now 40 (eeek!) solicitor, married, one wife, one dog.(one well behaved, the other not!)
Love fast m...
now 40 (eeek!) solicitor, married, one wife, one dog.(one well behaved, the other not!)
Love fast motorbikes, fast cars, fast women, slow horses ,films, music of most kinds. I have less hair than in the photo, but I put that down to wearing a crash he...
Member since:20.01.2001
Reviews:19
Members who trust:7
The Abyss. This is a mid 1980's sci fi flick starring Ed Harris (Oscar nominated this year) and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio(the actress with the most vowels in her name)who play a couple heading to divorce but who are also both involved in the oil business.
Directed by James Cameron (I'm king of the world) and produced by the same team that did Terminator, this is a story about love, nuclear weapons and aliens at the bottom of the sea. So it's a bit like Brookside then!
The story centres on an underwater drilling rig peopled by the sort of characters who later featured in "Armageddon", i.e no hopers who bonded because they were misfits. This happy team led by Bud (Harris) are pulled off their drilling mission and sent in search of a nuclear sub which has mysteriously sunk after being "buzzed " by something.
On the way they pick up a team of Marines who have a nuke as hand luggage!, just in case (Remember this was filmed in days when the Americans still saw Russia as a threat). The leader of the soldiers is Michael Biehn (Terminator etc.) who just happens to be a bit of a fruit loop. Lets see...bottom of the sea, cut off, psycho marine, nuclear weapon....great combo. George W Bush would love this!
Factor in a storm which disconnects the rig from its support vessel and leaves the rig suspended over a deep abyss (see!), general gung ho heroics and lots of histrionic claustrophobics and you have the recipe for an uplifting film which analyses the psyche of the post modern WASP in the 1980's (Oh no, thats not the same film.......this is the one which has brilliant special effects, scenery chewing acting and cute angel-like aliens)
Well suffice to say, Ed saves the day, Michael gets the hump and then implodes (yes really), we get a preview of the shape shifting Terminator special effects, Mary drowns then doesn't, Ed commits suicide then doesn't, the aliens float about in a pans people like style, and the last 15 minutes is crap.
I love it. Cutting edge special effects. Harris - the finest actor alive today, Mary- loads of vowels, Michael- surname hard to pronounce, and cheesy cheesy lines.
This film almost flopped on first release, but wowed everybody on general video release. The special edition DVD released as R2 this week contains extra footage which makes the story make a bit more sense than the theatrical release. (I don't see why aliens having cities at the bottom of the sea and playing chicken with submarines needs any clarification myself!)
Don't expect it to change your life, but get in the popcorn, open a beer and switch your brain off. Pure escapist entertainment of the highest quality. And it's now going to be available on DVD. (I'm buying it even though I have the video)
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Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Great review, and funny to boot! I would say that you didn't mention too much about the extra features but once you start on them you'll here all day! A pity that the rat-scene is missing from the R2.
jtimothy 28.02.2001 12:01
Excellent review of the film but doesn't really touch on some of the superb extras available on the 2nd disk. The documentary in particular is one of the best available on DVD. Also a quick question do you still get the drowning rat scene that was cut by BBFC when originally released?
From_The_Continent 20.02.2001 22:19
Very enjoyable read, I had a good laugh here. Very informative, too.
In this thrilling, underwater action-adventure from writer-director James Cameron ... more
('Titanic', 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day', 'Aliens'), a civilian oil-rig crew is recruited to conduct a search-and-rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sink...
![The Abyss [Special Edition]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/99942738.jpg "The Abyss [Special Edition]")
Feb 20th, 2001
(Feb 21st, 2001)
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