Review Detail
9.1 9 10
Enjoyment
8.0
Upon reading Neglify’s and Geminigod’s review, I think I fall somewhere in the middle of the two.
The Special Edition of THE ABYSS is easily my favorite James Cameron movie of all time. It is epic, timely, character driven, suspenseful, thought provoking… for me, it is equal to Spielberg’s Close Encounters.
So I must be honest, it was a challenge for me to go into watching this edit with an open mind, but I within a few minutes of the new opening, I found myself pleasantly immersed into this alternate take of Cameron’s underwater tale.
As already pointed out, Seciors has kept the focus on Bud and his crew, removing the “blockbuster” elements and WWIII threat, and has successfully created a slightly more character oriented narration with a looming claustrophobic feel. I found this approach surprisingly both engaging and entertaining.
Though it is not perfect. The removal of the WWIII subplot also removes a lot of subtext from many scenes, making certain characters motivations more muddled. For example, Coffey suffering from Deep Sea Paranoia only goes so far to explain his actions, it does not explain what is driving his fear and concerns or even why his fellow officers follow his lead so blindly. But also for me, the WWIII threat adds an extra, real world, level of tension, a “ticking clock to doomsday” that really informed the energy and drama of the Special Editon.
That said, the new story is well constructed and executed and basically achieves it set out goals.
I enjoyed the Bud/Alien first contact flashback, as I think it works as a nice replacement for the original Shipboard TV exchange and helps explains the Alien’s reasons for saving Bud and his crew. Though I did notice the transition flash was not matted to fit the film.
Other than that, I did notice a couple audio dips and pixels in the reds, but nothing that distracted or ruined the experience for me.
While I still prefer the Special Edition version, Seciors displays a good handle on the material and strong editing skills, and I definitely say this edit is worth one’s time to watch.
The Special Edition of THE ABYSS is easily my favorite James Cameron movie of all time. It is epic, timely, character driven, suspenseful, thought provoking… for me, it is equal to Spielberg’s Close Encounters.
So I must be honest, it was a challenge for me to go into watching this edit with an open mind, but I within a few minutes of the new opening, I found myself pleasantly immersed into this alternate take of Cameron’s underwater tale.
As already pointed out, Seciors has kept the focus on Bud and his crew, removing the “blockbuster” elements and WWIII threat, and has successfully created a slightly more character oriented narration with a looming claustrophobic feel. I found this approach surprisingly both engaging and entertaining.
Though it is not perfect. The removal of the WWIII subplot also removes a lot of subtext from many scenes, making certain characters motivations more muddled. For example, Coffey suffering from Deep Sea Paranoia only goes so far to explain his actions, it does not explain what is driving his fear and concerns or even why his fellow officers follow his lead so blindly. But also for me, the WWIII threat adds an extra, real world, level of tension, a “ticking clock to doomsday” that really informed the energy and drama of the Special Editon.
That said, the new story is well constructed and executed and basically achieves it set out goals.
I enjoyed the Bud/Alien first contact flashback, as I think it works as a nice replacement for the original Shipboard TV exchange and helps explains the Alien’s reasons for saving Bud and his crew. Though I did notice the transition flash was not matted to fit the film.
Other than that, I did notice a couple audio dips and pixels in the reds, but nothing that distracted or ruined the experience for me.
While I still prefer the Special Edition version, Seciors displays a good handle on the material and strong editing skills, and I definitely say this edit is worth one’s time to watch.
B