The Abyss
 

I finally managed to watch this film from start to finish last night, and i was bored witless all the way through. It seemed very slow until the alien lifeform as the strange water arrived. Micheal Biehns fight with Ed Harris also seemed confusing. In my opinion when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonios charactor would not have been revived that long after taking in so much water!

I also read that the breathing with liquid scene was actually real and the mice really did experience it, which led to some versions of the film being cut due to vetinary complaints.

The ending with the aliens just seemed cheap and rushed to me, and reminded me of the simpsons episode where they think theres an alien but it turns out to be Mr Burns on medication!

All in all one very long winded and confusing under water sci-fi farce!

agree, the abyss is a bit shmoo.There was a similar, more recent film that as I remeber was much better, I seem to remeber either sigourney weaver or the bird out "stakeout" starring in it. what was it called? - this will bug me now :)

From my diving days. The problem with drowning is that assuming you clear the persons lungs, restart their heart, and get them breathing again. The water damages the internal surfaces of the lungs and the lungs then start producing fluid, it's called secondary drowning. The patient needs to be put on oxygen and gotten to a hospital ASAP or they'll often suffer a relapse.

The cold water increases the chances of reviving someone without permanent brain damage, but the associated chilling from having cold water inside and outside the body would probably bring on hypothermia - throwing another spanner in the works.

Good film though i thought :)

Superb film IMHO. The scene with the rat wasn't actually cut, but re-framed so as not to show the rat in distress being held under water. There are some regions of DVD which have the unchanged version.

As for the ending, was it the Directors Cut you saw. The theatrical release was heavily cut and didn't show the warnings given by the aliens that if we didn't "put away childish things" that they would seriously teach us a lesson. It was only the good nature of "Bud" that swayed them to give us another chance.

As for the drowning, FFS, it's a film. Allow them some poetic license to generate cinematic tension ;)

Im pretty certain it wasnt the directors cut. The film lasted 125min whereas the Directors Cut is 170min ;)

I have the special edition DVD top film and the extras showing how they filmed it etc all the actors took diving lessons

yeah you could pick holes in it but you can do that with most films

Still a top film :D

Check out the DC Marc. The film can seem a little pointless without the extra stuff. Don't get me wrong, if you found it slow and boring then simply making it longer probably won't make you instantly love this film, but it gives the film a meaning and a proper end.

Nicks, you'd have never guessed it was a power station would you ;)

lol and all those black beads ;)

Script for the film

http://www.ike.co.kr/abyss.txt

[geek]
they filmed The Abyss in the cooling tanks of a nuclear power station which was never commissioned. The water was therefore ultra filtered and pure, hence the good visibility under water
[/geek]

A very patchy film. Cameron's tendancy towards over-sentimentality comes through a lot, but then so does his masterful use of imagery. The aliens are too damned cute so there's no question that they must be nice guys, but the two drowning scenes are terrific (the second is Harris effectively drowning on dry land when they fill his suit up with the breathing fluid. At its worst, annoying; at its best, terrific. And it's good to see a) Harris playing a hero, and b) Beihn playing a villain (and yes, I understand it's not that simple).


M

I remember seeing the mouse thing on a science programme, I think, is this actually possible ?

I quite liked it. Enjoyable twaddle:D
Alas

LOL - is that Big Geek or Little Geek?? ;):D

One of my all time fave films....

UB:)

The DC made the film make sense to me. It is one of my big favorites.

However, I would say it requires the full on dark room, well set up display and good surround sound system. It really does make the film as much of it runs on atmosphere and emotion.

Ian

Armageddon:

Is it just me or are Armageddon and The Abyss very similar in story lol!

Not storyline tho!

How are they the same/similar story lines??? One is under water about an alien life form, the other is in space about a giant meteor heading to earth.

Both feature an oil rig crew who are the only people who can save humanity.

Id say they had a lot in common!

:D

No, Armageddon is a true story.

excellent film.

have loved it for what seems like hundreds of years now.

anyone who doesn't agree is plainly talking through their abyss :freak3:

I thought it was rather good TBH.

Agree it was a tad slow in places tho'.

Sorry Marc! This one gets a big thumbs up from me too! :thumb:

I can totally understand why anyone wouldn't like this film though. I loved it from the moment i saw it at the cinema when i was a teenager. I left the cinema in awe.

The DC dvd is worth it for the extras alone. The 'making of' documentaries are excellent. What the actors endured to make the movie definitely gives you a deeper appreciation of the film and a great sense of respect for the people involved.

The reviving scene is just one of those suspend disbelief moments which i believe is forgivable on the basis of the sheer brilliance of the preceding drowning scene. Literally chilling!

But yeah, everyone who sees it says 'As if!!!!'

I've got the Special Edition R1 version that still contains the Rat scene as it was meant to be - trouble is the R1 transfer of this film has the worst picture of any DVD in my collection...

I watched it on Sky myself the other night - I thought the SE had a different beginning which started with the Submarine's accident, IIRC the original version started with the ship in the storm...

or am I just being a little geek? :D

Abyss-mal

IMHO :)

Little Geek, messiah :D AFAIK the DC and TC both start with the sub accident (which is superb in surround :cool: )

Might watch it today, as I refuse to venture out into the madness of Xmas shopping. Not without a hatchet anyway :mad: Then again, if my NMW agency waller temporary Asian postie hasn't nicked :mad: my R1 LOTR ROTK EE, that may arrive today :rolleyes: and pigs might fly :(

The SEE or ROTK isn't as good as the previous 2 Special editions IMHO, although still very enjoyable. There's seems to be quite a few chapter's that are noted as being unchanged but still have extra's even if it's just 1 line of dialogue that refer's to something in one of the additions.

The point where you have to swap discs is a bit poor IMHO - the second disc starts with the end of the soundtrack from disc 1...