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The Abyss (1989)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 2:14 pm    Post subject: The Abyss (1989) Reply with quote




James Cameron is one hell of a story teller -- especially science fiction stories.

In this one, he presents a very novel idea, sparing no expense to present unbelievable events in a totally believable manner, and he populates the story with characters you just love to death.

Add to this the fact that I firmly believe the undersea life forms evolved right here on Earth and we just never knew about them because of the monumental difference between their environmental norms and ours.

In other words, they aren't just another alien species who came to Earth -- they're the other Earthlings, living on the part of our planet that's every bit as inhospitable to humans as any alien world.

They never mentioned the idea in the film, but the undersea beings could be the source of every legitimate UFO sighting ever made. The idea answers the two most compelling objections to the existence of alien spacecraft coming to Earth.

Question: If faster-than-light travel is actually impossible, wouldn't the aliens have to travel for decades to get here?

Answer: They aren't crossing interstellar space, they're just coming up from the ocean floor.

Question: Why are alien visitors coming to Earth but never making formal contact?

Answer: Because they're actually terrestrial co-inhabitants who don't want us to know they're down there, since we're such a crazy and dangerous species for them to be sharing a planet with.

Yes sir, I much prefer the idea that the "aliens' in The Abyss were actually the other intelligent species that evolved on Earth. It's a fresh new idea with lots of interesting possibilities.



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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's an interesting take on the idea of "aliens" being from our very own planet, but it doesn't -- pardon the expression -- hold water. All the prerequisites for advanced technology -- chemistry, metallurgy, the development of written language -- simply don't work in an aquatic environment.

Not to mention that, if these beings live underwater, why would they be using flying machines? Isn't it more likely that their vehicles would be reported as USOs (Unidentified Swimming Objects)?
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Krel
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 7:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw this movie at the show. Afterwards I thought what a beautiful movie...that I have absolutely no desire, or need to ever see again.

David.
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scotpens
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

@ Krel: Have you had yourself cloned recently? Wink
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 8:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

scotpens wrote:
That's an interesting take on the idea of "aliens" being from our very own planet, but it doesn't — pardon the expression — hold water. All the prerequisites for advanced technology — chemistry, metallurgy, the development of written language — simply don't work in an aquatic environment.

Remember, the characters in the movie surmised that a large part of the undersea being's technology was based on the control of water.





So, they apparently found technological advances very different from ours. Obviously our own solutions to technological problems do not constitute "all the prerequisites for advanced technology", as you assume.

Scotspen, these beings DID evolve underwater — we're just debating which planet the water was on.

Either they evolved in the ocean of an alien planet, traveled here in gigantic water-filled starships, and discovered that our ocean was just like the one back at the old homestead —

— or —

— they just evolved here and we never knew about it until the events in this movie!

Obviously the second choice is much more likely and much more interesting, story-wise.


scotpens wrote:
Not to mention that, if these beings live underwater, why would they be using flying machines? Isn't it more likely that their vehicles would be reported as USOs (Unidentified Swimming Objects)?

Well, my goodness — we clever land lubbers get to have submarines, but these poor fishy-dudes aren't allowed to develop aircraft? Hey, that's not fair . . . Shocked

Any advanced race will have vehicles of all types — aircraft, submarines, and land vehicles. The only difference between theirs and ours is that ours are filled with air for the occupants and theirs are filled with water.

Naturally an airplane filled with water is significantly heavier than an plane filled with air, so these advanced creatures would need to wear water-filled suits. You know, sort of like the air-filled suits we have to wear when we dive underwater.

Traveling through open air presented problems for them, but they weren't insurmountable. However, their submarines have no problem with extreme pressure at great depths because they're filled with water and the occupants' bodies have evolved for those conditions.

My point is simple: advanced technology allows intelligent beings to survive in environmental conditions very different from those in which said beings evolved.

These creatures were obviously aquatic, intelligent, and advanced — so they were capable of building aircraft much more advanced than ours, and these aircraft — which they use to explore their own planet (Earth) — are what we've been spotting for decades and assuming were from distant planets!
Very Happy
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ralfy
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I felt exhausted after watching it, and I thought it was probably because of the length. Later, I found out that the actors felt the same due to the setting.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Have you ever noticed that sometimes a really good movie that's long seems short, while a really bad movie that's short seems long.

This one seemed short to me.
Wink
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bulldogtrekker
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



South Carolina has a great relationship with the film industry. The Abyss was filmed on a special set that was able to be filled with water so they could control the filming of the undersea scenes with minimal risk.

(BDT: It was a never completed tank for a nuclear reactor)

After the film was wrapped up, you guessed it. They left the remnants in place, but it has never been used again.
Gaffney, SC
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Leon Kowalski
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 7:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love this movie, one of my favourites (seems I'm in a minority but hey-ho....), just pretend the extended version is the only version. It's borderline criminal that this movie hasn't been given a Blu-ray release, some of those sequences would look INCREDIBLE in full-frame and HD
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 8:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Leon, if you are in the minority, then I'm with you!

This is one of the few truly pure sci-fi movies ever made (IMHO)!

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What's the deal with James Cameron and Blu-ray versions of his movies?

The Abyss has no Blu-ray release, and we still don't have one for Cameron's other amazing movie, True Lies! In fact, the DVD is so old it's one of those which require a little picture size adjustment to make it fill the newer TV screens!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I posted a fan-made trailer for The Last Starfighter (1984) on the thread for that movie, and the trailer had this amusing message at the beginning.






I wondered just how true the claim at the bottom was, so I made a list of 1980s science fiction films that I thought were good, just to see if that decade really did produce a significant number of “the best” sci-fi movies.

This movie is on the list I made. I know what I like about the film (and a few things I don’t like), but I’d like to hear the pros and cons from the rest of you folks.

So, what do you think, guys? Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed May 08, 2019 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
____________

. . . when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

I'm not sure, but I think James Cameron's main aim was to convey the eeriness and sheer otherworldliness of the underwater world most of us never see.

I don't think he succeeded very well in that respect. What he did very well, as in all his films, was to project that sense of adventure and thrills of the best action films. It just so happens that most of his films have a science fiction slant. The drawback to his attempt here is that a lot of it is underwater; everything happens in slow motion under the water, in comparison to action on dry land. But, this is James Cameron; he made most of it work.


________________

This was a very tough shoot, by all accounts. And, it was expensive for its time, at $40 to $50 million.

The money is on screen; this is a beautifully shot, sleek saga of under-the-sea riggers becoming trapped down below. By some odd coincidence, which seems to happen a lot in Hollywood, there were a few other films that year involving thrills underneath the water, among them Deepstar Six and Leviathan. The Abyss was easily the primo picture among this group.

As usual, Cameron sets everything up with some strong characters and then gives them some unusual challenges. It would have been rather standard stuff, but one of these characters is a Navy Seal (Biehn) who happens to develop High Pressure Nervous Syndrome; in short, he steadily goes totally psycho. That plot development assures some intense scenes.



This also touches on the fears most people have about drowning. Well, maybe it does more than just touch on it. Intense stuff, right?

As for the alien beings eventually making contact with the humans, it's the character of Lindsey (Mastrantonio) who voices the thought that these are extraterrestrials. Everyone else just automatically agrees without debate.

I agree it would be more interesting if these were an unknown, alternate intelligence also spawned on Earth. And, it could be. It's never confirmed that these are aliens; in fact, their actions towards the end, sending tidal waves against the surface humans, seems to imply that they're looking out for their own planet, the planet they evolved on. These tidal wave scenes were finally created for the special edition of The Abyss, released briefly to theaters and on Laserdisc in 1993.

I think it adds a grand scale to the film.




The last act, of Ed Harris as Bud sinking into the depths and then being carried by alien hands into an undersea kingdom, recalls the better scenes of such sci-fi films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, in a watery setting.



Many people don't like the final act or the final half-hour or so. This includes Ed Harris. I happened to see an interview with him about a year ago and a question was raised about his problems with Cameron and the film.

Harris said the build up was great but the entire sequence of that funky-looking underwater city rising out of the water was all wet, as far as he was concerned and let everyone down. Harris made the point that everyone worked themselves nearly to death on this film and their reward was this flimsy ending by Cameron. I was amazed that Harris still carried this hubris around after 20 years, but he's a man of intense feelings I guess, and that translates to the screen.



In the end, I think this is a very life-affirming movie, which is a theme prevalent in Cameron's films. I mean, even the pet rat lived in this one, even though there were human casualties (there's always that chance that you will drown if you're deep underwater).

Also, check out this poster for the film, from East Germany; a bit strange.

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10


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BoG
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2020 9:49 am    Post subject: Special Edition Cut Reply with quote

Cameron's Marvellous Close Encounters Of The Sea Kind.

Special Edition

A deep sea oil crew are called upon by the military to investigate the events that saw an American Nuclear Submarine crash down in the abyss. As the crew, and their hot headed Navy Seal passengers, get down deeper, it would seem they are not alone down there.

The Abyss is a flawed movie when put under the microscope, even allowing for the reinserted (and much better) ending that James Cameron was forced to cut by idiot studio executives. Most glaringly obvious as a fault is that The Abyss, after holding us for 2 hours of engrossing cinema, can't quite seal the deal as a deep (hrr hrr hrr) message movie for the modern era. What isn't in doubt upon revisits to the piece is that it's at times spectacular, at others it's joyously ambitious, both things coming together in one big loud boom of being a blockbuster with brains. James Cameron can never be accused of not trying to entertain the masses, and here, with a bit more thought on a humanist level, then we would have been talking in the realms of masterpiece.

The making of the film is itself worthy of a movie, a fraught and angry shoot with many problems, of which I wont bore you with as they can be found at the click of a mouse. But Cameron pushes hard because he wants to please and dazzle, and he does, every buck and sweat drop is up there on the screen to be witnessed. The lead actors put in great work, Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio give the film its centrifugal emotive heart as the warring Brigham's, while Cameron fave Michael Biehn does a fine line in Gung-Ho decompression nut case! The technical aspects do dazzle, the visual effects rightly won the Academy Award in that department, and both the cinematography (Mikael Salomon) and art design (Dilley/Kuljian) are worth the price of a rental alone.

It's true to say that The Abyss is a fusion of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind & The Day The Earth Stood Still, but really I don't personally see anything wrong with that! As a spectacle it rewards the patient in spades, as a deeply profound moving picture it falls just about short, but even then a less than 100% Cameron picture is still one hell of a ride to be on. 8.5/10

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 08, 2022 4:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud Brewster wrote:
What's the deal with James Cameron and Blu-ray versions of his movies?

The Abyss has no Blu-ray release, and we still don't have one for Cameron's other amazing movie, True Lies! In fact, the DVD is so old it's one of those which require a little picture size adjustment to make it fill the newer TV screens!

I recently purchased a BD of True Lies which was released in Germany. It has a setting, of course, that allows me to switch to English. Very Happy
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