The Abyss (1989)

I couldn't remember which version of The Abyss I had seen; it was many years ago, so I simply put the DVD in this week and selected 'Theatrical Cut'. What is frustrating is that when the film ended it was immediately apparent that I had previously seen the Special Edition, as most of the bits and pieces I had remembered hadn't surfaced (pun intended) by the conclusion of the theatrical cut. James Cameron went on to direct better Sci-Fi films (both his Terminator films) and bigger (Avatar [2009]) but it's Avatar that I was reminded of here. Maybe it was simply the blue colour pallet, because this is literally a different world to Avatar. But there's certainly a love story at the center of The Abyss too, and I have to say, whichever version you watch, it's a pretty good one. The central pairing of Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio play off each other terrifically; their marriage is one that has ended at the film's start but through various well played out plot contrivances they begin to rekindle the spark that was lost. It's a type of love story that we've seen so many times before, but both of them are great fun to watch, and pull it off with heartwarming hilarity at times. I first watched The Abyss thinking it was going to be an Alien type horror, but it's not that at all; if you want to describe it in a simple cliched sentence, it James Cameron's Close Encounters. And that's no bad thing, Cameron pulls off a wonderful deep sea underwater tale here. I would recommend the special edition however, as you get reasoning from the creatures in the depths as to why they choose to connect with the humans, whereas the theatrical cut is more to do with the connection humans have with each other. Either way, it's an impressive spectacle. Theatrical Cut: 7.7/10 Extended Cut: 7.9/10