Synopsis:

The Abyss is a movie that flirts with greatness, yet has many flaws. This edit seeks to get as close as possible of making this a truly classic “first contact” movie.

Intentions:

To make this movie first and foremost about a unique “first contact,” and how humanity (represented by the various characters) reacts to that great unknown, all while under the pressure of being trapped miles below the surface of the earth. Fear, hate, faith, and love are the ultimate themes that pervade this story, and hopefully this edit makes the movie a bit less “1980s summer blockbuster” and more of a timeless first contact story that can be compared to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “2001,” and “Contact.”

Change List:

The Abyss is a movie that I’ve always liked for its parts as opposed to the sum. It has so many strong elements, it is even more disappointing to have an ending that is such a letdown. Actually, TWO endings that are unsatisfactory. While the “Special Edition” adds back James Cameron’s original ending, it still does not live up to the heights he brought us to during the prior 2+ hours. My intent with this edit is three-fold: 1. “Fix” the ending as best as possible, to at least make it more palatable than the existing ones. In this respect, I have chosen neither original ending (though it most closely resembles the theatrical release). My ending rides on the crest of the emotions generated by events just witnessed, and gets us to the finish line much sooner — removing almost all dialog — while still giving the audience the happy-ending “payoff” it deserves (and a glimpse at what we really want to see) after the dramatic roller-coster ride that is the Abyss. 2. Tone down the “war” aspect so that new audiences to this movie are not distracted by the “Tom Clancy USA vs Russia” type environment. This involves two main editing decisions. First, removing reference to Russia as the potential enemy. This allows the movie to have a more “timeless” feel, as opposed to firmly set in a “cold war” environment. Second, remove the sudden brink-of-world-war-3 subplot topside. It really is not a necessary subplot, and (as I will shortly mention) is an extra layer that distracts from the movie’s true strengths. 3. FOCUS the movie on the human drama of being trapped underwater near a “bottomless pit” and a sunken nuclear sub, and the first contact storyline. The Abyss was a “summer blockbuster” which is usually action-film oriented in order to grab a supposedly less-serious-minded audience’s attention, who just wants pure entertainment. Thus, there are many action-movie type elements that, while probably important to have when released, no longer are needed to tell the story at the heart of this movie. So, for example, I have removed the initial sub-crash and top-side banter, instead starting us underwater — and keeping us there — until the hurricane. The sub crash, while an exciting and intense way to start the movie, unfortunately makes the next hour feel a bit “boring,” especially during the later search of the drowned sub we already saw. This way, tension can slowly mount and gives a more eerie/claustrophobic feel to the first 40 or so minutes. While most people equate the “Special Edition” with its expanded/changed ending, there are actually many improvements to the entire movie with added scenes that focus on characterization. One final very important note for viewers of this edit: At this point I need to point out that the video quality for this edit is going to be disappointing. This is because of the source material. While I am using the R6 edition that is anamorphic (all others, including R1, are letterboxed), there is also a huge amount of EE going on that noticeably reduced video quality. Additionally, there is a lot of graininess in some scenes. Some grain was intentional (by Cameron, as I recall reading somewhere) but not this much. More on the poor source quality of The Abyss: (Originally Posted by elbarto1) “nothing is worse than The Abyss. every transfer of that film [including the R6 Anamorphic one] is awful. may as well be a compressed xvid FFS.” Cuts and Additions: Cut list: The Abyss: Revisited Edition Cutlist Runtime: 141 minutes Key: OTR: Original Theatrical Release (Runtime: 138 minutes) SE: Special Edition Release (Runtime: 171 minutes) REMOVED: Cut from both the OTR and the SE. SE_REMOVED: Cut from just the SE (it never existed in the OTR). SE_ADDED: Material included from the SE that wasn’t in the OTR SE_REMOVED: opening quote from Nietzsche (“when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you”). REMOVED: The beginning Sub Crash and topside arrival scene with Seals and Lindsey. REMOVED: Beginning dialog about “milking this job.” The movie now starts underwater with a long shot of the rig, divers working, and cuts to Bud turning away from a window to do work. REMOVED: Bud’s line: “Keep your pantyhose on.” SE_ADDED: Bud’s phone conversation with topside is extended beyond just saying, “What’s up?” He listens to the response and after a few seconds, screams “WHAT?!” SE_ADDED: Hippy controlling an ROV by remote, and then Bud enters and announces to the crew that they are being recalled. The crew gathers in the moon pool and Bud explains to them why they’ve been called back inside. REMOVED: First mention of the Hurricane as part of the reason why the Navy needs to use the rig. REMOVED: All Topside scenes (other than via Deepcore’s TV Monitors) until the Hurricane hits. This keeps us a bit more claustrophobic and isolated below the sea. SE_ADDED: As One Night is towing the rig, she is listening to a country song on her tape deck. Bud and Hippy hear the song coming through the intercom and join in the singing. A small extract of this scene was used in the OTR. REMOVED: Coffey’s very first hand tremor, to delay us knowing he has decompression sickness until later. SE_ADDED: Bud shows Lindsey to her room and asks whether she is still seeing her new boyfriend. They begin having a discussion about why they broke up in the first place, and it turns into an argument. They exchange comments and then Bud leaves the room. SE_ADDED: Bud’s confrontation with Coffey after Coffey explains the mission to the crew. REMOVED: Reflection of the actual alien in Jammer’s helmet. This is to not “spoil” what the actual aliens look like until the end of the movie. REMOVED: When discussing what Lindsey saw, the SEALS don’t conjecture it might have been Russian. Phase II is authorized by the fact that something was seen but what is still unknown. REMOVED: All topside TV reports and the crew watching them. SE_REMOVED: All extra topside TV reports and the crew watching them. There is no longer a quick escalation between the US and Russia that puts the world on the brink of WWIII in a matter of hours. SE_ADDED: Coffey and his men opening the missile hatch to retrieve a nuclear weapon from the sunken navy submarine. REMOVED: Before the crane falls, topside scenes are trimmed to remove some dialog within the topside ship. REMOVED: Dialog where Bud asks topside to give more slack, and the ensuing failed dialog with the crane operator to give slack. SE_ADDED: Bud, Hippy, and One Night surveying the damage using an ROV. REMOVED: Bud going down a ladder and greeting Cat before finding Lindsey doing repairs. SE_ADDED: 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. SE_REMOVED: One Night saying Lindsey isn’t as smart as she thinks, and “jokingly” folding her air tube. This is part of the attempt to make Lindsey more likeable and have a better relationship with One Night. REMOVED: Before Lindsey’s alien encounter at the oxygen tanks, shortened the back-and-forth “do you read me?” banter. REMOVED: Lindsey does not say Coffey looks and sees Russians. Instead the line is changed to be “Coffey looks and sees hate and fear.” REMOVED: Bud telling Lindsey he can’t believe her. Scene now just ends without him replying either way. SE_ADDED: Coffey confronting the crew about their recent contact with the NTI’s. SE_REMOVED: Coffey’s mention about possible “Russian bogeys.” REMOVED: When Hippy shows Bud evidence that the SEALS brought a MIRV on board, his conjecture about why is removed. REMOVED: When Lindsey confronts Coffey about the nuclear warhead, her line about “With all that’s going on up there.” REMOVED: When Coffey listens in to Lindsey convincing Hippy to reprogram Big Geek, all discussion about Coffey is removed. This is to help us still feel for Coffey, and not put him into lunatic status already. SE_ADDED: Coffey staring out into the Abyss from one of the rig’s windows. SE_ADDED: Lindsey bringing a drink to the injured navy soldier. REMOVED: Lindsey asks “who thinks that was a Russian alien?” to Coffey. SE_ADDED: Hippy walking down a passageway and finding the warhead missing from Coffey’s room. SE_ADDED: Extra scene where crew discusses the NTI’s and where they might have come from. REMOVED: Shortened the underwater “battle” sequence between Lindsey and Coffey. REMOVED: Lindsey saying it isn’t easy being a “cast-iron bitch” taking years of practice. SE_ADDED: Bud types to Lindsey “you always did talk too much.” SE_REMOVED: One Night laughing at Bud saying Lindsey always talked too much. SE_ADDED: Bud types “you’re going away” and Lindsey replies “No I’m not, I’m right here, Bud.” SE_ADDED: Lindsey recounts a night they spent together in the dark, with two candles representing them. REMOVED: All scenes in the alien ship once Bud falls lets go and falls to the ground. We don’t see the oxygen window open. Bud looks up, then we cut to a shot of the alien, and a fade to the sky while the alien waves to Bud. SE_REMOVED: News reports shown to Bud by the NTIs and the subsequent sequence showing the Tsunami, nuclear weapons exploding, past wars, the tsunamis approaching and then receding, and Bud saying why they didn’t do it. REMOVED: Topside getting back in touch with Deepcore, and subsequent talk of rescue plans. SE_REMOVED: Hippy mentions the tsunami. REMOVED: Bud contacting deepcore again (no contact with Bud occurs via the typing system again). SE_REMOVED: Lindsey reporting that the NTIs have been there a long time; they sent a message and want mankind to grow up. Topside, McBride tells the military looks like they might be out of a job. SE_ADDED: As the rig rises, beams of intense light stream in and Lindsey looks at her hands. REMOVED: All dialog from when Lindsey says, “I love you too” until Lindsey sees Bud emerge from the alien ship. REMOVED: Loudness of Bud dropping his helmet on the alien spaceship. You can still here it, but it isn’t so jarring/distracting.

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Special Thanks:

Thanks to Neglify who watched my work print and gave valuable advice!