So, as we are now into March, I figured it was time for another post and this one is a revisit of a revisit (again I know!) and the post in question is James Cameron's undewater sci-fi epic, The Abyss.
Now, the Abyss has just had its 4K digital release in the US however here in the UK the release has been cancelled indefinitely because of a specific scene I will mention a bit later, which the BBFC wanted to be cut out. However, James Cameron's company, Lightstorm refused to budge on this, so they vetoed the release in the UK as a result, which is a real pain to say that least!
Anyway with that said, I thought I would take the time to have another look at this film anyway, and see how it fairs 35 years on from its release and as usual, the review sections here will be a bit more expanded with some updates.
And the usual warning is coming....
PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, the film is set in 1988 and it begins with a US submarine
encountering an unidentified object underwater, which leads to the sub
sinking near the Cayman Trough. So, the US Government decides to send
in a SEAL team to a privately owned experimental underwater drilling
platform near Cayman Trough, which they intend to use as a operations
base. The team are accompanied by the platform designer, Dr Lindsey
Brigman (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who insists on going even though
the current rig foreman, Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) is her
estranged husband.
During the initial investigation of the sub, Lindsey, who dives down
with the Navy SEAL team along with Bud and some of the other rig
employees, she witnesses a strange light that circles the sub. Not long
after their initial dive, the SEAL team, lead by Lt Coffey (Michael
Biehn) receive orders to go down again in one of the mini-subs to
retrieve a nuclear warhead from the sunken US sub, much to Bud's
annoyance as they used it without permission.
However things take a turn for the worse when a violent storm hits the
area and it ends up damaging and tearing up a cable crane, attached to a
ship that is tethered to the rig. The crane crashes down through the
water toward the rig and it causes the rig to be dragged toward the
trench but it stops just short. This results in the rig being severely
damaged and several crew members killed as they are drowned by flooding
water that spreads through parts of the rig, however the others
survive. After Coffey and his men return with the warhead, he shows
little in the way of remorse for Bud's men.
Sometime later while Lindsey goes outside underwater to effect some
repairs to the rig, she encounters what she would later call an "NTI"
non-terrestrial intelligence and tries to explain to the others, who
remain somewhat sceptical of what Lindsey saw. However, not long after
one of the NTI's makes its way into the rig as it forms itself with
water and Lindsey and the other crew members see it and it is clear the
NTI means them no harm. Coffey, who by now is suffering paranoid
effects from high pressure nervous syndrome, panics when he sees the NTI
and closes a hatch, which cuts it in half and it disappears back into
the waters.
Coffey then decides to take Lindsey, Bud and the other rig members
hostage as he locks them up and he heads for the mini-sub, which is
armed with the warhead that he intends to use to attack the NTIs.
Lindsey and Bud soon manage to escape when one of the rig members,
Jammer (John Bedford Lloyd) subdues the SEAL holding them hostage. Bud
tries to fight Coffey in hand to hand combat but Coffey gains the upper
hand due to his SEAL training until one of the rig crew, Catfish (Leo
Burmester) knocks Coffey down with a single punch. Coffey then flees
and Bud and Lindsey pursue him in another mini-sub and as they clash
subs, Coffey's mini-sub is sent crashing over the edge of the trough,
which implodes from high depth pressure, however Coffey does manage to
activate the warhead before he is crushed by the impact.
And due to the damage sustained in Lindsey and Bud's mini-sub, it is
rapidly flooding with water and with only one diving suit, Lindsey opts
to go into deep hypothermia and have Bud swim her back to the rig. On
bringing Lindsey back to the Rig, Bud and the other rig members
desparately try to revive Lindsey at first however to no avail but Bud
refuses to give up and continues his attempts to resuscitate her using
CPR and she eventually comes around much to the delight and relief of
Bud and the others.
After this however, the crew realise they still have to deactivate the
warhead that Coffey had armed, which lies at the bottom of the trough
for which Bud volunteers to go. So, one of the Navy SEAL's decides to
help them out as he was unaware of Coffey's plan and has Bud put on an
experimental diving suit that is equipped with a liquid breathing
apparatus and Bud will only be able to communicate via the use of a
wrist keypad.
So its from here Bud makes his dangerous and deep dive down the trench
in an effort to save themselves and the NTIs from potential
annihilation....
THOUGHTS
The Abyss has always been one of James Cameron's most underrated
and least talked about films of his career. The film's production was
notoriously known as one of the toughest and most horrendously difficult
shoots of any movie, which saw many struggles between the actors,
Cameron and the production crew.
And as an example of the problems, Cameron had the production crew build
a massive tank for the underwater scenes, which sprung leaks that lead
to further delays in production. The cast and crew also become agitated
by the lengthy daily shooting schedule and the slow pace of the
production. As for the two leads, Ed Harris to this day has stated that
he never wishes to discuss the film and its production ever again.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio also was said to have suffered an emotional
breakdown during the film and she particularly hated filming the scene
where Bud tries to revive Lindsey due to intense efforts of Harris's
pounding and slapping her in the sequence, which lead to her storming off set and leaving Harris to film the scene without her.
It was also said that James Cameron was reported to have angrily confronted a 20th Century Fox exec, who turned up on the set as the move had gone over budget and Cameron shoved a diving hemlet on the exec and closed the seal to express his anger and frustration at how he nearly ran out of air earlier that day and wanted the exec to well...understand the feeling of that too, I guess!
However for all its production issues, the film itself has alot going
for it as it features some engaging characters and a pretty decent
story, even if the element of the extra-terrestrial lifeforms seems a
bit out of place at times given the otherwise grounded nature of the
story itself.
PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section will contain spoilers!)
As for the performances, well they are all excellent as the cast give it their best and it clearly shows throughout.
Starting with Ed Harris, who is great as Virgil "Bud" Brigman,
the foreman on the rig, who ends up being saddled with his estranged
wife, Lindsey, who designed the rig systems and together they also have
to deal with an untrustworthy Navy SEAL time and some non-terrestrial
lifeforms.
And Harris has his share of good scenes in the film such as the one
where Bud first chats to Lindsey again for the first time quite a while
on a video screen. And as Lindsey angrily sits down and appears on the
video screen, Bud feigns cheerfulness and says " Hi, Lins. I thought
you were in Houston" and Lindsey angrily says "I was, but I managed to
bum a ride on the last flight out here. Only here isn't where I left
it, is it, Bud?!". And Lindsey complains about how a company grabbed
control of the rig that she designed "I can't believe you let them grab
my rig!" and Bud asks "Your rig?!" and Lindsey says "My rig! I designed
the damn thing!". Bud then tells her "Yup, a Benthic Petroleum paid
for it. So as long as they're hold the pink slip, I go where they tell
me". Lindsey then continues to accuse Bud of selling himself out to the
company and he becomes fed up and says to her "I'm switching off now"
and Lindsey shouts "Virgil, you wiener! You never could stand up to a
fight..." and Bud switches it off. And he sighs and says "God, I hate
that bitch!" and one of rig crew, Hippy says to him "Probably shouldn't
have married her then" and Bud nods.
Then there is the scene which appears in the director's cut where Bud
tries to appeal to Lindsey over their ruined relationship as she is
currently seeing someone else, who Bud calls "the suit". So, in the
scene Bud asks Lindsey "What happened?" as she tells him "I haven't seen
him in a few weeks. Bud, its not a part of your life anymore!". So,
Bud stands behind her closely and says "I'll tell what you
happened...you woke up one day and realised "this guy never makes me
laugh!" and Lindsey angrily tells him "Jesus! You're clever! You should
get your own show...ask Dr Bud, advice to the lovelorn from 300
fathoms!". And at this point, Bud gives up and storms out with Lindsey
saying "Thank you!" as he leaves. Then we cut to Bud going into a
toilet and pulling off his wedding ring and throwing it down the toilet
and he slams the door. However a moment later, Bud changes his mind and
goes back in and reaches down into the toilet pan for his ring, which
he get's and sticks back on his finger and we see that his hand is all
blue and Bud shakes his head and says "Oh, shit!".
Another good scene is when Bud learns that Coffey and his men are taking
their mini-sub to go underwater (although he doesn't know why). So,
Bud rushes over too late as he sees Coffey is already submerging the
mini-sub into the water. So, Bud yells at him "Shit!! Coffey!! COME
BACK!! We need the big arm to unhook the umbilical! THERE'S A GODDAMN
HURRICANE COMING!!!". However it is too late and one of the rig crew,
Lisa "One Night" Standing (Kimberly Scott) tells Bud of Coffey "He's
switched off" and Bud says "Unbelievable!".
Then there is the moment where Bud tries to help three of the rig crew
members, Finler (Captain "Kidd" Brewer Jr) who become trapped behind one of the doors, which floods with
water and one of the men bangs on the door frantically. So, Bud shouts
at him "FINLER!! Cut the hose! Cut the hose to the motor! I can't
open it from out here!" however, Philip is powerless to do anything as
the water pressure builds and Bud yells out in horror "FINLER!!!!!!!!"
as the water bursts out through the door and starts to flood into the
compartment where he is. So, Bud desparately tries to make it into the
next area and one of the bulkhead doors is about to shut on him but
stops it with his hand and his wedding ring prevents his hand from being
injured. So, Bud yells out for help "HEY!!!!!! HEY!!!!!!!!!" and Cat
soon comes to the rescue and Bud shouts "CAT!!! CUT THE HOSE!!! CUT THE
HOSE TO THE MOTOR!!" and Cat takes out a flick knife and cuts the hose
lines for the doorand they manage to force it open and Bud get's through
and sighs with relief and kisses his wedding ring.
Another good scene from Ed is where Coffey starts to really show signs
of instability when Hippy has recorded cam footage of Coffey and his men
priming the nuclear warhead and Lindsey sees the footage and storms off
and angrily confronts Coffey. And Coffey's men grab Lindsey, which
forces Bud to sound an alarm to bring his other crew members to help and
he warns Coffey "OK, man, let her go! DO IT NOW!" and Coffey's SEAL
member let's her go. Then after this, Bud says to Lindsey "Linds, I
want you to stay away from that guy. Look, he's operating on his own.
He's cut off from his chain of command. He's showing signs of
pressure-induced psychosis, and he's got a nuclear weapon. So as a
personal favor to me, will you try to put your tongue in neutral for a
while?".
Then there is the film's most dramatic and tense scene where Lindsey
drowns in the mini-sub when it is submerged in water after the skirmish
with Coffey in the mini-sub battle and Bud takes her back to the rig and
he attempts to revive her with CPR. And after a brief attempt to
revive Lindsey, the crew give up as there is no response, leaving Bud
devastated. However, Bud suddenly yells out "NO!!!! SHE HAS A STRONG
HEART! SHE WANTS TO LIVE!!! COME ON, LINDS!!! COME ON, BABY!!!" and
he starts frantically doing the CPR again. Then he yells at One-Night
to zap Lindsey with the cardiac defribilators again "Zap her again. DO
IT!!! DO IT!!!" and One-Night zaps her again but to no aval, so Bud
continues the CPR. And Bud then yells at Lindsey "Come on, goddamn it!
Breathe! GODDAMN IT YOU BITCH, YOU NEVER BACKED AWAY FROM ANYTHING IN
YOUR LIFE!!!! NOW FIGHT!!" and Bud slaps her twice to try and bring her
around. Bud then yells desparately "FIGHT!!! RIGHT NOW!!! DO IT NOW!!
FIGHT GODDAMNIT!!!! FIGHT!!!!! FIGHT!!!!!!!" and he frantically shakes
her and yells with all the breath that he can muster
"FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!". And Lindsey finally
starts to come around with to Bud and everyone else's delight and relief
and Bud sobs and says "You did it, Ace!".
WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS A BIG SPOILER!!
And last of all is the scene where Bud makes the dive down to the bottom
of the trench to disarm the nuclear warhead and after he successfully
disarms the missile, the one Navy SEAL that is on the crew's side,
Ensign Monk (Adam Nelson) asks Bud how much oxygen he has left and Bud
types on his keypad "FIVE MINUTES WORTH". And at this point the crew
react in surprise and Lindsey becomes emotional and pleads with Bud to
start his ascent right now and the guage could be wrong and she starts
to break down crying. So, Bud types on his keypad "DON'T CRY, BABY.
KNEW THIS WAS ONE WAY TICKET. I HAD TO COME. LOVE YOU WIFE" and he
lies at the bottom of the trench, waiting to die when all of a suddeny
an NTI appears and takes his hand and leads him into an alien ship. And
in the ship, Bud is then able to take off his diving helmet and gear
and they relay the message to Lindsey on a big screen and Bud smiles and
salutes the NTIs.
Mary Elizbaeth Mastrantonio next up is also excellent as the
feisty and headstrong, Lindsey Brigman, who at the start of the film has
a tense and uneasy relationship with her estranged husband, Bud, but
the two of them start reconnect again as the rig crisis unfolds.
And Mary has her own share of good scenes that include the one where
Lindsey angrily confronts Bud in a video com. And Bud says to her "Hey,
Linds. I though you were in Houston" and Lindsey says "I was, but I
managed to bum a ride on the last flight out here. Only here isn't
where I left it, is it, Bud?". Lindsey then angrily says "We were that
close to proving a submersible drilling platform could work. We had
over seven thousand feet of hole down for Chrissake. I can't believe you
let them grab my rig!". Bud asks "YOUR rig?" and Lindsey tells him
"Yeah, I designed the damn thing!" and Bud tells her Benthic petroleum
own the rig and they tell him where to go. However Lindsey is not
interested and angrily says to Bud "You wimp! I had alot riding on
this...They bought you...more like rented you out cheap!". Bud however
has heard enough and says "I'm switching off now" and Lindsey spits at
him "Virgil, you wiener! You never could stand up to a fight...." and
Bud switches her off.
Then there is the moment where Lindsey goes down to the rig with the
NAVY seal team and they undergo the decompression process before they
enter. And Lindsey tells the team "The bad news is we got six hours in
this can, blowing down. The worse news is it's gonna take us three
weeks to decompress back to the surface later". And Lt Coffey says to
her "We've already been fully briefed, Mrs Brigman" and Lindsey
irritably says "Please don't call me that, OK? I hate that" and Coffey
says to her "OK. What shall we call you? Sir???" and Lindsey manages a
faint smile. And after they decompress, Cat let's them onboard and the
SEALs move out first with their gear, all without saying anything and
Lindsey says to Cat "They're really very sweet!" and then "These guys
are about as much fun as a tax audit!".
Another good scene is when after the rig sustains heavy damage from when
the cable crane breaks loose from the ship above that is tethered to
the rig, Lindsey is in the machine making repairs and Bud joins her.
So, Bud asks her "What's the scoop, ace?" and Lindsey tells him "I can
get power to this module and sub-bay if I remote these busses. I've
gotta get past the mains, which are a total melt-down". Bud asks "You
need any help?" and Lindsey tells him "Thanks. No, I can handle it.
Bud... there won't be enough to run the heaters. In a couple hours this
place is going to be as cold as a meat locker". And Bud asks her about
oxygen situation and she says they will have 12 hours worth if shut off
unused sections but she then says "I can extend that. There's some
storage tanks outboard on the wrecked module. I'll have to go outside
to tie onto them". Bud then smiles and says "Hey, Linds....I'm glad
you're here" and Lindsey smiles back and says "Yeah? I'm not!".
Then there is the moment where after Lindsey first encounters the NTIs,
she goes back onboard and tells Bud about it, who remains sceptical.
However tries to convince Bud of what she saw "I saw these things. I
touched one of them. And it wasn't some clunky steel can like we would
build... it glided. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!".
Lindsey then says "It was a machine, but it seems almost alive. Like
a... dance of light. Bud, you have to trust me... please. I don't
think they mean us harm. I don't know how I know that, it's just a
feeling". Bud says "How can I go on a feeling? You think Coffey is
going to go "on a feeling"?". So, Lindsey says "We all see what we want
to see... Coffey looks and he sees Russians, he sees hate and fear.
Bud, you have to look with better eyes than that".
Another good scene comes when Lindsey angrily confronts Coffey when she
discovers he has brought a nuclear warhead onto the rig. So Lindsey
sees Hippy's footage then storms off and grabs a fire extinguisher and
says "Goddamnit! If you're not gonna something about it then I will!"
and she angrily bangs it against Coffey's cabin door. Coffey then
finally opens the door and barges in and uncover the warhead and she
looks aghast and says to him "You've got some heuvos bringing that thing
onto my rig! WITH ALL THAT'S GOING UP IN THE WORLD YOU GO BRING A
NUCLEAR WEAPON IN HERE???!". Coffey then tells her "Mrs Brigman, you
don't need to know the details of our mission and its better if you
don't". Lindsey however is still furious and shouts at Coffey "You're
right... I don't. I just need to know that this thing is out of here!
YOU HEAR ME, ROGER RAMJET???!!!".
Then there is the scene where Bud having made his dive down the trench
and successfully deactivated the warhead reveals that he has only 5
minutes worth of oxygen left. And Lindsey becomes emotional and says to
Bud "Bud! Do you hear me? You drop your weights and start back now,
Bud. The gauge could be wrong! Do you hear me? Just drop your weights
and start back now! Your gauge could be wrong!". Bud then types on his
keypad "GOING TO STAY A WHILE" and Lindsey then starts to break down in
tears "No, you won't stay there, do you hear me, you drop your weights!
You can breathe SHALLOW, do you hear me? Bud, please listen to me,
PLEASE, goddammit, you dragged me back from the bottomless pit, you
can't leave me here alone now, please...!". Bud then types her message
saying he had to go and knew it was a one way ticket and that he loves
her and she tearfully says "I love you" back.
WARNING: THIS SECTION REFERS TO THE END OF THE FILM!!!
And last of all is the moment where (SPOILER!!!!) Bud is rescued by the
NTIs and they rise their massive ship out the water, which lifts up the
rig and the ship with it. And Lindsey and the other rig crew and the
two remaining SEALs, Monk and Schoenik emerge outside and Lindsey says
in surprise "We should be dead. We didn't decompress". Hippy then
suggests "Maybe they did something" and Lindsey smiles and says "Yeah,
you could say that". And then Bud emerges from the ship and he waves
and smiles and Lindsey smiles back and rushes to him and they hug and
she says to him "Hey, Brigman...." and Bud says "Hey, Mrs Brigman..."
and the two kiss to end the film!
Michael Biehn, who by then had become a regular in Cameron's
films, puts in another really good performance as the Navy SEAL, Lt
Coffey, who as the film carries on, becomes emotionally unstable as he
suffers from high pressure nervous syndrome.
And Michael has his share of good moments also that include his first
main one when Coffey and his team of SEALs and Lindsey arrive on the rig
and decompress before they enter. And in the scene Lindsey appraises
the men of their situation and Coffey says "We've already been fully
briefed, Mrs Brigman" and she annoyedly says "Please don't call me
that. I hate that" and Coffey says "OK...what shall we call you?
Sir???" and then men laugh and she manages a weak smile. Lindsey then
mentions the dangers of high pressure nervous syndrome and to watch each
other for signs of it. So, Ensign Monk quotes it "High-Pressure
Nervous Syndrome. Muscle tremors, usually in the hands first. Nausea,
increased excitability, disorientation...." and Coffey jokingly sings
"...and a partridge in a pear tree!". Lindsey however warns them "1 in
20 people can't handle it, they just go buggo" but Coffey insists "Look
we've all made runs to these depths. We're checked out". However as
Lindsey and the SEAL team move out, Coffey heads back in to get his case
and suddenly notices his hand is trembling.
Then there is the scene where Coffey briefs Bud's men on their initial
dive to check out the sunken sub and they are all handed out radiation
counters and Hippy objects to going, saying of his bonus for the mission
"What good is the money if after six months your dick drops off?!".
Coffey then angrily stands up and says to Hippy "What is your problem?!
On this dive, you will do absolutely nothing without direct orders from
me, and you will follow my instructions without discussion. Is that
clear?! Alright, I want everyone finished prep and ready to get wet in
fifteen minutes!". So as the crew all get ready for the dive, Bud goes
up to Coffey and asks him to cut his team a little slack "Hey, you come
on my rig, you don't talk to me, you start ordering my guys around. It
won't work. You gotta know how to handle these people... we have a
certain way of doing things here". Coffey however is not interested and
tells Bud "Right now, I'm not interested in your way of doing things.
Just get your team ready to dive".
Then there is the scene where Lindsey angrily confronts Coffey when she
discovers he has brought the nuclear warhead onboard the rig. So,
Coffey tells her "You don't need to know the details of this mission...
you're better off if you don't" and Lindsey yells at him to get the
warhead off the rig. So, Coffey glares at her and says "Mrs. Brigman,
you're becoming a serious impediment to our mission. Escort her back to
her quarters" so Schoenik grabs Lindsay but then Bud sounds the alarm
and the others run into the cabin. So, Bud yells at Coffey to let go of
her and Coffey says "Let her go" to Schoenik and they leave. And
afterward, Coffey really starts to signs of HPNS as he becomes shaky and
tells Schoenik "They can't be trusted. They're turning against us. We
may have to take... steps!".
Another good scene for Michael is when Coffey panics as he sees the NTI
onboard the rig and cuts it off as he seals a bulkhead door and the NTI
roars and goes back into the water, leaving Coffey cowering in fear.
Coffey then later says to Schoenik of the NTI as it floated toward the
warhead "It went for the warhead they think its cute!" so he goes into
his quarters and grabs his machine gun and even Schoenick suggests to
Coffey that he get some sleep but Coffey is not interested. So, Coffey
says to Schoenick "Now we have no way of warning the surface. Do you
know what that means?" and he suddenly grabs him and says "It means
whatever happens....its up to us!" and he gives the machine gun to
Schoenick, who has little choice but to take it.
Then we have the moment where Coffey and Schoenick take Bud, Lindsey and
the others hostage and lock them up and just before, Hippy sneaks
around to see Schoenick load the warhead onto the mini-sub. And as
Hippy tries to sneak off walks right into Coffey, who by now has really
started to lose it and he says to Hippy "Sniff something??? Did ya, rat
boy??!".
Coffey then grabs Hippy and throws into a room where the others are and
Lindsey tries to reason with Coffey but he suddenly grabs her and puts
her against a wall and he says to her "This is something I wanted to do
since we first met...!" and he takes a piece of tape and puts it over
her mouth. Coffey then locks them into one of the quarters and tells
them "Everybody just stay calm. The situation is under control" and he
locks them in and says to Schoenick outside "If anyone touches that
door...kill them!" and he head off to the mini-sub with the warhead.
And last of all in the film's funniest moment when Bud and Lindsey chase
Coffey in their mini-sub and clatter into Coffey's mini-sub, it
inadvertently brings on One-Night's radio, which plays country music.
So, Coffey furiously smashes it to pieces with his elbow! Its a
pricelss moment just before Coffey meets his own end............
Todd Graff next up is also very good as Hippy, a nervy rig crew member, who is paranoid of the Navy SEAL team and what they intend to do.
And Todd has his moments also that include the scene where Coffey briefs
Bud's crew on the dive to investigate the sunken US submarine. And in
the scene, the SEAL team handout radiaton counters and One-Night asks
"Is this to tell how much radiation we're getting?" and Hippy suddenly
panics and says "Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! I ain't goin near no radiation!".
So, Cat mocks Hippy and says "Aww, Hippy you pussy!" and Hippy tells
him "Yeah, what good is the money, six months later your dick drops
off!".
Then there is the controversial scene where Ensign Monk takes Hippy's
rat and submerges it in a container filled with liquid oxygen much to
Hippy's concern. And Hippy tells Monk "Take her out of there! She's
gonna drown!" but Monk reassures Hippy "Relax, she won't drown. I've
breathed this myself" and we then see the rat first off all panic as it
takes in the liquid and then it calms down. And Monk says to Hippy "You
see, she's digging it" and Hippy angrily says "She's doin it! She
ain't digging it! OK let her out now!". So, Monk let's the rat out of
the container and hands it to Hippy and Monk tells him "See, he's fine!"
and Hippy corrects Monk about the rat's gender and says "She's a she!".
Another good scene is when just after watching a news broadcast on a
worsening crisis between the Soviets and US, Hippy walks off saying
"This sucks!". And in the next moment, Hippy raises his concerns to Bud
and Lindsey " Now we're right in the middle of this big-time
international incident. Like the Cuban Missile Crisis or something!".
And then Hippy says "We got Russian subs creeping around. Shit!
Something goes wrong they could say anything happened down here, man.
Give our folks medals!". Hippy then says "Those SEALs aren't telling us
diddly. Something is goin on!" and Bud dismisses Hippy's concerns and
tells him "Hippy, you think everything is a conspiracy!" and they walk
off leaving Hippy alone and he says to himself "Everything is".
Then there is the scene where Hippy shows Bud the footage on a video
camera he has of Coffey and his men working on the nuclear warhead only
for them to be interrupted by an angry Lindsey. And as video reveals
the warhead, Hippy says in a "Here's Johnny!" style "And here's MIRV!!!"
however Bud remains sceptical of what he sees as it is poor quality
footage and Hippy says "Come on, what else could it be?!". And Hippy
theorises "It's gotta be, like, an emergency plan to keep it away from
the Russians... Hotwire one of the nukes with some kinda detonator, put
it back in the sub, and fry the whole thing, slicker'n snot!". Hippy
then says "And I'm not being paranoid..." and he suddenly sees Lindsey
standing at the door with a look of fury on her face and Hippy says to
her "Hey, Linds!".
And last of all there is the scene where Coffey and Schoenick lock up
Bud, Lindsey and the others and as Schoenick drags Hippy away, Hippy
yells "Your boss is set to pull the pin on fifty kilotons and we're all
gonna be ringside! He's havin a full-on meltdown!!". Then after Coffey
locks them in, Lindsey shouts to Schoenick on the other side
"Schoenick, you're Lt is about to make a real bad career move!" and
Hippy yells "He's crazier than a shithouse rat!!".
Leo Burmester is also pretty good in his role as the tough but good hearted former Vietnam vet, Catfish De Vries, who works on the rig.
And Leo has some good moments of his own but I will only mention the one
scene where Cat sets the decompression chamber for Lindsey and SEAL
team as they have arrived on the rig. And on seeing Lindsey, Cat gives
her a warm welcome and says "Hey, Lindsey! I'll be damned! You
shouldn't been down here, sweet thing, ya'll might run your
stockings!". And as they undergo the decompression process, Hippy who
is with Cat asks him "Are those guys SEALs?" and Cat says "Those guys
ain't so tough. I fought plenty of guys tougher than them!". And Hippy
jokingly says "Now we get to here about how you coulda be a contender!"
and he pours some of his cereal down Cat's back, who angrily hits Hippy
with his cap. Cat then holds up his fist to Hippy and tells him "You
see this??? They used to call this "the Hammer!"" and Hippy pretends to
look afraid.
And of course later on there is the scene where Bud and his men put their diving gear on to go down and investigate a downed vessel along with Kaffe's men. So, Cat notices that Bud's hand is blue due to having retrieved his wedding ring from a toilet after having a row with Lindsey. So, Cat says the line "Hey Bud, do you know your hand is blue?" and Bud warily says "Cat, shut up and put your gear on!". P.S. This is actually a mistake as this line was said by the character Finler and NOT Cat, so my bad!
Kimberley Scott is also very good as Lisa "One Night" Standing,
the African American, cowboy hat wearing rig member, who likes country
music of all things!
And Kimberley has her moments too but the one scene of hers that I will
mention is one that appears on the director's cut where Bud and One
Night work together, while One Night makes repairs, Bud is tending hose
for the divers, including Lindsey, who is outside.
So, in the scene Bud and One Night talk about Bud's relationship with
Lindsey and how they met and she says to Bud "So there you were...." and
Bud says "There we were, side by side, on the same ship, for two
months. I'm tool-pusher and we're testing this automated derrick of
hers. So, we get back on the beach and... we're living together". One
night then says to Bud "It doesn't mean you had to marry her" and Bud
says "We were due to go back out on the same ship. Six months of tests.
If you were married you got a state-room. Otherwise it was bunks".
One Night then says "Okay, good reason. Then what?" and Bud says "It
was alright for a while, you know. But then she got promoted to project
engineer on this thing, couple years ago".
So as she listens, One night says "So she went front-office on
you...tighten that for me will you?" and Bud tightens a bolt for One
Night with a wrench and Bud says "Well you know Lindsey....she's too
damn aggressive....son of a...!" as he strains himself, tightening the
bolt. So, Bud then tells One Night "She didn't leave me, she just left
me behind" and One Night says to Bud "Bud, let me tell you something.
She ain't half as smart as she thinks she is!" and she then grabs
Lindsey's air-hose and pretends to kink it and Bud laughs and says "Get
out of here!".
Last of all is Adam Nelson who is also pretty good as the Navy
SEAL, Ensign Monk, who is the one SEAL on the side of the rig crew and
doesn't approve of Coffey's irrational behaviour and Monk ends up
helping the crew toward the end. I also cannot help think that Nelson looks quite a bit like the former US tennis player, Andy Roddick!
And Nelson has his good moments also that include the somewhat
controversial scene where Monk places Hippy's rat in a container full of
liquid oxygen, which the rat breaths in. So, Hippy asks Monk in the
scene "What is all this stuff?" and Monk tells him "Fluid breathing
system, we just got it. You use it when you go really deep" and Hippy
asks "How deep?" and Monk simply says "Deep" but Hippy asks again "HOW
deep?" and Monk says "Its classified". Monk then says "Anyway, you
breathe liquid, so you can't be compressed. Pressure doesn't get to
you". Cat, who is with them asks "So, you got liquid in your lungs?"
and Monk says "Oxygenated fluorocarbon emulsion" and he pours some
liquid in a plastic container. Hippy however remains sceptical and says
"Bullshit!".
Monk then has an idea and says "Check this out" and he grabs Hippy's rat
"Can I borrow your rat?" much to Hippy's protests and Monk places the
rat into the liquid and uses a wire mesh container to hold the rat it as
it takes in the liquid. Monk says "I breathed this myself" and he
explains the process but Hippy while intrigued, is more concerned for
the rat and Monk says "See, she's digging it" and Hippy says "She's doin
it, she ain't diggin it! OK, let her out now!". So, Monk releases the
rat and holds it by the tail and says "OK, now we let the fluid drain
from his lungs. There's your rat" and Hippy snatches her back and Monk
says "See? He's fine!" and Hippy corrects him "She!".
And lastly there is the scene where Coffey, who at this stage has become
deranged from the effects of high pressure nervous syndrome, locks up
Bud, Lindsey and the others as he plans to go ahead and use the warhead
against the NTIs, however Monk is injured (as a result of the damage to
the rig) and against the idea. Coffey says to Monk "We're goin to stage
three?" and Monk says to him "Stage 3?! We haven't got orders for
that!" and then "We can't go to stage 3. What about these people?!" and
Coffey takes Monk's gun from him and says "Shut up! What's the matter
with you?!".
So, after Coffey locks in the others and has Schoenick keep guard, Monk
tries to persuade Shoenick to go after Coffey to stop him. So, Monk
says "You gotta stop him!" and Schoenick says "Shut up!" and Monk
continues "We can't get to minimum-safe-distance in three hours. The
shockwave will kill us. It'll crush this rig like a beer can!" and
Schoenick again shouts "SHUT UP!". Monk then says "This is not our
mission! We can't detonate without orders!". And in the next moment,
the crew member, Jammer, emerges from his coma and subdues Schoenick and
releases Bud, Lindsey and the others. So, Hippy grabs Schoenick's gun
that Jammer had taken and points it at Monk and shouts "Don't move,
jarface!" and Monk puts up his hands and says "Hey, I'm the least of
your problems!".
DIRECTION, MUSIC AND EFFECTS
As for the director, James Cameron, well he does a great job with The Abyss, as he delivers a film with great performances, a
solid script (written by Cameron himself) and his direction for the
most part is pretty taut despite the film's lengthy running time.
Cameron also expertly builds up the film's tension and suspense
throughout as the rig crisis worsens but he also nicely juxtaposes that
with its sci-fi elements also, which thankfully don't drown out the film
(no pun-intended!).
Cameron however of course endured one of the toughest shoots of his
career on making the film, which consisted of a long gruelling schedule
that was riddled with technical problems to dealing with tensions in the
cast members as well as 20th Century Fox studio execs, which I already mentioned earlier on. Cameron also rather amusingly in the making of documentary for the film
introduced it by saying "My name is James Cameron and I am going to take
you on a journey into a world that is dark, dangerous and
mysterious...the movie business!". But regardless of the film's production issues, Cameron still has
produced one of his very best directorial efforts with The Abyss and it
remains one of the highlights in his career.
Its worth noting as I mentioned earlier that Cameron's company, Lightstorm, had vetoed the release of the Abyss on 4K digital and UHD Blu-ray formats in the UK due to the rat scene being requested to be cut from the UK version. This was actually down to a UK parliamentary law, which forbids the depcition of animal cruelty onscreen. However, the scene in question is of course where one of the Navy seal team, takes Hippy's rat and traps it in a container of breathing fluid, which it breaths in but the rat afterward survived the scene unharmed and apparently four other rats were used also for this scene and they weren't harmed either. However an ironically in stark contrast, a film such as Apocalypse Now! also depicts animal cruelty where a calf is slaughtered onscreen yet this was left in uncut in its release in the UK. Hmm!
As for the music, well the score is by Alan Silvestri and for the
most part it is very good although I have to say there are times where I
do get a bit tired of listening to Silvestri's style of composing (well
back in the 80s anyway!) when he overuses orchestral strings
and how they rise in pitch all the time. And by this I mean its the way in which, Silvestri ups
the tempo of his score during the film's more dramatic moments and in
the 1980s he was guilty of always doing this as his scores in Back to the Future and Predator are both in the same vein too (but both very good too!). However all that aside, Silvestri's score for The Abyss is still pretty
good overall and it has enough drama, suspense and excitement to it, to
make quite an enjoyable one that compliments the film pretty well.
Last of all, and I don't always do this but I figured given how good the
film's visual effects are, I would given a special mention to the
special visual effects guru, Dennis Muren, who along with a whole
team of visual effects designers created some truly stunning effects
here. The film is also one of the earliest to utilise CGI, although of
course Tron, back in 1982 was the first film to really utilise it
properly. Regardless of this though, the effects of the aliens and
indeed the water based NTI, which can manipulate water into different
shapes, such as Bud and Lindsey's faces, are terrific and the film was
more than deserving of its Academy Award for best visual effects that
year.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for flaws....yeah OK, The Abyss still has some.
So, to kick off one of the problems I think the film suffers from
actually comes down to the theatrical cut in that there are certain
scenes that feel a bit incomplete and these are corrected in the
director's cut.
So as an example, the scene where Bud throws his wedding ring down the
toilet but later changes his mind and retrieves it from the toilet bowl
again in the theatrical cut, this scene doesn't have a strong enough
reason for him to do it. And the reason being there is a whole scene
that was added into the director's cut (which I mentioned in Ed Harris's
performance section of the review) where Bud tries to charm Lindsey and
she turns on him and tells him pretty much to get out and he angrily
walks out then he goes to the toilet and chucks the ring down it. And
when that scene is left in, it makes Bud's reasoning for chucking his
wedding ring down the toilet much stronger than in the theatrical cut
where Lindsey simply says to him "We all have our priorities" in
reference to chosing her career over their marriage.
Another issue is to do with the presentation of the NTIs (or aliens
really) in the theatrical cut and the end sequence with Bud is basically
far too short when one of the NTIs saves Bud's life and takes him
onboard their mothership. And this sequence alone seems pretty
underwritten in the theatrical cut, where the NTIs simply let Bud
onboard, show the footage of his keypad message to Lindsey and that's
just about it! So, again the NTIs are a bit more fleshed out in the
director's cut where we get a bit more of a sinister feel from them as
they are concerned about the idea of nuclear weapons beind used against
them. So, the NTIs use their water control technology to create massive
tidal waves, which they threaten to use but they relent given Bud's
message to Lindsey as maybe a sign of compassion that made the NTIs
change their minds from using the waves.
And this brings me onto another issue to do with the NTIs in that scene
where they suddenly present Bud's typed keypad message to Lindsey on a
big screen. I mean how could their technology suddenly be able to pick
that up from a very small typepad screen and plaster on a big monitor
screen in their own ship. It seems just a bit daft that all of a sudden
they can transpose such things but then again their tech is obviously
way more advanced than humnas.
I also found it a bit strange how no one really noticed Coffey's signs
of paranoia and psychosis that bit earlier or more to the point, the
early signs of HPNS when we see his hands shake not long after they
decompress and board the rig. I guess, Coffey simply did his best to
cover up his shaky hands but there are certainly plenty of opportunities
for it to resurface, especially when he is briefing Bud's team on the
diving mission.
And lastly there is of course the scene where Bud desparately tries to
revive Lindsey using CPR after she drowned in the mini-sub and in this
scene at first, Bud and the others give up too easy on Lindsey and its
only Bud's insistence to keep going that ultimately saves her. However
in reality, you should never actually stop performing CPR on someone
until you are either exhausted or until medical services arrive (OK in
this case an ambulance isn't just a few miles away!). So, Bud in the
end does the right thing as he keeps on going but basically that's
something he should have done anyway without the others telling him to
give up. So, shame on them! ;-)
Anyway, so that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, in summing up, The Abyss for me remains James Cameron's most
underrated film that often is overlooked by many fans of his work and
are usually more caught in watching the likes of Aliens and Terminator's
1 and 2, or Titanic and Avatar. But here, Cameron really was on his game in creating a very entertaining, suspenseful and at
times even moving sci-fi film that works very well, also simply because
despite its sci-fi leanings, it feels very much based in reality and
works as a credible story even without the sci-fi stuff.
So, basically for me, The Abyss is one of Cameron's best works and the
acting, direction, writing and special effects are all spot on here and
its great to see that it has finally made its way into the realms of HD and even 4K as it was released just this week in the US on 4K Blu-ray format as well as digital. However unfortunately due to the bs UK parliamentary laws and Cameron's own refusal to have the scene cut, we will never get to own this film in the UK, which is a real bummer, so if you don't want, you will need to wait and buy a US import disc.
Anyway, so after that lengthy and extensive review, I will give The Abyss:
9 out of 10
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with some post or other.
Until then, bye for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment