it's a classic. And a crime that it hasn't been remastered for Blu/4K...

I was 12 at the time and saw it 3 times in the theatre. It was amazing watching it on the big screen.

Know the feeling! THIS was one of those movies that deserved so much more!

Yeah, As a 40 yeah old, I agree, everyone owned the VHS. I never knew it was disliked so much. I also never knew it was a James Cameron film until later.

I think it was poorly marketed and folks didn't get it in the first run, but it did well on video, etc. It's a damn classic and it's a bloody crime that it hasn't been remastered yet for Blu-Ray & 4K... It was great.

The movie was long, had no real big bankable stars, was marketed incorrectly, was hard to describe to moviegoers etc. It's not a surprise it bombed.

@@rustincohle2135 as in this video.. how would you sell 2001 to an unknowing audience?

Exactly what I'm saying this movie was great this guy's an idiot

Me personally, think JC is an absolute genius and madman. Would explain why he is one of the greatest directors to ever live.

@@mar10ssj1 He's still only human though. Stalker much?!

I loved both but prefer the Special Edition.

It was not James Horner. It was Alan Silvestri who wrote the score.

@@huntress1013 DOH! I stand corrected.

very true. this is one of my favorite movies but I just can’t watch that scene. it’s terrifying

I agree.. that was an intense scene beyond words

True. But instead of waiting, they should've started swimming together, you know? So she could be a little less dead.

@@SuperScottCrawford Yes! She should have hyperventilated and then started swimming.

Is it just me who holds there breath when watching this, just to see if she might have made it.

amen

exactly!

Shame about the fuck up at the end with the decompression. Oh, sure there's the line 'we should be dead, we didn't decompress!' 'They must have done something to us...' 'oh yes'. Fine, alien woo. They 'did something'. What they DIDN'T do was tell them about it, so the question remains why a crew of the most experienced divers on the planet blundered out of deep core to what, as far as they knew, was certain death? I love the film, especially the extended version, but that still bugs the crap out of me.

And don't forget.... several copycats were spawned. Whole genre(s) of underwater thriller/horror prevailed in the next 10 years.

Yep She's also Maid Marian

She was also very good in 'The Colour of Money'.

Mary Elizabeth Manstrantonio

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Must take her forever to sign autographs

I always though Miss Mastrantonio and Madeleine Stowe were the two most beautiful women in film.

other comments here speak of a 4k 30 year anniversary release that was due out in 2019. I don't know if that actually released or not. Look for it.

I read Cameron hoped to get it (and True Lies) ready for blu ray this year, but obviously that's been delayed.

Not looking good at all. 😡 Disney holds the rights to the film since they bought 20th Century Fox and own their entire catalogue. In August they announced that they will no longer be releasing back-cataloged movies in physical format. They're sticking with digital streaming. Really sucks! Hoping that a third party (Shout! Factory) can pry it away from them.

@@ronaldh8446 that is so depressing :(

I wish we could get The director's cut that we were meant to see

I feel your pain, and my second name is flood.

I was too young to see it in theaters, I was 6 in 1989 but I did see Terminator 2 and it scared the hell out of me, so guess my parents were right to not let me see it until I was a teenager. Though today at 36 I think one of my worst fears is drowning.

Do you mean thalasophobia - fear of deep and open bodies of water, or truly aquaphobia - fear of water itself?

@@DJHastingsFeverPitch If you're asking me, then probably thalasophobia, I can handle water but submerging my head under it...nope.

One of my favourite films.

I love this film, both the original theatrical version and the special edition director's cut.

That's the best thing about him as a director. His movies hold up. The time put in pays out for decades. This movie was genius, people say it's slow but the pacing was fine.

Same here

Yes!...what a surprisingly good movie,the emotion between the actors was awesome,the ending was amazing

was going to say the exact same thing. Amazing movie.

same here. Respect it even more now

This movie was awesome this guy doesn't know what the hell he's talking about

Deja vu. I saw him in Allentown, PA at a small con in 2014. I probably asked him more about The Abyss than any other movies. I remember him saying it wasn't as difficult a shoot as people seem to think it was. That seems true to this video, where Biehn seems to be the only one who says he enjoyed the shoot. He definitely mentioned that he thought the movie ended when his character died and the rest of it is just unnecessary. I didn't really agree with him though. I was just saying I liked the whole thing. Shortly after that he basically said, well, nice meeting you, enjoy the con and brushed me off. It was a small con and I don't think there was even anyone behind me waiting to talk to him at that point. He just didn't seem to care for our conversation too much, LOL.

The Abyss is just a great movie!! How many movies from the 80s hold up so well today? This movie gives a new appreciation to what sailors, mariners, and undersea workers go through day in and day out. As for the extended parts, they made the movie BETTER!!!! They gave it motivation and depth and show the lesson of tolerance for difference.

@menckencynic Jurassic Park does not involve as much CGI as it appears to most though, and often not in the places most think it is. The T-rex vs car scene is a great example of that in using the limits of CGI at the time.

@menckencynic But what other thing has changed between every new Jurassic Park entry? The amount of dinosaurs. There was not a lot of screen time in the first one even comparing only to the second. Since the "wow-a-dinosaur!"-factor like anything else is a quickly losing novelty, it inevitably becomes a question of ever more quantity over quality. And of course having more of the same at the same (lower preferably) price rarely work. This is not exclusive to dinosaurs of course, it fits anything. Explosions, aliens. That can be true, but it depends greatly on the environment. Kitchen dinosaurs be much simpler than lawn dinosaurs. Usually full CGI is still more expensive than partial though. As much as I like "The Abyss", the real environment CGI that made the final cut does not account for a lot of screen time. And the integration of the "rescue" in the end I'd guess most would think looks very bad today. It can of course be explained by alien physics, but still. It does look very pretty, but believable by any stretch, not so much. Starship Troopers is interesting though. It indeed has a massive amount of integrated complex CGI action. But on the other hand bugs are "simple" to do. And Verhoeven may even have wanted a bit unreal look to it for the surreal or comedic effect. It is a bit similar in his other works really, sometimes the tech even seem scaled back at times intentionally while other things look great even today. Not talking about just CGI but even tried and tested stop motion follow this pattern. Whatever the case, every sequels to ST looked worse. So nothing out of the ordinary really. ;) That is not what I meant though. The question is why you can't tell, and what exactly you can not tell. Spielberg was just more experienced in knowing the rules of illusion. The Jurassic Park example I mentioned illustrates this well. Most viewers are naturally paying full attention to the (very real) dinosaur wrecking a car that they don't notice the car looking very unreal indeed. And really most of the scenes in the film do the same. When the dinosaurs actually are CGI they are in a simple environment, with more predictable lightning (kitchen) or hidden in shadows, rain or other environment effects to add life to them by distracting the eyes. When the first sequel came, we got ten times the dinosaurs, under full daylight, outside, in complex environments. And it just escalated from there of course. Tech has moved forth. Film making..? Stepped back some maybe.

@menckencynic ""So you're saying....uh....the amount of dinos make...what? More recent ones better, CGI-wise? That the wow factor is gone, so...CGI has improved? The movies are shittier now, which makes the special effects of the first one not so good? I can't imagine how you meant that would make the CGI better now. "" Very little CGI and practical effects is cheaper and simpler to make then lots of CGI and lots of practical effects. Concise enough of a concept? """At best you seem to be wandering off the reservation of what we were talking about and bringing up something else. At worst you seem to have lost your own point. Ah ha! This I can answer because you're back on point AND you've got an experiment where we have both the control and the variable to compare: The original movie compared with the exact same franchise later on. The very simple fact of the matter is the other movies don't look as good. Comparing JPI to JPIV and it becomes completely evident that the new ones don't look any better. "" I don't think I have argued the later do look better though. Only why they would have a hard time to do so. """That's my whole point, a la Avatar. It STILL doesn't look believable. Ok, it didn't quite look right then. Agreed. Problem is, it's now 2019. Just saw Planet of the Apes. It looks less real by comparison."" Sure. Though I doubt it was even meant to. It's just too much in any way one look at it to ever be believable anyway. Even if discounting the obvious that we would think so because we know it can't be real. It's simply beyond the suspense of disbelieve. Unlike Jurassic Park. We know there are no dinosaurs, but there could be, and we think they would look exactly like that because that is how we already knew dinosaurs would look. There were indications to make more scientifically accurate dinosaurs available to Spielberg well before production started. He chose to ignore those in favour of less realistic animals that we would think more realistic. ""They were on the cusp in 1994. They're still on the cusp. That's my whole point. Progress has been almost zero. Ok so they have more dinos or apes, or blue space hippies in a scene. Woo. Whoopie. Yay. That's not a great advancement. And it's certainly not an argument that they have advanced. "" The cusp is the outset because ambitions are moved. Apes though, speaking of, may actually be more interesting in terms of CGI evolution than dinosaurs or smurfs. Compare "Congo" for example with later monkeys in "Kong" or "Planet of" ""Well again, all movies are taken as a whole and they all have a look. That's just how it works. It looks good or it doesn't. It holds up or it doesn't. JP looked awesome . Raptors per square inch or no raptors per square inch. If Verhoven was looking to shit his movie up, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, it was a goddamned cartoon. I take it back: Hanna Barbara would have thrown it back, saying "Scooby Doo doesn't look this shitty". "" It was obviously meant to be a cartoon. But if one really managed to miss the entire not so subtle fifties B-film parody tonality of it, then I guess it can appear just plain modern B. The point is that the sequels do not have the tone, and just look like B TV productions from the nineties instead. And I guess the last one even is that. So no wonder really. ""There is a possibility, and you can take it or leave it, that Verhoven was just a shitty director who made a "B" movie with an F- grade, don't you think? Here's how bad it was: until you told me, I didn't know Troopers HAD sequels. And I'm a huge sci-fi dude. "" Nah, Verhoven is clearly skilled and versatile. Which is why every attempts to follow up his work resulted in much lesser films, at best. ""Respectfully, that is absolutely wrong. It's 1) How good does it look? and 2) Is it getting better? "" It's right because you are looking at the wrong thing if you want to argue the truth about tech evolution. "Hey, that dino is some amazing CGI!" "Well, that is actually not CGI at all, but never mind. It is the result that counts." :) Otherwise one be just comparing a sack of apples to a banana. What kind sense does that make. ""I swear, sometimes it seems like you're arguing MY position. The beauty of your questions are they all have both controls and the variables. "" Your position that the first Jurassic Park is a better in every way than the all the sequels? It is. Maybe objectively so even. Does it have better CGI in a reasonably fair comparison than any of them? No. ""Ok, so if that's true, then explain "BFG"."" Big Funny Gun..? IDK .. ""See what I mean? We were close to reality in 1994. "" Not really, no. I still think "Final Fantasy" looked a bit more realistic than "The Lawnmower Man". And "Avatar" or "Alita" more so than both, despite all that mentioned inherent unreality. ""We're not much advanced from that now. That's *clear*."" I really think you should to see the "Lawnmower man" though.

​@menckencynic Sighs.. Even Cameron thought the few minutes of CGI in Abyss looked dated, even before the release of the film. The studio refused more work on it. There are also only 15 minutes of dinosaur effects in "Jurassic Park" in total. And those include the 5 minutes of CGI. Yes, five minutes, partial CGI. If you still can't understand what the scale and level difference that makes to the sequels, or something like "Avatar"s pretty much two hours of full CGI, then you will never understand this "concept" either. Wouldn't take stabs at any linguistic quirks if writing like you do. It's completely indecipherable at most points, and so thoroughly crude and childish at all times it's serves best to illustrate the standard fare troll-out-of-arguments you resort to. Right down to the end. Nice touch there...

Nathan Bell this cut is the only way you can make sense of it,it’s a masterpiece

@@markhunter954 Agreed. It deserves so much more than a non-anamorphic DVD or Laserdisc as the only way to watch it. I've been hoping James Cameron will remaster this one for 3D. We at least need a blu-ray or HD download.

Never seen the extended, will have to look for it.

The extended version is a completely different film - as mentioned it changes everything

if i remember right, the extended cut was still cut by British censors to remove the rat scene on grounds of animal cruelty. Just another example of the petty interference they impose on too many movies. I don't know if its been restored for blu ray.

Yes

Which version do you prefer? The theater version, or the extended version?

Check out Sphere. It's basically this film but significantly better in every way.

@@Lord_of_Dread Seen it. Great film too 👍 Book's better, though.

Here here! We don't want to live through another Phantom Menace / Force Awakens

I don't want to live through another Avatar...the best looking shit film I've ever seen.

@@ThePereubu1710 Well you're less than 20 months away. Start gaining a taste for crow.

Avatar sucks!

@@BarrySlisk Slightly flawed in clunky dialogue and too familiar archetyping, but yet told with completely competent craft and conviction - in impeccably realised technical innovation, design, and execution - is a pretty persnickety standard for proclaiming a thing "sucks".

That's deep shit.. understanding that you were there and you were scared.. it says alot about what kind of person you are. It probly made him seek enlightenment!

"Failure is not an option!"

Totally, I didn't know about the directors cut until 2000, and my mind was blown.

Agreed.

I watched the theatrical cut a couple weeks ago. Loved it. Guess I have to rewatch the directors cut now!

100% I watched it on TV a few weeks ago, and all of the alien threat was cut out of the ending, just showed "I love you wife, then the ship rose up. Fuckin boo

@Finn MacCool Yeah. It's not the business of aliens to threaten us all with death in order to change our politics. The theatrical cut shows them as benevolent, the director's cut, tyrannical.

Oh hell yeah. That would be fantastic.

Dana says- Whoa! Incredible. I'd be first in line for that.

Probably one of the reasons it's underrated, so many other good movies came out then as well. Keaton's Batman, The last crusade, Dead poets society, lethal weapon 2, the list goes on, many moviegoers spent a lot of money that year.

the ending is still kinda cheesy. Then again, 2001 has its problems too.

I agree that the director's cut is the better version. It was the version I saw first and on laserdisc (I think?). So when I saw the theatrical release I was confused by the abrupt ending. I feel that the D.C. gives more answers and ends the movie better. One of my favorite movies still.

You do know the "water tendril" was the first use of that brand new CGI technology in this film.... right? It went on to be one of the stars of T2 as the liquid metal effect for the T1000. I agree film making was different then, but CGI was invented for a reason. It helps great storytellers tell even greater stories.

Tom Cruise or Keanu Reaves are probably the only actors who would do such high risk work today. Only other option would probably have to find TV actors who wanted to make a name for themselves today.

You must not have seen the last Mad Max film.

@@leonefurlan137 I agree, theres definately an overusage of CGI nowadays, i mean in many movies they aren't even in the city, but instead get greenscreened into it..., but there are some exceptions, the movie inception for example, the scene where the rooms were rotating and the actors were fighting meanwhile, that was a real huge rotary machine that actually rotated this room with the actors in it.

Practical effects are still used all the time today.

Alan Silvestri has quite a lot of scores to his credit. One that has gotten overly ragged on is "Van Helsing."

I agree, very possibly Ed's best role. A strong second for me is the right stuff.

And his most recognizable score will probably be Back to the Future.

@@Bonzi_Buddy from hearing the music, no doubt. But whenever I read the name, I think of the abyss.

@boostedsil40 Couldn't agree more

Interesting. You're seem to be talking bullshit :). James Cameron's movies - mostly straightforward, pioneering in many things, but with mostly simple screenplay. Take this Avatar of his - just a Pocahontas for adults. Now, take "modern UNREAL CGI movies" like A:IW. Comprehensive screenplay and characters, parallel story lines, character development and arcs, some thing are pre-planned years ahead. Who cares of CGI when you have the most internally comprehensive, developed, smart, and even humane (in some ways) villains of all times - Thanos, Black Panther Guy (sry, forgot his name), even Ultron has depth. Compare this to stupid and blunt Avatar "baddies", Aliens (although this is ok as they are of different type) and etc. Now wonder JC ranted about modern state of business - he is unable to keep up :)

@@mojeimja that's because those movies (Avengers and other superhero movies) are based on comic book story arcs written in the 80s and 90s, so some of it is actually good because those comic books sometimes had damn good writers who planned years ahead.

Chadwick Boseman

NEW CLEAR!

nukuleer

IKR. just want to shout that the invisible second "u" is silent.

Personally, I prefer NUQUELUR To describe my ex-wife. Hahahaha!

Also, there is no X in INESCAPABLE.

Hmmm not so sure. He’s definitely a bully.

Evil genius, is my conclusion.

That's why it makes me sick that he is stuck on all these bullshit Avatar sequels that are constantly getting delayed. Does anyone even want these damn things? Avatar might be Cameron's worst movie, besides Piranha II: The Spawning. I would rather watch True Lies than Avatar. He is such a legendary filmmaker and was always creating new worlds and great films. Now, he is stuck on creating endless sequels to an already forgotten movie. I just wish he would continue making great original movies.....or any movie at this point.

@@thefilmeffect6089 Well said, honestly, I think I would rather watch Piranha II to Avatar. Can't believe he's wasting his time and talent on more.

Kerry Pobanz you’ve seen Avatar? That movie was horrible.

It sure is

A velvet buzzsaw line from Jake? ;)

I don't think it is just your opinion.

yes more than 30 years later and still the best underwater movie ever made

Agreed!!

Absolutely

I never knew this version existed. Downloading now! thanks!

@@TurboLazer007 you will love it. Completely different story with that information back in.

@Heyward Shepherd well, there is more to the story. A lot more. Basically, he was told to give the studio the movie or he would be required to go.to every single theater and describe the movie to the audiences. The studio was pissed at him. Terminator 2 came out and was only made possible by the new technology he had created to make The Abyss. He had to make it under 3 hours and he had to do it right then. Nowadays, he could pull off a good three hour movie.

WINTRELL fight god damn it fight.

OMG, when she drowns???? Sweet mercy! You'll put fingerprints into your chair watching that. Just...wow.

😱😭

That scene is truly amazing. I have to remind myself to breathe during the entire sequence from the voluntary drowning till resuscitation. Elizabeth is fantastic. Ed Harris gives it all. The way he refuses to give up, blowing out his voice in the process...the actors in the background in silent shock and pre-grief...that scene is the product of all that the cast went through in the making. I think Ed deserved an Oscar nod for that scene alone.

100% Best scene in the movie and moved a 40 yo man to tears@@Peatman

Did you not watch the video?

That wasn't in the theatrical my dude- you're referring to the directors cut that was finished with CGI later.

@@swahiliranger1022 'But it was the sequence where the aliens manipulate a tendril of water which would prove to be the most signficant to the history of cinema. As Bud and his crew sleep, a column of water rises from Deep Core’s moon pool and explores the rig curiously. When Lindsey and the others wake up, the “pseudopod” - as it was known to the crew - mimics their faces in a magical moment of non-verbal communication.' www.redsharknews.com/production/item/6304-the-abyss-we-look-back-on-james-cameron-s-groundbreaking-thriller

@@swahiliranger1022 'Only one shot of the pseudopod - where it transformed back into ordinary water - was composited digitally. The remainder were done traditionally, with various different render passes of the CG creature recorded onto separate strips of film which were then combined on an optical printer. The 1990 Oscars ceremony saw The Abyss honoured with an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Within a year, ILM were at work on Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which pushed the art of CGI even further. In 1993, Jurassic Park was released, and by the end of the 20th century the cinema was awash with computer generated images, most of them considerably less convincing than their landmark predecessors.'

@@swahiliranger1022 Are you high or what? The "water serpent" was in the theatrical version indeed. At the time it was something never seen before and everybody was talking about it.

Is it available via any of the streaming providers?

@@Deelifull AZMovies for normal version, Amazon prime for extended.

A lot of great movies come from messes. Look at Jaws.

I totally feel the same!

It's one of the most stupid scenes ever made.

No, it's just peculiar that they loved Titanic.

@@bobski8203 It's even more peculiar that it won awards

@@denniszenanywhere That speaks volumes about those who give out those awards.

@@bobski8203 They would have loved it set on The S. S. Minnow as long as the romance remained.....lol. It does say a lot about who "they" are, like you said.

In my decades of life, I tend to view movies in the exact opposite of critics in what I want to watch until I watch them. To me, critics are idiots.

Sorry fro commmenting on your old comment, but the army is tracking a UFO at the start ??? so isn't it heavily implied ,that the Abyss is about Aliens ???

Which one lol

SengirShowsU, 30 years from now, who will remember Captain Marvel?

@@kamdan2011 I hope i will. For better or for worse ^^ But i sure hope i dont have alzheimers in 30 years. In 40 Maybe. But not in 30. Fingers crossed.

Who cares about a "strong female"? Most of us just care about a good story with actual characters rather than "diversity".

@@bigospig Exactly! That is my Point. That we had all that. Today is going backwards. That is not progressive. It is regressive.

@@bigospig That is absolutely right. But The Abyss has got both as well.

Joe Nesvick not available on netflix, amazon or itunes which is a shame as Id buy in a heartbeat. Its one of those weird movies thats not available anywhere and Ive even tried to email any company involved to find out why.

Could've sworn I saw the bluray in bestbuy the otherday

vasheroo are you sure it wasn’t a DVD? I remember impatiently waiting for the Star Wars Blu Ray release, complete with Luke’s A New Hope intro deleted scenes, and a coworker said it’s already out before it was. James Cameron says he’s too busy with Avatar 2 to release The Abyss and True Lies blu ray. I last saw True Lies on VHS, so I know not if the blu ray to that was any better. My Abyss DVD has an entire box around the screen because it was perfect for my tv at the time that I got it, it was like the year 2000

@@joenesvick7043 My version of The Abyss and True Lies is still VHS. Be nice to add a 720 version to my digital collection.

It's a Disney movie now, and I wouldn't be too shocked if they reissue many of FOX's movies again on both Blu ray and 4K

New-Que-Lahr Ear-Regardless...

same.he also says "in-ex-capable".

@@ChosenSpecials If he'd also said "in-com-pare-able" or "a-vait-able" I'd have killed myself. lol

Bugs the crap out of me too. Why is that word so hard for some people?