Review of Abyss, The: Special Edition

Introduction

James Cameron`s underwater epic, The Abyss had the potential to sink the great man`s career before he had delivered Terminator 2, True Lies and Titanic.

In contrast to Titanic, by far and away the most successful movie of all time, taking a staggering $1.8billion worldwide and taking the Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Effects (Sound), Best Effects (Visual), Best Film Editing, Best Music, Best Song, Best Sound and last but not least Best Picture, The Abyss only recouped 50% of it`s budget and was a major disappointment to Fox and Cameron.

The Abyss isn`t a bad film, but Cameron`s vision clashed with the commercial reality of cinema, which derailed the movie, leading to extensive cuts to enable cinemas to show the film three times per evening instead of the two that the original running time would have allowed. This cutting tore the heart out of the movie and left it disjointed in a number of places, and as a result the public stayed away. This disc contains both editions via seamless branching, but I urge you not to bother with the theatrical release.

Cameron revisited the film some years later and restored the missing footage, and as a result the film can be seen how it was originally intended - I bought this "Special Edition" when the VHS limited edition boxset was released, and replaced it with a Region 1 DVD just before it was discontinued and replaced by a single disc movie only edition.

The story follows the crew of an underwater drilling rig drafted in to investigate the disappearance of a nuclear submarine, however in the murky depths, they find something that no-one was expecting…or were they? A team of Navy officers on board the rig doesn`t have rescue on their sinister agenda.

Video

The video is presented in 2.35:1 non-anamorphic widescreen, and the lack of an anamorphic widescreen has been debated to death, suffice to say that Fox came up with a number of excuses, none of which really justify their decision.

However, despite the relative lack of resolution provided by the letterboxed video, the picture quality is pretty good, with no dirt or grain, and a reasonably sharp image with plenty of contrast.

Visually, this film is a treat, shot mainly underwater and onboard the rig, the film also showed off the liquid effects that Cameron later used to such good effect in Terminator 2. As with all Cameron productions, the sets look fantastic, and if you watch the "Under Pressure" documentary you`ll see why - Cameron built a huge tank and filmed the cast underwater, often with punishing schedules - with the result that most of them hated him by the end of production!

The original theatrical VHS release in the UK included a scene where a rat is immersed in the fluid used in the deep sea breathing apparatus as an example to the doubting crew that the liquid works. This scene was removed for the "Special Edition" at the request of the Chief Vetinary officer in the UK although the rat was unharmed. Channel 4 have shown the fully uncut version of the film on UK terrestrial television, yet it is not on the Region 2 DVD release. This scene is of course on this Region 1 release.

Audio

The soundtrack for The Abyss used to impress me on VHS through a Pro-Logic system, so the remix into Dolby Digital 5.1 was eagerly anticipated. I wasn`t disappointed with good use made of the extra channels and range for effects and the excellent score. Being underwater gives plenty of scope of sound effects, and we have the creaking and groaning of the rig, bubbles, water, various things moving around the soundstage and a great deal of incidental noises to keep our ears bust during the film.

The dialog is always clear and understandable.

Features

The Abyss is split over two discs with the first containing both versions of the film (utilising seamless branching - and it certainly was seamless on my Pioneer DV545) and a subtitled commentary - Cameron doesn`t do audio commentaries unfortunately, as this film is a perfect candidate for a very interesting commentary track.

The second disc contains the extras, and before we get to them, I`ll start with another grumble. It`s difficult to see which menu option you have selected. I went into one area five times by accident because of this, which was particularly frustrating. The menus themselves look fantastic, but a red rather than white selection outline would have solved the navigation problem.

The box-set version of the VHS Special Edition contained the excellent "Under Pressure" documentary, which is also contained here and even if you rent this film, you must take the time to watch it as it is one of the best around.

In addition there are numerous text-based bios, behind the scenes footage, photo gallery, storyboard comparison, visual effects reels, and trailers.

Overall, an excellent set of extras let down by the navigation and the lack of a commentary.

Conclusion

Overall, The Abyss has been one of my favourite films for years, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this DVD despite the non-anamorphic picture - at least we get the rat scene on this edition.

Visually, the film still looks fresh and Cameron`s usual high quality of production has helped the film age well. If you watch the Under Pressure documentary you`ll see how hard Cameron pushed the cast, but he extracted superb performances across the board, the characters have depth, passion and emotion, but also perform the action sequences without fault.

In "Special Edition" form, the story and plot are superb, and the film`s message is clearly put across to the viewer. In my opinion, the "Theatrical Edition" should be consigned to the bin as the cuts make it worthless compared to the "Special Edition".

The extra features are very good, but the lack of a proper commentary is disappointing and the menus look great but can be hard to navigate.

This is a great film, and a great DVD. Fans of the film won`t be disappointed.