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I love just about anything James Cameron puts his hands on, and really enjoyed my first viewing of The Abyss: The cool shift of Sci-Fi to the underwater world was a welcomed change from deep space adventures. The effort put into the production brought spectacular verisimilitude to a very technically difficult setting. Having said that, I tend to agree with the critics and viewing audiences that the theatrical ending didn't do the entire story justice. I had already bought "Aliens" Directors cut, and felt the extra footage helped clarify Cameron's story, and was well worth the screen time. I wanted to see if the same magic was hidden within his special edition of The Abyss. I still enjoyed this version of the film, and almost any extra footage of a movie I like is appreciated, but a lot of the extra (edited out of the theater version) is screening of old television excerpts of U.S./Soviet conflict, used to help explain the H20/aliens intentions, and recurring CG of a cataclysmic wave they send to warn us. The TV spots make the story dated, where it should otherwise be timeless/ still believably modern. The explanation that "Hey. they watch our television!" wedged global politics hard into the story, and seemed forced, detracting from the galant hero's simple struggle to survive. I understand Mr. Cameron's desire to infuse a greater theme into the narrative, but in the end it was difficult to swallow a race of aliens who monitor, and understand us better than we do ourselves, and (the wave weapon of the Special Edition) have essentially ultimate power over nature on Earth, who needed to be rescued from a clumsy attempt to blow them up. I bought it. Don't regret it. Enjoyed learning more about the decisions that went into the released version.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
This is the best version to get and it is branded in THX! Unfortunately this is still not available on Blu-ray and this DVD is formatted for a 4:3 television presentation. It is letterboxed. On a 16:9 HDTV you will see a small rectangular image surrounded by empty space. Scale the image to fit by zooming in with your remote control to fill the sides of the screen. Theatrical and Special Edition cuts are included.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
If you thought the original theatrical release was exciting; this also features the director's cut, too. BONUS: You can watch the movie with it's cut scenes included in it as opposed to just the cut scenes on their own.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
The movie is a real classic. Quite a change from all the deep space movies nowadays. Don't get me wrong i love Star Wars and other space movies like Gravity and so on but The Abyss brings alien life to the screen from a different scenery and perspective. Love the film.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Great snapshot of time, when movies had character development, foreshadowing, cohesive script, and were written with a genuine artistic vision from a single film maker.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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