How long is the abyss movie

He favors blue collar people, thrust into extraordinary circumstances involving killer cyborgs, demonic alien creatures, and mindless capitalists. Typically, there will be a team of eight or nine of these people, complete with salty language and tough attitudes, but you'll only really get to know two or three of them. The rest usually end up as cannon fodder. Somehow, Cameron made these well-worn archetypes work like never before in The Abyss. In large measure, the credit goes to the enclosed space in which our protagonist roughnecks live.

Confinement means that you can't shoehorn in too many bodies who won't move the story forward in a meaningful way. Another Cameron archetype is the hard-bitten military man who mistakenly thinks his gun is going to get him out of his unusual situation. The twist this time is that the character of Lt. Coffey, played by Cameron regular Michael Biehn, isn't necessarily evil.

He's definitely deep in a paranoid state due to high-pressure nervous syndrome, which drives him to ever-more-manic behavior. But he's not actually a rotten person. This situation makes him a very effective third leg of dramatic tension, as he potentially jeopardizes his mission to retrieve the nukes.

A common Cameron theme is technology versus nature. But seldom in his filmography is there a stronger case for them to coexist than there is in The Abyss. After all, the Terminator exists to terminate humanity.

The space marines haven't a prayer against the Alien Queen and her brood. And the Na'vi? You get the picture. In each of these cases, there's a clear winner and loser. The Abyss is different, but for many reasons, this was not initially clear to audiences. One thing that was certain is that the underwater creatures in this film are benevolent. They aren't snooping around Deep Core to kill crew members, but to communicate with them and attempt to find common ground.

That much can be known from the theatrical cut, but many other aspects of the film were controversially left on the cutting room floor. This lead to extended edits arriving after the fact on home video. In the extended edition of The Abyss , viewers learn that the "sea angels" are extremely powerful. Outraged by the nuclear missiles, yet moved by Bud's act of single-minded sacrifice, they churn massive stationary tidal waves off the coasts of each continent to send a message to humanity: We can live together peacefully, but if you refuse, we will stop you.

It's an old theme made fascinatingly new again. At the start of the film, Bud and Lindsey Brigman are an estranged husband and wife thrown into a high-stakes drama. They are not on friendly terms, they're stuck together on an underwater deep sea oil rig, they are in the company of a team of Navy SEALs who play by their own rules, and there's an unknown force down there with them.

Oh, and one of those SEALs, tasked with locating lost nuclear weapons, is losing his mind. In lesser hands, the duo's transition from complete antipathy toward each other back to feelings of love, leading to self-sacrifice for the sake of each other's well-being, could feel forced. Yet these actors keep a measured approach throughout the movie, far beyond mere maintenance of continuity.

Viewers truly see their affection for each other renew in a natural, realistic way. Even more impressive is the fact that not only were Harris and Mastrantonio frequently acting off of visual effects that had yet to be completed, they were doing so against effects that had just been invented.

The "pseudopod," a tentacle of water controlled by the "sea angels," represents the digital effects revolution then on the rise. It was up to the two primaries — and the rest of the cast — to make it feel real. It could be that the verisimilitude of Harris and Mastrantonio's performances is thanks to Cameron's direction — but perhaps not as one might expect.

As detailed in the documentary Under Pressure: Making The Abyss , the director brought both actors to their breaking points, and not in a supportive way. A key scene in which the drowned Lindsey is brought back to the Deep Core and Bud attempts to revive her was particularly grueling. Mastrantonio left the set justifiably furious, shouting, "We're not animals!

The safety protocol was that if he gave a signal, a team would swim in to provide an oxygen regulator. Having held his breath too long, he signaled for someone to bring him oxygen. The crew member brought him a regulator, but it was upside down. Instead of pumping oxygen in and expelling water out, it did the reverse. Hippy asks if they are just going to leave him there, and Bud replies that they have to worry about restoring power and getting air first.

While Bud and One Night are doing repairs in the moon pool, their conversation is extended to include talking about Bud and Lindsey's relationship. Bud talks about how they first met and some of the details leading to their breakup.

A new scene shows Coffey confronting the crew about their recent contact with the NTI's. Coffey refuses to believe that there are really aliens down there, he thinks that they are actually Russian war bogeys. New scene showing Coffey staring out into the water from one of the rig's windows.

Just before the "water tentacle" sequence, a brief scene has been inserted showing Lindsey bringing a drink to the injured navy soldier. Once the crew has caught on to Coffey's plan, a new scene shows Hippy walking down a passageway and finding the warhead missing from Coffey's room. We then see Coffey carrying the warhead down a hallway. A new scene involving discussion about the NTI's.

Lindsey suggests that the aliens may be from outer space, and that their home planet may have similar conditions as the abyss: extreme cold and intense pressure. When Lindsey is talking to Bud over the intercom during his descent, Lindsey talks for a bit and then says "sorry, I'm rambling.

During Bud's descent into the abyss, the pressure beings to affect him and his link with the surface. In the original film when the crew realizes something is wrong, they ask if Bud can still hear them, and his typed response is just gibberish. A brief new bit of dialogue has been inserted just before this: Bud types "you're going away" and Linsdey replies "No I'm not, I'm right here, Bud.

The sequence with the aliens in their underwater ship has been greatly extended and now involves a whole extra twist to the plot. When Bud is taken inside their ship, they show him an assortment of images on a giant screen.

Bud realizes that the aliens can pick up our television signals and have been monitoring our TV stations.

The next report is a seismologist discussing heavy seismic signals coming from the earth's oceans towards the coasts of every continent. Bud is then shown an image of yet another TV report, this time an on-location report on a beach where an enormous tidal wave, thousands of feet high, is heading towards the shore.

People are running and screaming in panic as the wave gets closer. Bud realizes that it is the aliens who are controlling this wave: "you guys are doing this! You have the power to control water! Bud realizes that the aliens are concerned about the recent military buildup and the possibility of a nuclear war.

He asks "where do you get off passing judgment on us? How do know they'll actually do it? This shows that the aliens have monitored our TV for many years and know that mankind has a tendancy for war.

We then see shots of the huge tidal wave increasing in size and approaching coastlines all over the world, including New York and San Francisco.

People are panicking and fleeing in terror, and then the wave suddenly slows to a stop and hangs in the air, seemingly suspended in time. Citizens stare in awe at the giant wave, and then it begins receed and back away from the coast. People shout and cheer as the wave moves away. Bud turns to the aliens and asks "you could've done it, why didn't you?

A very brief piece of dialogue from Hippy has been inserted just before One Night sees Bud's transmission on the monitor. He says "I wish I could've seen it, I mean, how do you stop a thousand-foot tidal wave? Bud types that the aliens "have left us alone until now" and "it bothers them to see us hurting each other". He says that the aliens "sent us a message, hope you got it" and that they want us to "grow up and put away childish things.

When the crew of the Explorer hears this, one of the crew members jokes to the Navy officer: "looks like you boys might be out of a job! We see beams of intense light streaming into the rig's windows, and Lindsey looks at her hands as if something in the light is affecting her. Quinn "Sonny" Dawson. Captain Kidd Brewer Jr. Lew Finler. George Robert Klek Wilhite. Dick Warlock Dwight Perry. Kenneth Campbell DeMarco.

Ken Jenkins Gerard Kirkhill. Chris Elliott Bendix. James Cameron Director. James Cameron Writer. Gale Anne Hurd Producer. Alan Silvestri Original Music. Mikael Salomon Cinematographer. Joel Goodman Film Editor. Howard E. Smith Film Editor.

Howard Feuer Casting. Leslie Dilley Production Designer. Russell Christian Art Direction. Joseph C. Anne Kuljian Set Decoration.

Deborah Everton Costume Designer. Kathryn Fenton Makeup Artist. Emanuel Millar Hair Stylist. View All Critic Reviews Jun 05, From James Cameron comes the exciting sci-fi adventure The Abyss. When a Navy submarine is lost a deep sea research team is tasked with assisting in the emergency recovery effort, but during their operations they encounter a mysterious alien life form.

And the special effects are especially good; creating a fascinating vision of the ocean floor and the creatures that inhabit it. Also, the sets are incredibly well-done; giving a real sense of a lived-in, confined underwater space.

Additionally, Cameron's directing does an extraordinary job at heightening the tension and suspense. Full of mystery and intrigue, The Abyss is a thrilling journey into the unknown fathoms of the deep. Dann M Super Reviewer. Feb 17, A classic film from James Cameron that I am only seeing for the first time.

Engaging and suspenseful, with a great cast. The groundbreaking CG also helps and would serve to be later perfected in Terminator 2. Very enjoyable. Ian W Super Reviewer. The focus of the movie on the relationship of the two main characters really eats away at the much more interesting prospect of encountering the unknown.

Kyle M Super Reviewer. Jun 24, I hadn't remember this one very well but I still have it in glorious VHS format.

I checked the extended version of it, and let's just say it became quite clear what was added or removed. I didn't remember any of the russian tension going on and that awesome wave scene at the end. The Abyss transformed into a great looking, claustrophobic underwater thriller, with a nice alien mistery to a cautionary tale with decent results, albeit heavy handed this is James Cameron after all.

Francisco G Super Reviewer. See all Audience reviews.