Abyss, The: Revisited Edition

Foreword: I haven't seen the original in sometime, which I prefer for watching edits and I also didn't review the changes (log) ahead of watching, which I also prefer. I looked at the edit list back when I downloaded the edit, but I like to not know what I'm walking into; I don't watch an edit for a few months or more after downloading it.

What I liked: You kept the feeling of adventure, excitement, and thrill that the original had for me. What was trimmed mostly felt so seamless that I wasn't always sure when you did a cut.

What I didn't: Not much, but it felt a little strange when Kimberly Scott's character "Lisa 'One Night' Standing" was moving out of the way of the crane falling and then later she was on the ship. I watched this with someone else and they even asked me what happened to her, and I had to explain she is fine but it just wasn't show how she was okay until she just appears.

Overall: I would recommend people check this out. With some small refinement this would replace the original for me but for now it sits alongside the original very well.

Extra: Keep up the good work! Also, as an adult watching this rather than a child I was surprised on some of the science pitfalls but let it slide since it is a classic.

Virgil: "Keep your pantyhose on." A perfect example of a good line to remove from an edit. And there were many other beneficial cuts to this movie. The stated goal was to focus on the "first contact" aspect of the film and feeling of isolation, and remove the Cold War thread. This was accomplished for the most part. As stated by other editors, the actions of Coffey were a little strange, he seemed suddenly psychotic for apparently no reason. What distracted from the isolation feeling was the following: when they first were cut off from the ship/umbilicus, the discussion was how they would have only a particular amount of time before air would run out in Deep Core. This was really never mentioned again. Even when they were reviving the drowned Lindsey, no one bothered to acknowledge they would all likely be joining her in death soon if not somehow miraculously saved.

The editing was seamless to me. I had not seen the movie for quite some time and had no idea what the cuts were until reading about them afterwards. Based on the discussions here I will assume the quality of video was as good as it could be.

I enjoyed the movie! Quite a bit of action and suspense, in an unusual setting. I was glad not to be distracted with talk of Russians, it was all about their predicament (with the complication of a live nuke, but who hasn't had that experience?). Cheesy at times for sure, and a let down ending as with many in Hollywood, but I like how it was handled here. I may even end up watching it again with my wife, which is a pretty hefty compliment (watching it second time, not the fact it is with my wife!). Congrats!

A good buddy and I went to see The Abyss when we were in high school and I'll never forget our driving around after the film in complete bewilderment at the contradicting nature of film; how could a movie that was so enthralling, so exciting and so tense have, quite literally, such an unbelievable (in a very shitty way) ending? This was the same guy who made The Terminator and Aliens?

Seciors' edit is remarkable in that it takes the best parts of The Abyss and improves on them. Unfortunately, it's still the Abyss, and short of re-shooting/creating new footage for the ending, the conclusion of the film is (yes, pun intended) Abysmal.

Audio/Visual
As the editor himself warns, there is no fixing the fact that Cameron has yet to release a decent quality version of this movie. I watched this on a 50" plasma and the image holds up as best as you can hope given the poor quality of the commercial release. Hopefully Cameron will release an anamorphic BD of this movie, and when he does, I hope seciors will revisit this project. Audio quality comes across fine. Comparing apples to apples (edit against original source) the quality is a 10, although against other edits, it's obviously not as good. No strike against the editor for this, he did his job in maintaining best possible quality.

Technical:
From the opening frame, right until Bud is on the floor in the alien city, this is A+ editing. Audio and video work are invisible. If you were to show this film to someone who'd never seen the original, there is no way they'd know this was a fanedit. Seamless, invisible and professional grade work. 10/10

Narrative
Seciors had a specific and concise vision for this story and he executed on his intentions spectacularly. Relieved of the Cold War sub-plot, the underlying story shines brilliantly, and the film's pacing is consistent and enjoyable. The tension is actually more palpable with both the cold war, and top-side elements removed. I already enjoyed the film (minus the ending) and this takes something that was good, and makes it great.

Excluding the ending, I would make only 2 recommendations:
1) I would recommend cutting ALL topside footage. In the end it adds very little and I think that keeping the entire film from their perspective underwater would be all the more claustrophobic and add even more to the sense of isolation that this edit already has dialed to 11. Additionally this would exclude some pretty laughable model work. Even back in the 80s I never thought I was looking at anything other than models during the crane sequence.
2) I would strongly recommend cutting Lindsey's line explaining they'll need to spend 3 weeks decompressing. With the new modified ending this line becomes red herring with no resolution and only servers to increase the WTF level of the ending.

Overall this is a 10/10 for me. Seciors has done a fantastic job with making the body of the film even better, and I never considered the main body of the film to be flawed, so to make something already good, better deserves a 10 in my book.

Enjoyment.
As greatly improved as the bulk of the film is, the ending is still the ending. Seciors does an admirable job of trying to clean-it up, make it as palatable as possible, but in the end it's still a wtf Deus-Ex-Machina ending which left me incredibly disgruntled. This is not his fault in anyway, he does an impressive job of trying to salvage the mess that will always be the killer of this film.

This is a tough call, ordinarily improving an already solid movie as much as he did should earn a full 10 on overall enjoyment, but the ending still kills everything that comes before it so I can't give a full 10, but a very enthusiastic 9.

This edit is L8wrtr Recommended :)

In contrast to Neglify, I will confess that James Cameron does give me a slight Princess Leia style hard on. The movie Abyss on the other hand pretty much gives me a full on Kate Upton hard on. It has always been one of my favorite movies. It is cinematically and emotionally powerful. It also has a high degree of technical accuracy by Hollywood standards and features some of the best underwater scenes ever filmed in a cinematic movie.

Unfortunately the movie always did have a slight problem with the ending. Seciors wisely recognized that part of the challenge with pulling off the ending was in how it ties to all the global political background stuff present in the original theatrical version (and even more-so in the SE). It just reeks of cheese. I knew that Secior’s plan was to cut out this aspect of the story. To his credit I have to say that doing so does succeed in mildly improving the ending for me personally. It also succeeds on another level for me in that the movie feels much more atmospheric and more focused in on the underwater experience and the characters we find there, which for me was a major plus over the original.

That said, this plan was always of concern to me because I feared that it would damage the integrity of the main storyline and the character’s motives. Unfortunately this fear proved to be not entirely unfounded. The point where it shows the worst is at 0:59:30. Scene cuts to the middle of an argument with very little context for Coffey’s motives or for the reactions of the rest of the crew acting belligerent out of nowhere. From here-on out there was this nagging feeling of disbelief for me about how events play out more-so than the original version. This edit would have greatly benefited by either including a little bit more of the Russian stuff to provide Coffey more motive, or by finding a different creative way to transition his character more believably.

Video/audio quality was acceptable given the source material and mix of two different sources. There were times when the video quality and audio quality diminish slightly, but it is not overly distracting and I don’t blame the editor. The one exception to this that could probably have been better were a couple rough music audio cuts right in the final climax as the city is rising. Again, though, probably most people won’t notice.

The surround sound was very enjoyable in some scenes and much appreciated.

Menu is just a basic bare-bones menu.

Video/Audio editing is excellent with the exception of the couple rough music cuts at the end. Also I could have lived without the flashback shots when Bud first sees the Alien after cutting the wire. They were totally unnecessary and distracting. It is always a tough call of how much an editor needs to hold the hand of the audience vs letting them make the mental jumps and connections on their own. This was a case for me personally where I felt like the editor was insulting my intelligence with the flashbacks.

FANEDIT RATING (considering the technical and creative new work put forth by the faneditor) – 9/10

MOVIE RATING (considering overall enjoyment as a complete movie and as if I were watching it for the first time) – 9/10

It's been a long time since I saw the Abyss and there is a lot that i don't remember about the film, watching it again i feel the alien story line spoils the overall story but overall the film still folds up well today. seciors edit tightens James Cameron special edition (i'm never a fan of his special editions) with no noticeable cuts that take you out of the film. the ending was a little disappointing but i put that down to the fact that the ending is one of the few things i remember about the film. if your a fan of James Cameron but find his films can be a little bloated i'd recommend it