The Abyss (Special Edition) | Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

The Abyss (Special Edition) | Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio | the abyssit

DVDs:

The Abyss (Special...

	The Abyss (Special Edition) Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio 20th Century Fox, 2003 average customer review:based on 346 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A nuclear sub is lost in a deep chasm, and the Navy commandeers the civilian crew of an experimental deep sea oil rig to help in the search and rescue.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: UN
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Great Movie- DON'T get the Special Edition, get the Collector's Ed.

The Abyss is a great sci-fi movie of it's time, and one of my favorites.

But- The point of this review is to show that in 2002, squeezing 2 versions of the movie AND special features onto 1 DVD may have been a "money-saver" for the studio, but to have to listen to compressed 2-channel Dolby "Surround" tracks is torture if you have even a half-way decent sound system. (i.e.- not TV speakers)

The fact is- 'Dolby Surround' is not actually surround sound. Incase you don't know- Stereo is stereo, and if you imbed a reverse-phase track so that D. Surround decoders (on just about every 5 speaker reciever for the last 10 years) play audio in the rear, you're just listening to louder sound effects that are coming also from the front 2 speakers. The center channel is just taking the mono tracks and playing them independently (and there is more than just dialog in this). No ".1" track included either, your sub just plays some low frequency sounds from the crappy low res audio in stereo. Barely noticeable.

-Also, the video is actually a 'fullscreen' aspect ratio with the 1.35:1 movie aspect embedded inside of it. So the result is (even with progressive scan) LOWER RESOLUTION THAN 480p (technically lower than 480i on the disc itself)

Point being- even in 2002-2003, the studio (Fox) could have just spent a few more cents per unit to manufacture these in 2 disc form, and there wouldn't be a problem. Or just not make the decision to put 2 versions of the same movie in it.

GET THE COLLECTOR'S EDITION if you like this movie, which I do. I'm returning this one (if I can)

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the abyssit

it is my favorite movie I had it in vhs and needed a new copy in dvd

Classic Sci-Fi film - extended is great!

The Abyss is a sci-fi classic. Somehow I missed it when it first came out. I guess I was only 12 then. The only movie I remember seeing in the movie theater I remember seeing before I hit the age of freedom (16) was "Back to the Future III". Anyway, a friend recommended "The Abyss" to me so I checked it out.

The movie is great. Great actors, many of which became much more famous or prolific after the movie. Great story. And there is not so much science fiction that it gets in the way of the story. You almost believe it all could be real. Very entertaining ride. A comparison of what movies it is like would give away some plot elements, so I will just say that it is better than most all of its contemporary peers.

The director's cut is about 3 hours long though, so if you are pressed for time, you may just want to go with the theater version. I'm not sure what is cut to get to that version, but I hear it is still very good.

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So-so underwater sci-fi and did anyone catch the quick tribute to 10cc?

A tribute to 10cc's song "I'm Not in Love" is made at the climax of the film as Mery Elizabeth Mastrantonio quotes to dying Ed Harris the "Big Boys don't cry" line, soon followed by the word 10cc.

Not bad deep water sci-fi. Good performances all around and impressive special effects. The dialogue and word play gets a bit too hammy and the ending is way over the top, which kind of spoils an otherwise good lead up to the climatic finish.

Could be considered an underwater "Twister" sort of movie. Heavy on effects, that takes plenty of liberty with reality. And relies much more on fiction even though it's portrayed mostly as science.

Recommended as a popcorn movie, but don't expect groundbreaking, thought provoking cinema.

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