The director's cut is so much better and explains what the critters were doing and makes Bud's sacrifice so much more important than anyone knew. This is one of my faves and never gets old, so glad you watched it.
Yep, I was going to say this. The extended edition explains much more, as it shows the aliens being the reason for all those catastrophical weather events. They want to get rid of humans, who wage wars constantly and now have their hands of nuclear weapons, threatening the whole planet, but Bud saves the day with his sacrifice, so they give us another chance. This makes more sense, than a regular edition of the film, where's too many loose ends and you keep asking yourself questions like "why the hurricane suddenly dissolved" or "why they even saved all those humans". It's obvious, that this single warhead wasn't really any threat to "alien city". When somebody is capable of controlling global weather or pulling the whole rig from a great depth while keeping the crew alive without depressurization, they would be able to render that warhead inert with a "snap of their fingers". It's clear, that they wanted to observe, if there's anything about humans that makes them worth saving.
She said she is going to watch it. While I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for the special edition, the general etiquette on these reaction channels is not to give spoilers by telling the entire plot. @JanKowalski-rd7yb
Although it definitely was a cool chemical demonstration. Unfortunately, the chemical itself is inefficient for oxygen transfer too heavy to sustain for continued "breathing"
It's been refused a re-release in the UK over it. The BBFC wanted it cut, but Cameron refused and simply pulled the the movie from distribution in the UK. Fucking sucks!!!
I was a sonar technician on a submarine. The sunken sub in this movie was the USS Montana SSBN 741. I was stationed on board the USS Wyoming SSBN 742. To answer your question, when we flush a toilet, the stuff goes into a holding tank. Every once in a while, we'll jettison the tank's contents out into the ocean. Interesting side note: the pump we use for our sewage is the same pump used in the Heinz factory to get ketchup from the vats to the bottles. The mechanisms, tubing, and machinery were perfect for this purpose. Oh, and since I left the Navy in 2011, I became an actor. I personally know Michael Biehn, who played the crazy commanding officer. And to let you know, the scene on the submarine where the people were trying to keep track of the alien's movements wasn't accurate. As a sonar technician, my job was to keep track of objects in the water. There's a lot of math involved in calculating range and speed of a contact. I didn't see anyone doing any math. The screens do not tell you range or speed. That is done with a grease pencil on a sheet of plastic.
@@3Rayfire I don't think so. We generally wait a few minutes and calculate their speed according to their position at two different times. The ATF might not even be able to keep up with an object going that fast.
@@divemonkeys they were pissed because of the dying scene with Mary. They realized Cameron was keeping them in the scene longer than needed. The slapping and her being exposed like that. + Excessive demands to have "perfect" shots under water. Anyway..... Cameron seems to a jerk. Just like the director for the shining (forgot his name) pushing the actress, psychology.
@@Fernando-dt8je Stanley Kubrick. He and Cameron seem like MASSIVE pricks... but, goddamn it, they know how to make killer movies. It's said that true quality tells over time... much of their work still holds up, even decades later.
Today was the day I found out there was a Director's Cut and that THAT was the version of the movie I grew up with on VHS, I didn't even know there was a theatrical version where they just return him without scaring the bejesus out of the world first.
The BAD GUY in this film is Michael Biehn. He also played the good guy saving Sarah Connor in "The Terminator", and was the crazy gunslinger killed by Val Kilmer in "Tombstone". Fine actor. James Cameron re-released this film in select theatres about a year ago in HD, and will be re-released for purchase on DVD in HD tomorrow. I purchased mine in advance. Saw this when it was originally released in theatres in the late 80's. Can't wait to see it in HD.
One thing I really liked about Lindsey and Bud's relationship, is when the crane starts to fall over the side, and they're all starting to panic, and all composure is lost, what does Lindsey do? She calls out to Bud in a very scared voice. "Buuuud!?" because despite how much the two of them bicker, her reflexive thought is that if anyone in that crew knows what to do to survive, it's him. I thought it was a great little hint that she did still care for him. You had Bud's very obvious and apparent indication that he didn't give up on her, when he reaches in to recover his ring. But you never have an equivalent moment for her. Until that moment.
Ashleigh, the reason you can have water pools inside the underwater habitat, is really quite simple and fun to try out. Fill your kitchen sink with water, then put a glass turned upside down into the water. As long as the glass stays in that position, a pocket of air remains in the glass and someone inside the glass would see a "pool of water". However, turn the glass sideways and... blub, blub, blub. It's a little more complicated than that but it's the same basic principle.
And the deeper you go, the more air pressure is needed in that air pocket to keep it from shrinking down from the water pressure pushing in. At these ocean floor depths, that's an enormous amount of pressure, which is why they would need weeks of decompression time in order to return to the surface.
At low depths that's pretty much it, but at higher depths it would not work due to prerssure. My assumption while watching this movie was that the pool is just a staging area, where you can get into your sub before driving it intou some kind of pressure chamber that leads outside.
@@christophergamedev Actually, as long as air pressure equals water pressure, the internal pool would remain in place. No pressurized hatch is required.
@@WhiskyCanuckYeah, that "3 weeks to decompress" line was even said in the movie and in the final seen you see every single one of the crew members from the bottom of the ocean simply walk out into sea-level atmosphere like decompression doesn't exist. I know they had to do it for movie magic to help rapidly close the movie off...but still. Didn't like them glossing over their own science like the viewer wouldn't remember (to be fair 90% of watchers didn't notice and don't know the first thing about actual diving and pressure).
@@wal6377 Right. Water and air have no qualms about equalizing against each other. It's the human lungs, eardrums, etc. that are going to protest in that environment.
In case you didn't recognize him, Coffey is Kyle Reese from Terminator, and Hicks from Aliens. Also, both those movies are directed by the same guy who directed this one: James Cameron.
The guy you recognized in the wheelhouse of the ship is Chris Elliot. I thought you might know him as Dom, AKA Woogie from Something About Mary, or as Larry the cameraman in Groundhog Day. I never watched Schitt's Creek, so it's not something I would recognize him from. He was a writer on David Letterman when he started out, and would come on the show and do characters, which is how he started out. Also 1889? I'm pretty sure it was 1989. But you were close. When it comes to extended cut, this is a movie you need to see it. It explains why the aliens are apprehensive to save people. Also, interesting side not! All of James Cameron's movies start with the letter "A" or "T!"
This movie was so great, but I also had so many unanswered questions (before the Directors Cut was released) so I read the book. His wedding ring saved him at the door because it was made of titanium. (Mine is too because of this movie). When Bud was running out of oxygen on the ledge, there was an argument happening among the aliens. The one was saying they needed to save him because he saved them by disarming the bomb. ALL of the others were going with retaliation... Against our whole species. "He" was able to change their minds by showing them Bud's message to Lindsay about his love for her and the crew. That's why they replayed it to him. In an attempt to explain why he, and humanity, was saved. And, yes, they are the ones that "shut down" the hurricane.
The two water tanks used in the filming of The Abyss were specially constructed to hold large amounts of water. The first tank, based on the abandoned plant's primary reactor containment vessel, held 7.5 million US gallons of water and was 18 m deep and 70 m across. At the time, it was the largest fresh-water-filtered tank in the world. Additional scenes were shot in the second tank, an unused turbine pit, which held 2.5 million US gallons of water. As the production crew rushed to finish painting the main tank, millions of gallons of water poured in and took five days to fill. The Deepcore rig was anchored to a 90-ton concrete column at the bottom of the large tank
The ring is either titanium or tungsten. This movie is the reason why men want a "symbol of love" that's stronger than gold. ...strong enough to save my life
My wife and I had titanium wedding rings made because of this movie. What they *don't* mention is that if you put on weight, you can't get them resized. 😥
In the book Bud was thinking about the ring as he was walking around and how it was custom made from titanium used to make the rig (if I am remembering right, been a long time) and how impractical he thought it was to use that metal. Then when it saved his life you understood why it did so.... BTW, in the book the first few chapters covers all the main characters as children, so you understand why they think and do what they do as adults.
"You're never dead, until you're warm and dead." I don't recall the time, but I think it was a kid was "dead" from drowning in an ice pond, and they revived him without brain trauma like 20 minutes later. This has started thoughts of emergency procedures for rescue workers that if the person is recently dead or about to die, they want to "deep freeze" the body, for resuscitation later in the hospital. Which is what Lindsay was saying to convince Virgil to let her drown.
That's happened quite a few times in recorded medical history. It happened not long ago in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. The kid was pulled out and CPR performed after 27 minutes. It didn't work. He was pronounced dead and his mother began praying loudly according to reports. Then a pulse was detected. To my knowledge he's grown and has suffered no ill effects. This story was told in the movie "Breakthrough" starring Topher Grace. I've never seen it. I don't intend to. Religious propaganda. If it was a miracle, then call it a MEDICAL miracle or file it under the heading of "Shit Happens".
@@body_by_depuy This is also why serious money has been spent on developing ice helmets for people who have suffered strokes. Last I heard, the idea hadn't advanced very far, because they couldn't figure out a way to get the middle of your brain cold enough without freezing the outer part. Tough luck. But real medical scientists put real time and effort into trying to figure out how it might be done, because the cold can definitely make a difference.
Sweet reaction. I was completely amazed when I saw the abyss as a kid. The special effects and CGI were far ahead of anything the world had yet seen. I still think the normal version is better that the other version that has some of the scenes that were cut. The extra scenes seem to me to be not needed and they give you a different vibe from the beings that inhabit the deep abyss. I place this film very high on the best films ever list. The scene when the woman gets brought back to life shows some outstanding acting that deserves credit. Generally great acting by the entire cast and the director's iron will and amazing imagination shined bright for sure. The film is a winner in every possible way including the sound design, props, acting, camera work, costumes, lighting, casting, script writing, CGI, & make up. A true masterpiece for all time.
This is one of those "hard bootleg turns" movies where you never knew exactly what was going to happen from one moment to the next. Also: what happened to Coffey in the submersible? Is what happened to the Oceangate Titan submersible. At least it was quick! Also the second: if you enjoy suspense and being scared, another great classic for you: The Andromeda Strain (1971). It's SO GOOD, but MAN, you're on the edge of your seat the entire time.
The breathing fluid is a real thing - the US Navy messed with this sort of thing back in the 1960s and it's been much more refined since, but although it works, it is said to cause long term lung damage, which makes a lot of sense
My guess is that it messes hardcore with the really TINY elements of the lungs down near where the blood/oxygen interface is. The tissues there are more fragile than cotton candy. Literally - Cotton candy is strong enough to maintain it's shape unsupported. The tissues I'm referring to would collapse immediately into an unorganized mess without the support of the larger structures of the lungs. Probably safe enough to use the fluid once or twice BRIEFLY. But would probably take months of recovery to get back to full normal capacity even then.
There is a podcast network called FRIENDS IN YOUR HEAD and they would do commentaries for movies. They called it quits some time ago but are very much worth a listen. My favorite episode is their commentary for ‘The Abyss’. It’s also for the Directors cut, which I highly recommend watching. What’s really great about that episode is one of the commentators worked on the set of the movie as lead puppeteer and has tons of backstory on the making of.
For the scene with Ed Harris “breathing” the fluid, he was really holding his breath. When he needed air all he had to do was lean back because the helmet wasn’t entirely full. Under water was a different issue. Again he had to hold his breath but had to rely on a nearby diver for air and nearly drowned in those scenes where he was sinking to the bottom.
The Critical Drinker has a series on his youtube channel called 'Production Hell', where he does sorta mini-documentaries on movies that had particularly troubled productions, like 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Predator' and especially 'The Abyss'... It's really worth a watch, as is all of his channel, some of the funniest movie reviews EVER, and a lot of smart commentary on a variety of interesting subjects. But apparently the 'Lindsey dies' scene was BRUTAL, making her storm off the set and saying she quit!
The actor who played Coffey, Michael Biehn, also played Kyle Reese in _The Terminator_ (1984). Everyone thought he was crazy in that, too, but he wasn't. He wasn't crazy as Cpl. Hicks in _Aliens_ (1986), either. But he is crazy in _The Abyss_ --very crazy.
Ed Harris was and still is so under-appreciated as an actor. He might have never gotten the bombastic, macho-man roles of film heroes like Arnold or Stallone, and maybe not the brooding or comedic power of Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis, but Ed Harris always made an impression when you saw him. He ranks up there as one of the best stars to play an everyday down-to-earth badass.
Interesting facts about The Abyss (1989) (1) The fluid breathing system that the rat is subjected to in the film does actually exist and has been tested thoroughly on animals. However, Ed Harris did not actually breathe the fluid, although there were sequences in which he had to hold his breath in a helmet full of fluid while being towed beneath the surface of the tank. (2) A few stunt people were used during the shooting. For example, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio actually held her breath for Harris to drag her underwater. The scene where Catfish (Leo Burmester) fires a machine gun into the water was accomplished using live rounds and extreme safety precautions. (3) Industrial Light & Magic made its name creating the “water tentacle” after Phil Tippett referred Cameron to them to provide computer-generated visual effects. For what amounted to 75 seconds of computer graphics, ILM worked for six months, photographing the set comprehensively to recreate it in a computer and composite the animation into each frame. In fact, this was one of several sequences so demanding to complete that the film’s release was delayed by more than a month. (4) For financial reasons, the “Deepcore” rig set was never dismantled after production wrapped. After the power plant was drained, it remained at the location until 2007, when it was demolished. (5) To expedite shooting and maintain the safety of the cast and crew, actors performed scenes at just 33 feet and rarely for more than an hour at a time, eliminating the need for them to decompress in between scenes or sequences. The production additionally hung actors from hoses where they could breathe pure oxygen to help avoid decompression sickness.
Ever since I first saw this in the theater, when they mention Hurricane Frederic, it sent shivers down my spine.The memories from Aug. ‘79 came flooding back.
You will LOVE the director's cut. When trimming for time, Cameron decided to focus on the love story, but the "aliens" and the storm are a fantastic element that's missing in the theatrical cut. Also, that scene with Bud talking to the aliens makes a lot more sense.
Oh, hell yes. The director's cut is a really great addition to the rest of the great movie. Not that it was a pleasant movie to shoot, and Cameron must have been an incredible pain in the ass about it. But the result was amazing.
These scenes were not trimmed for time exactly. The special effects were not completed in time to hit the studio dictated release schedule. ILM completed them for the Laserdisc deluxe set and subsequent theatrical re-releases. The extended cut became the director's cut. Cameron had these scenes hot spliced back into the original camera negatives.
16:36 "I love One Night; she's fun." She's even more fun when she shows you where her nickname came from: It's short for "one night stand" which apparently she does a lot. So have fun!
It's Chris Elliot from "Schitt's Creek," but before this movie, he was a regular comedic actor on "The Late Show w/ David Letterman" for IDK over a decade.
Cameron was a big ocean biology nut as a kid and this was a story he had wrote around High School (around the same time he first started writing what became AVATAR). His brother Mike is also a Navy sailor who largely specialized in ocean photography, so he helped a ton with camera tech work during both THE ABYSS and TITANIC (even creating a special camera housing that could take clear photography of the Titanic wreck without crushing from the pressure). Considering Cameron not only dived several times to the Titanic wreck (and numerous more for future TITANIC specials), he also spent the next 12 years largely filming other dives and now holds the Guiness record for Deepest Dive when he developed the sub that took him to the bottom of the Marina Trench (the deepest point of the oceans).
The Special Edition on this one is absolutely worth the watch, it adds so much to the situation between the us and Soviet confrontation over the missile sub and why the SEAL commander does what he does, and then the aliens telling humanity it’s time to put the war mess behind them through threats of basically wiping humanity away via the oceans.
I started watching your movie reviews when I lived back home and I have been watching them since I moved to Oregon, two years ago I ended up having SEVERE MUSCLE pain and I couldn't do ANYTHING PHYSICAL and I was put through PHYSICAL AND WATER THERAPY and I as I was recovering I continued to watch your movie reviews to help me get through it and I got better and I REALLY ENOYED watching your videos and I have continued to do so since then
Oh man I love this movie. So good. One thing- don't ever hyperventilate before holding your breath under water. As shown, it DOES extend your ability to hold your breath because you expel more CO2 from your blood.... but it also puts you at risk of shallow water blackout, which happens when your blood oxygen runs out before the CO2 rises to the point that you feel the need to breathe. This occurs because the need to breathe we feel is driven by CO2 accumulating in the blood, not by oxygen dropping. In shallow water blackout you think you are fine and then everything suddenly goes black as you lose consciousness. You then take in a lungful of water reflexively, causing drowning. It is a major emergency and you need immediate help.
21:03 "You know what I would do if I were Lindsey? Put on my little flippy floppies and I'd just make that three-mile trek all the way the surface." That would get you killed, Ashleigh. That kind of uncontrolled ascent? Remember what she said earlier in the movie; that after this, they would have to undergo _two weeks_ of decompression. That's two weeks having the air pressure to which they're adapted adjusted back to the air pressure one finds at the _surface._ This is what she meant.
At the time, he was best known for the variety of comedic skit characters he did for "Late Night with David Letterman", so it was a bit surprising when he did dramatic roles like this film or "Manhunter".
I know you've already said that you're seeking out the Directors' Cut, but it's one of the best examples of the fact that Cameron's sweet spot for movie making is 2.5+ hours. Aliens and T2 also have extended cuts that really flesh out their respective stories. (Just be careful which extended T2 cut you find, because there's one which tacks on one extra scene at the end that stayed deleted in the other extended cut because it ruins the whole message of the movie.) Then by the time he got around to making Titanic, he renegotiated his contract to let him make the film as long as he wanted and made one of the biggest blockbusters ever. So when he got around to Avatar, they let him make that one long too.
As a certified diver, almost nobody really goes more than a couple hundred feet deep. The record is a little over 1,000 feet, but what they said in the movie was true. Going down that deep means going back up very slowly for probably 12 hours or more, using many different air tanks on the way back up. You can go down almost as fast as you want, but you have to go back up very slowly and carefully. Air getting crushed smaller and smaller is less of a problem than air expanding on the way back up. You were really lucky seeing whale sharks! My team only encountered one, and it was the only time anyone had ever seen one. It was 15 feet long, so it was a juvenile.
Amazing film. I definitely recommend the director’s cut. While you don’t get any scenes of the aliens out of the water, you do still see more of them, and there’s a whole extra layer of storyline at the end: when Bud first meets the aliens in the ship, there’s a major scene that isn’t in the theatrical cut that, in my opinion, is critical. While the cast had a very hellish shoot, during which Ed Harris (Bud) almost drowned, it really is an excellent film, and everyone’s performances were top tier. Also, the special visual effects in this film were the precursor to those employed to bring the T-1000 to life onscreen in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” which came out only a few years later. The guy who played the villain (Coffee) is Michael Biehn, who played Kyle Reese in “The Terminator,” Corporal Dwayne Hicks in “Aliens,” and Johnny Ringo in “Tombstone.” He really is an excellent actor who does an equally great job playing both heroes and villains, and his performance as someone progressively losing their mind in “The Abyss” really elevated the tension in the film. * Additionally, if you’re up for a fun slightly older video game, among the “Farcry” games, one of the installments that came out on the Xbox 360 and is kind of its own thing is “Farcry: Blooddragon, which is a standalone expansion to the regular “Farcry 3” game that was released either in 2012 or 2013. The Farcry: Bloondragon game is a first person shooter that’s specifically designed to be a tribute to old school 80’s and early 90’s action movies and games, and Michael Biehn did the voiceover work for the main character you play as. It is a very fun and very hilarious experience of a game, especially if you can appreciate the deliberate throwbacks and nods throughout. If you decide to get it and happen to download it for the Xbox, I recommend just getting the regular version; there’s some enhanced or special version that’s apparently very buggy, but the original port works just fine.
38:51 - I think Ashleigh missed the point of the scene here. Lindsey wasn't holding her breath, she was drowning, intentionally, so that Bud could get her back and revive her.
One of my favorite random questions to ask people is: - "If you could LIVE in either the ocean or outer space, but be able to VISIT the other, which would you choose (and why)?" - "If you could ONLY LIVE IN EITHER the ocean or outer space, which would you choose (and why)?" Both of these realms are beautiful AND scary for different reasons, and I absolutely see the attractions and aversions for both of them. I personally would like to LIVE IN THE OCEAN and VISIT OUTER SPACE: - I, too, love the ocean (water, mermaids, variety of creatures, etc.) but it's still scary because the depths are still so mysterious to us. - I think outer space is beautiful in its own way, but the scariest thing to me is the fact that if you become untethered you will simply float away, possibly for eternity, never able to return.
This is such a childhood favorite of mine, THAT I LITERALLY PUT IT ON LAST NIGHT FOR WHITE NOISE.😂😂😂 So many pieces of dialogue are so nostalgic for me, i watched this so many times. Additionally, the liquid oxygen concept stayed with me as a kid. I was always obsessed with the idea. I found a book called Leviathans of Jupiter, by Ben Bova, and the crew have to train to breathe the fluorocarbons, in tanks of the stuff, all the way at the bottom, so they can acclimate to the pressure as well. Edit: changes in pressure at depth can cause extreme heat, which vaporizes everything in milliseconds. Pressure changes kill you faster, but not more mercifully. It's quick, but gruesome.
Only problem they had and why to cut from rat to crew faces was that rat in a panic soiled itself . With Ed Harris , hes not inhaling it , they just fill the helmet . And this was so fun to film that Ed Harris hit James Cameron in face because he nearly drowned . End scene is bit rushed and model ship propeller dangling got theatre to react , poorest made scene from Cameron .
@@pete_lind Oh yeah. I've looked into some stuff about this movie over the years. It's the reason the liquid oxygen thing was so fascinating for me. All the adults in my life kept telling me it was just an effect for the movie, and I kept telling them to READ ABOUT IT.😂 Lol It's the reason I became interested in film making, and looked into all the movies I loved. It got worse with LoTR. Those came out when I hit puberty.😂 I don't know why James Cameron is so obsessed with working in complicated aquatic environments for his movies. They're always a safety nightmare 😂
@@slanty8 I. Admire. The crap. Out of people like that. Lol That is some serious work. Needed work, that only certain kinds of toe-the-line heroes/fools can really do. All the hats off. All of them.😂
That part where Coffey was listening to Lindsey sarcastically referring to the water tentacle as a Russian one was reversed before it was inserted into the movie. This was to make him seem even more crazy and unhinged, and I think it does. Cameron is so old school.
YES. You need to watch the director's cut. There's a whole extra hour and the plot makes more sense. But I LOVED this movie and so glad you enjoyed it. There are documentaries about it, it was amazing what they had to do to actually film this movie, let alone deal with all the stress of working underwater for so long. Another great one!
36:31 Sad thing is, Coffee isn't a Bad Guy, but a victim of Pressure induced Psycosis. He is losing control of his Facalties and higher reasoning, and falling back on his training. A victim of bad luck.
In medicine we have a saying about drowning in cold water: you’re not dead until you’re warm and dead. The body shuts down in cold water. Many people have been revived after 15 to30 min.
@49:32 "What does this mean?" & "Are they trying to figure out a way to communicate with him?" That is why you need to see the SPECIAL EDITION. 30 mins longer, lots missing here.
They refused because Cameron was a nightmare and almost killed them all. He and Ed Harris got in a fist fight at one point, I believe, and Ed and Mary Elizabeth refuse to talk about it to this day.
As an HSE- and Fire Safety Professional, I vow, from now on, to only use the metric of "Sphincter Factor (SF)" to measure the severity of near-miss-incidents. Why this hasn´t been addapted as a unit of measurement, is beyond me.
This movie was an absolute nightmare to film. People nearly died, lots of screaming matches, and many of the actors on set refused to talk about or promote the movie due to the time they had. It’s worth watching some of the documentaries though because it is fascinating!
The directors cut adds so much more to this movie. It's a completely different movie almost. I could never watch the theatrical again after seeing the directors version.
This movie is nearly 40 years old which means Ed Harris was in his 30s when he made this film. I’ve never felt like the man he portrays in this movie ever. I’ve never felt like a man. 37:30
The rat breathing the liquid scene is 100% real! They actually filmed it breathing real oxygenated perfluorocarbon fluid. When Bud "breathes it" at the end it just Ed Harris holding his breath (not an easy task !they prepped lots in a shallow tank!) It is also possible to cool the brain and slow down the rate it uses oxygen to reduce hypoxia, they use it on babies to reduce damage when they've been oxygen deprived. Normally brain damage would occur at 1-10mins, with 15 minutes being virtually impossible to recover from, but in theory Lindsey could have survived longer Checkout the case of Karlee Kosolofski's, the girl who froze and was revived nearly 6 hours later!
I love Michael Beihn (Coffee, the pressurized psycho here). Loved everything I’ve seen him in. Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone, etc.. I only wish he’d had more roles.
I loved this movie when I was a kid, and you're right, it still holds up now. It just really unlocked a lot of what-ifs in my young little brain, and I still find it fascinating.
The story told to the oil workers was that the mission was to search for survivors. But the military was well aware that was an extremely unlikely possibility. Instead the true mission was to A) determine if the submarine had been attacked and how it had been disabled. B) to prevent Russian divers from visiting the wreck and stealing a nuclear weapon from the site. The Soviets had their own nuclear missiles but militarily it's always helpful to see what the other guys packing. So being able to investigate the enemies"nuclear secrets" would have been a huge deal during the cold war.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio stared in Robin Hood Prince of Theives as Maid Marian (you've seen the parody, Men in Tights). That Crazy guy is Michael Biehn Kyle, Reese from Terminator, and Corporal Hicks from Aliens.
Yeah, that breathable liquid is real, albeit only small animals can fully breathe it like this without taking damage. This rat was OK after really breathing that stuff, and Cameron later took her home as his pet. I think it's because larger animals have to breathe in so much of it, while the internal sacs of our lungs are no more robust than those of smaller animals. It's just so much weight and viscosity that some injury would occur before long, unless you're the size of a rat or smaller. So this stuff doesn't work for humans in real life, but it is a real thing, the concept exists outside of the movie, and the rat really breathed it in the movie.
One of the top 20 movies of all time in my book. To say it was ahead of it's time is an understatement. This movie would be huge if it had come out today.
2 .5 miles straight down. I still say this from time to time especially when a big situation is right in front of me. I love this movie but with the extended ending. I love Ed Harris, Maria Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn.
Yes, you have to watch the extended edition...it goes more into the aliens and Buds encounter with them...there was an entire scene taken out that explains the aliens motivations for helping them in the end.
Interesting thing about deep water subs, most are made for very limited dives, sometimes only a single dive. They're designed to withstand the compression going down but the decompression when they come back up often damages them; like flexing a piece of metal back and forth, eventually it will break. So, reuse isn't a good idea.
I was on submarines 150 was average Cree. Lot they got right. Here's a bonus, subs used to have screen doors...it went over hatches in foreign ports to help keep rodents and insects out. Great reaction as usual thank you.
The idea that they could swim to the surface to get saved, even if they could make it that far, would not work. The reason the water pool in the rig does not flood the whole thing is because the air pressure in the rig matches the surrounding water. Which means the same "air" is saturated in your blood stream. Everyone who learns to scuba dive learns about this. You start swimming up and as the pressure gets lighter the gasses in your blood stream come out of solution and form bubbles. That is the bends. After you go up 3 miles from that pressure you will suffer a very painful death... probably before you get any where near the surface. (Hence the comment near the start of the film that they will have to spend 3 week decompressing)
Cracks me up when you’re like “this sub. I mean rig. Whatever”. It’s like you’re mad about being corrected-whatever 🙄. Except you corrected yourself! 😂
Corridor crew did a dive into the special effects and did talk with some of the crew of the movie. Not necessarily a react, but something when you do have some time to check out.
I saw this movie at the theater when it first came out. It involved inner space. I was let down a bit by the ending that really looked like constructed (fake) models. Today, the ending would probably be more believable with CGI effects. But I really loved the resuscitation of M E M's character. The "water creature" was also so cool to see.
![DDG & G Herbo - Nosey [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I9Ra0Zc2NlQ/mqdefault.jpg)
The director's cut is so much better and explains what the critters were doing and makes Bud's sacrifice so much more important than anyone knew. This is one of my faves and never gets old, so glad you watched it.
The SPECIAL EDITION. Both versions are director's cuts, Jim has final cut on all his films.
Yep, I was going to say this. The extended edition explains much more, as it shows the aliens being the reason for all those catastrophical weather events. They want to get rid of humans, who wage wars constantly and now have their hands of nuclear weapons, threatening the whole planet, but Bud saves the day with his sacrifice, so they give us another chance. This makes more sense, than a regular edition of the film, where's too many loose ends and you keep asking yourself questions like "why the hurricane suddenly dissolved" or "why they even saved all those humans". It's obvious, that this single warhead wasn't really any threat to "alien city". When somebody is capable of controlling global weather or pulling the whole rig from a great depth while keeping the crew alive without depressurization, they would be able to render that warhead inert with a "snap of their fingers". It's clear, that they wanted to observe, if there's anything about humans that makes them worth saving.
Yes! Extended edition is my favorite ❤
You mean the stupid tidal wave thing? Hell no.
She said she is going to watch it. While I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for the special edition, the general etiquette on these reaction channels is not to give spoilers by telling the entire plot. @JanKowalski-rd7yb
"I have the reflexes of a dead squirrel" is my new favorite Ashleighism.
Here's me cheering for the gamer @DeadSquirrel 😅😅
Yay! Someone slower than me.
I made up and use the phrase "I have the reflexes of a sleeping Sloth"
I'm stealing that phrase.
The scene with the rat breathing the liquid is real.
This scene almost didn't make in the movie due to using a real animal.
Although it definitely was a cool chemical demonstration. Unfortunately, the chemical itself is inefficient for oxygen transfer too heavy to sustain for continued "breathing"
It's usually cut whenever The Abyss is shown on TV. (Well, it is here in the UK)
It's been refused a re-release in the UK over it. The BBFC wanted it cut, but Cameron refused and simply pulled the the movie from distribution in the UK. Fucking sucks!!!
Yep, learned about it in Shadowrun. They use it in RE too. Mila did not enjoy it. Said it hurt her lungs to breathe it.
I was a sonar technician on a submarine. The sunken sub in this movie was the USS Montana SSBN 741. I was stationed on board the USS Wyoming SSBN 742. To answer your question, when we flush a toilet, the stuff goes into a holding tank. Every once in a while, we'll jettison the tank's contents out into the ocean. Interesting side note: the pump we use for our sewage is the same pump used in the Heinz factory to get ketchup from the vats to the bottles. The mechanisms, tubing, and machinery were perfect for this purpose. Oh, and since I left the Navy in 2011, I became an actor. I personally know Michael Biehn, who played the crazy commanding officer. And to let you know, the scene on the submarine where the people were trying to keep track of the alien's movements wasn't accurate. As a sonar technician, my job was to keep track of objects in the water. There's a lot of math involved in calculating range and speed of a contact. I didn't see anyone doing any math. The screens do not tell you range or speed. That is done with a grease pencil on a sheet of plastic.
Would it even be possible to track an object going that fast underwater with traditional SONAR calculations?
I know that you mean that Heinz uses the same MODEL of pump, but I can't help thinking they just buy the Navy ones cheap and give them a quick scrub.
@@3Rayfire I don't think so. We generally wait a few minutes and calculate their speed according to their position at two different times. The ATF might not even be able to keep up with an object going that fast.
@@cmlemmus494 I don't mean that Heinz uses Navy machinery. I mean that the Navy uses Heinz machinery.
@PaulLoh Sometimes the military just needs to ketchup with the private sector.
...alright, I'm punching out.
This movie is the reason Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio doesn't want to hear the name "James Cameron" again in her life
Quite a few people involved in the production, actually.
I just saw a Minty's Comedic Arts on this movie and he said Ed Harris still won't talk about it.
@@divemonkeys they were pissed because of the dying scene with Mary.
They realized Cameron was keeping them in the scene longer than needed. The slapping and her being exposed like that. + Excessive demands to have "perfect" shots under water. Anyway..... Cameron seems to a jerk. Just like the director for the shining (forgot his name) pushing the actress, psychology.
@@Fernando-dt8je
Kubrick.
@@Fernando-dt8je Stanley Kubrick. He and Cameron seem like MASSIVE pricks... but, goddamn it, they know how to make killer movies. It's said that true quality tells over time... much of their work still holds up, even decades later.
Today was the day I found out there was a Director's Cut and that THAT was the version of the movie I grew up with on VHS, I didn't even know there was a theatrical version where they just return him without scaring the bejesus out of the world first.
The BAD GUY in this film is Michael Biehn. He also played the good guy saving Sarah Connor in "The Terminator", and was the crazy gunslinger killed by Val Kilmer in "Tombstone". Fine actor. James Cameron re-released this film in select theatres about a year ago in HD, and will be re-released for purchase on DVD in HD tomorrow. I purchased mine in advance. Saw this when it was originally released in theatres in the late 80's. Can't wait to see it in HD.
He was also Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens. A very good guy.
And Corporal Hicks in "Aliens"
Don't forget Corporal Hicks in Aliens. He's great in everything.
I want a movie where the leads are Michael Biehn and Ed Harris
I bought this on DVD and made sure I got the one with the directors cut.
"I bet this film was fun to make."
Oh you sweet summer child.
She seems to have missed the news last June.
One thing I really liked about Lindsey and Bud's relationship, is when the crane starts to fall over the side, and they're all starting to panic, and all composure is lost, what does Lindsey do? She calls out to Bud in a very scared voice. "Buuuud!?" because despite how much the two of them bicker, her reflexive thought is that if anyone in that crew knows what to do to survive, it's him. I thought it was a great little hint that she did still care for him. You had Bud's very obvious and apparent indication that he didn't give up on her, when he reaches in to recover his ring. But you never have an equivalent moment for her. Until that moment.
Ashleigh: “I bet this was fun to shoot”
The Crew: we had T-shirts printed up with the logo changed to The Abuse
The extended version has an amazing sequence at the end when Ed Harris encounters the aliens. Totally worth it!
Ashleigh, the reason you can have water pools inside the underwater habitat, is really quite simple and fun to try out. Fill your kitchen sink with water, then put a glass turned upside down into the water. As long as the glass stays in that position, a pocket of air remains in the glass and someone inside the glass would see a "pool of water". However, turn the glass sideways and... blub, blub, blub.
It's a little more complicated than that but it's the same basic principle.
And the deeper you go, the more air pressure is needed in that air pocket to keep it from shrinking down from the water pressure pushing in. At these ocean floor depths, that's an enormous amount of pressure, which is why they would need weeks of decompression time in order to return to the surface.
At low depths that's pretty much it, but at higher depths it would not work due to prerssure. My assumption while watching this movie was that the pool is just a staging area, where you can get into your sub before driving it intou some kind of pressure chamber that leads outside.
@@christophergamedev
Actually, as long as air pressure equals water pressure, the internal pool would remain in place. No pressurized hatch is required.
@@WhiskyCanuckYeah, that "3 weeks to decompress" line was even said in the movie and in the final seen you see every single one of the crew members from the bottom of the ocean simply walk out into sea-level atmosphere like decompression doesn't exist.
I know they had to do it for movie magic to help rapidly close the movie off...but still. Didn't like them glossing over their own science like the viewer wouldn't remember (to be fair 90% of watchers didn't notice and don't know the first thing about actual diving and pressure).
@@wal6377 Right. Water and air have no qualms about equalizing against each other. It's the human lungs, eardrums, etc. that are going to protest in that environment.
When Catfish knocks Coffey out, that is my favorite sucker punch ever in a movie!
In case you didn't recognize him, Coffey is Kyle Reese from Terminator, and Hicks from Aliens. Also, both those movies are directed by the same guy who directed this one: James Cameron.
The guy you recognized in the wheelhouse of the ship is Chris Elliot. I thought you might know him as Dom, AKA Woogie from Something About Mary, or as Larry the cameraman in Groundhog Day. I never watched Schitt's Creek, so it's not something I would recognize him from. He was a writer on David Letterman when he started out, and would come on the show and do characters, which is how he started out. Also 1889? I'm pretty sure it was 1989. But you were close. When it comes to extended cut, this is a movie you need to see it. It explains why the aliens are apprehensive to save people. Also, interesting side not! All of James Cameron's movies start with the letter "A" or "T!"
This movie was so great, but I also had so many unanswered questions (before the Directors Cut was released) so I read the book.
His wedding ring saved him at the door because it was made of titanium. (Mine is too because of this movie).
When Bud was running out of oxygen on the ledge, there was an argument happening among the aliens. The one was saying they needed to save him because he saved them by disarming the bomb. ALL of the others were going with retaliation... Against our whole species. "He" was able to change their minds by showing them Bud's message to Lindsay about his love for her and the crew. That's why they replayed it to him. In an attempt to explain why he, and humanity, was saved. And, yes, they are the ones that "shut down" the hurricane.
The two water tanks used in the filming of The Abyss were specially constructed to hold large amounts of water. The first tank, based on the abandoned plant's primary reactor containment vessel, held 7.5 million US gallons of water and was 18 m deep and 70 m across. At the time, it was the largest fresh-water-filtered tank in the world. Additional scenes were shot in the second tank, an unused turbine pit, which held 2.5 million US gallons of water. As the production crew rushed to finish painting the main tank, millions of gallons of water poured in and took five days to fill. The Deepcore rig was anchored to a 90-ton concrete column at the bottom of the large tank
The ring is either titanium or tungsten.
This movie is the reason why men want a "symbol of love" that's stronger than gold.
...strong enough to save my life
My wife and I had titanium wedding rings made because of this movie.
What they *don't* mention is that if you put on weight, you can't get them resized. 😥
@@RobWVideo Yep. I'm a bench jeweler at a small jewelry studio, and you wouldn't believe the number of times we get asked to resize titanium rings.
@@jodonnell64 Easier to resize the person. :)
Titanium per Orson Scott Card, who did the novelization, and was allowed to discuss back stories with the 3 main actors on the set.
In the book Bud was thinking about the ring as he was walking around and how it was custom made from titanium used to make the rig (if I am remembering right, been a long time) and how impractical he thought it was to use that metal. Then when it saved his life you understood why it did so.... BTW, in the book the first few chapters covers all the main characters as children, so you understand why they think and do what they do as adults.
"You're never dead, until you're warm and dead." I don't recall the time, but I think it was a kid was "dead" from drowning in an ice pond, and they revived him without brain trauma like 20 minutes later.
This has started thoughts of emergency procedures for rescue workers that if the person is recently dead or about to die, they want to "deep freeze" the body, for resuscitation later in the hospital. Which is what Lindsay was saying to convince Virgil to let her drown.
That's happened quite a few times in recorded medical history. It happened not long ago in Lake Saint Louis, Missouri. The kid was pulled out and CPR performed after 27 minutes. It didn't work. He was pronounced dead and his mother began praying loudly according to reports. Then a pulse was detected. To my knowledge he's grown and has suffered no ill effects. This story was told in the movie "Breakthrough" starring Topher Grace. I've never seen it. I don't intend to. Religious propaganda. If it was a miracle, then call it a MEDICAL miracle or file it under the heading of "Shit Happens".
That's a mantra we have in EMS and wilderness rescue. They're not dead until they're warm and dead.
@@body_by_depuy This is also why serious money has been spent on developing ice helmets for people who have suffered strokes. Last I heard, the idea hadn't advanced very far, because they couldn't figure out a way to get the middle of your brain cold enough without freezing the outer part. Tough luck. But real medical scientists put real time and effort into trying to figure out how it might be done, because the cold can definitely make a difference.
I heard that, you want the water to be freezing and to be salt water, if its fresh water then it won’t work or something like that.
I remember seeing a show on one of those "fell through the ice" incidents and the person was revived after 45 minutes.
Sweet reaction. I was completely amazed when I saw the abyss as a kid. The special effects and CGI were far ahead of anything the world had yet seen. I still think the normal version is better that the other version that has some of the scenes that were cut. The extra scenes seem to me to be not needed and they give you a different vibe from the beings that inhabit the deep abyss. I place this film very high on the best films ever list. The scene when the woman gets brought back to life shows some outstanding acting that deserves credit. Generally great acting by the entire cast and the director's iron will and amazing imagination shined bright for sure. The film is a winner in every possible way including the sound design, props, acting, camera work, costumes, lighting, casting, script writing, CGI, & make up. A true masterpiece for all time.
OMG your choice of movie, your accent , your hilarious sayings like "I have the reflexes of a dead squirrel" absolutely got me in tears! Subscribed.
The oxygenated fluid is real. They actually used some in the rat scene.
So they genuinely put a rat in oxygenated water? That's kind of messed up when you think about it.
@@neil2444 They weren't physically harmed, just traumatized... for our entertainment.
@@neil2444 They did it in RE to Mila. She said it hurt her lungs.
@@neil2444at one time it was looked for a possibly being a treatment for premie babies who’s lungs hadn’t fully formed.
@@neil2444 It's not water, it's perfluorocarbon.
My 2nd cousin, Tom Van Otteren, was a model maker on _The Abyss._ I'm glad you liked it, Ashleigh. 🙂
This is one of those "hard bootleg turns" movies where you never knew exactly what was going to happen from one moment to the next. Also: what happened to Coffey in the submersible? Is what happened to the Oceangate Titan submersible. At least it was quick! Also the second: if you enjoy suspense and being scared, another great classic for you: The Andromeda Strain (1971). It's SO GOOD, but MAN, you're on the edge of your seat the entire time.
The implosion depicted here took about 50 times longer that the OceanGate accident.
The breathing fluid is a real thing - the US Navy messed with this sort of thing back in the 1960s and it's been much more refined since, but although it works, it is said to cause long term lung damage, which makes a lot of sense
My guess is that it messes hardcore with the really TINY elements of the lungs down near where the blood/oxygen interface is. The tissues there are more fragile than cotton candy. Literally - Cotton candy is strong enough to maintain it's shape unsupported. The tissues I'm referring to would collapse immediately into an unorganized mess without the support of the larger structures of the lungs.
Probably safe enough to use the fluid once or twice BRIEFLY. But would probably take months of recovery to get back to full normal capacity even then.
There is a podcast network called FRIENDS IN YOUR HEAD and they would do commentaries for movies. They called it quits some time ago but are very much worth a listen. My favorite episode is their commentary for ‘The Abyss’. It’s also for the Directors cut, which I highly recommend watching.
What’s really great about that episode is one of the commentators worked on the set of the movie as lead puppeteer and has tons of backstory on the making of.
I always loved the way they kept his hand blue for the whole movie.
For the scene with Ed Harris “breathing” the fluid, he was really holding his breath. When he needed air all he had to do was lean back because the helmet wasn’t entirely full. Under water was a different issue. Again he had to hold his breath but had to rely on a nearby diver for air and nearly drowned in those scenes where he was sinking to the bottom.
The Critical Drinker has a series on his youtube channel called 'Production Hell', where he does sorta mini-documentaries on movies that had particularly troubled productions, like 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Predator' and especially 'The Abyss'... It's really worth a watch, as is all of his channel, some of the funniest movie reviews EVER, and a lot of smart commentary on a variety of interesting subjects. But apparently the 'Lindsey dies' scene was BRUTAL, making her storm off the set and saying she quit!
I cry at Lindsey dying every single time. James Cameron is a genius. Glad you liked it
The actor who played Coffey, Michael Biehn, also played Kyle Reese in _The Terminator_ (1984). Everyone thought he was crazy in that, too, but he wasn't. He wasn't crazy as Cpl. Hicks in _Aliens_ (1986), either. But he is crazy in _The Abyss_ --very crazy.
The face she made and then froze when Bud cut the wire, I legit 🤣 😂 🤣 ☠️ .
Ed Harris was and still is so under-appreciated as an actor. He might have never gotten the bombastic, macho-man roles of film heroes like Arnold or Stallone, and maybe not the brooding or comedic power of Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis, but Ed Harris always made an impression when you saw him. He ranks up there as one of the best stars to play an everyday down-to-earth badass.
Interesting facts about The Abyss (1989) (1) The fluid breathing system that the rat is subjected to in the film does actually exist and has been tested thoroughly on animals. However, Ed Harris did not actually breathe the fluid, although there were sequences in which he had to hold his breath in a helmet full of fluid while being towed beneath the surface of the tank. (2) A few stunt people were used during the shooting. For example, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio actually held her breath for Harris to drag her underwater. The scene where Catfish (Leo Burmester) fires a machine gun into the water was accomplished using live rounds and extreme safety precautions. (3) Industrial Light & Magic made its name creating the “water tentacle” after Phil Tippett referred Cameron to them to provide computer-generated visual effects. For what amounted to 75 seconds of computer graphics, ILM worked for six months, photographing the set comprehensively to recreate it in a computer and composite the animation into each frame. In fact, this was one of several sequences so demanding to complete that the film’s release was delayed by more than a month. (4) For financial reasons, the “Deepcore” rig set was never dismantled after production wrapped. After the power plant was drained, it remained at the location until 2007, when it was demolished. (5) To expedite shooting and maintain the safety of the cast and crew, actors performed scenes at just 33 feet and rarely for more than an hour at a time, eliminating the need for them to decompress in between scenes or sequences. The production additionally hung actors from hoses where they could breathe pure oxygen to help avoid decompression sickness.
Ever since I first saw this in the theater, when they mention Hurricane Frederic, it sent shivers down my spine.The memories from Aug. ‘79 came flooding back.
You will LOVE the director's cut. When trimming for time, Cameron decided to focus on the love story, but the "aliens" and the storm are a fantastic element that's missing in the theatrical cut. Also, that scene with Bud talking to the aliens makes a lot more sense.
Oh, hell yes. The director's cut is a really great addition to the rest of the great movie. Not that it was a pleasant movie to shoot, and Cameron must have been an incredible pain in the ass about it. But the result was amazing.
These scenes were not trimmed for time exactly. The special effects were not completed in time to hit the studio dictated release schedule. ILM completed them for the Laserdisc deluxe set and subsequent theatrical re-releases. The extended cut became the director's cut. Cameron had these scenes hot spliced back into the original camera negatives.
The ending is alot more satisfying in the director's cut
I'm so excited to see you watch this. The Abyss is one of the movies on my list of "Will Stop and Watch Whenever it's on Wherever it's On"
16:36 "I love One Night; she's fun."
She's even more fun when she shows you where her nickname came from: It's short for "one night stand" which apparently she does a lot.
So have fun!
“If that rat dies “ 0 outta 5 stars. That’s me too lol
It's Chris Elliot from "Schitt's Creek," but before this movie, he was a regular comedic actor on "The Late Show w/ David Letterman" for IDK over a decade.
Cameron was a big ocean biology nut as a kid and this was a story he had wrote around High School (around the same time he first started writing what became AVATAR).
His brother Mike is also a Navy sailor who largely specialized in ocean photography, so he helped a ton with camera tech work during both THE ABYSS and TITANIC (even creating a special camera housing that could take clear photography of the Titanic wreck without crushing from the pressure).
Considering Cameron not only dived several times to the Titanic wreck (and numerous more for future TITANIC specials), he also spent the next 12 years largely filming other dives and now holds the Guiness record for Deepest Dive when he developed the sub that took him to the bottom of the Marina Trench (the deepest point of the oceans).
The "bad guy" with the mustache and hand shakes is 'Michael Biehn' He was also Kyle Reese in Terminator, and the lead soldier Cpl Hicks in Aliens.
The Special Edition on this one is absolutely worth the watch, it adds so much to the situation between the us and Soviet confrontation over the missile sub and why the SEAL commander does what he does, and then the aliens telling humanity it’s time to put the war mess behind them through threats of basically wiping humanity away via the oceans.
I started watching your movie reviews when I lived back home and I have been watching them since I moved to Oregon, two years ago I ended up having SEVERE MUSCLE pain and I couldn't do ANYTHING PHYSICAL and I was put through PHYSICAL AND WATER THERAPY and I as I was recovering I continued to watch your movie reviews to help me get through it and I got better and I REALLY ENOYED watching your videos and I have continued to do so since then
One of the best Sci-fy movies ever made!!! Fantastic.
Director's cut is, not this thing.
Oh man I love this movie. So good.
One thing- don't ever hyperventilate before holding your breath under water. As shown, it DOES extend your ability to hold your breath because you expel more CO2 from your blood.... but it also puts you at risk of shallow water blackout, which happens when your blood oxygen runs out before the CO2 rises to the point that you feel the need to breathe. This occurs because the need to breathe we feel is driven by CO2 accumulating in the blood, not by oxygen dropping. In shallow water blackout you think you are fine and then everything suddenly goes black as you lose consciousness. You then take in a lungful of water reflexively, causing drowning. It is a major emergency and you need immediate help.
James Cameron designed a sub that he took to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which had a depth of 7 miles roughly.
21:03 "You know what I would do if I were Lindsey? Put on my little flippy floppies and I'd just make that three-mile trek all the way the surface."
That would get you killed, Ashleigh. That kind of uncontrolled ascent?
Remember what she said earlier in the movie; that after this, they would have to undergo _two weeks_ of decompression. That's two weeks having the air pressure to which they're adapted adjusted back to the air pressure one finds at the _surface._ This is what she meant.
His name is Chris Elliott. 4:24
At the time, he was best known for the variety of comedic skit characters he did for "Late Night with David Letterman", so it was a bit surprising when he did dramatic roles like this film or "Manhunter".
@@mmattson8947He was also the cameraman in “GroundHog Day” and Adam Sandler’s Buddy who gets the skin issues in “Something About Mary”
Son of Bob Elliott of Bob and Ray.
No, that's Woogie.
And he's playing a role that clearly should've gone to John Ratzenberger.
I know you've already said that you're seeking out the Directors' Cut, but it's one of the best examples of the fact that Cameron's sweet spot for movie making is 2.5+ hours. Aliens and T2 also have extended cuts that really flesh out their respective stories. (Just be careful which extended T2 cut you find, because there's one which tacks on one extra scene at the end that stayed deleted in the other extended cut because it ruins the whole message of the movie.) Then by the time he got around to making Titanic, he renegotiated his contract to let him make the film as long as he wanted and made one of the biggest blockbusters ever. So when he got around to Avatar, they let him make that one long too.
It's a good thing that big, thick titanium wedding bands were popular back then.
One of my favorite science fiction films. Like you said, it still holds up very well today. I miss practical effects. Glad you enjoyed it
As a certified diver, almost nobody really goes more than a couple hundred feet deep. The record is a little over 1,000 feet, but what they said in the movie was true. Going down that deep means going back up very slowly for probably 12 hours or more, using many different air tanks on the way back up. You can go down almost as fast as you want, but you have to go back up very slowly and carefully. Air getting crushed smaller and smaller is less of a problem than air expanding on the way back up. You were really lucky seeing whale sharks! My team only encountered one, and it was the only time anyone had ever seen one. It was 15 feet long, so it was a juvenile.
Amazing film. I definitely recommend the director’s cut. While you don’t get any scenes of the aliens out of the water, you do still see more of them, and there’s a whole extra layer of storyline at the end: when Bud first meets the aliens in the ship, there’s a major scene that isn’t in the theatrical cut that, in my opinion, is critical. While the cast had a very hellish shoot, during which Ed Harris (Bud) almost drowned, it really is an excellent film, and everyone’s performances were top tier.
Also, the special visual effects in this film were the precursor to those employed to bring the T-1000 to life onscreen in “Terminator 2: Judgement Day,” which came out only a few years later.
The guy who played the villain (Coffee) is Michael Biehn, who played Kyle Reese in “The Terminator,” Corporal Dwayne Hicks in “Aliens,” and Johnny Ringo in “Tombstone.” He really is an excellent actor who does an equally great job playing both heroes and villains, and his performance as someone progressively losing their mind in “The Abyss” really elevated the tension in the film. * Additionally, if you’re up for a fun slightly older video game, among the “Farcry” games, one of the installments that came out on the Xbox 360 and is kind of its own thing is “Farcry: Blooddragon, which is a standalone expansion to the regular “Farcry 3” game that was released either in 2012 or 2013. The Farcry: Bloondragon game is a first person shooter that’s specifically designed to be a tribute to old school 80’s and early 90’s action movies and games, and Michael Biehn did the voiceover work for the main character you play as. It is a very fun and very hilarious experience of a game, especially if you can appreciate the deliberate throwbacks and nods throughout. If you decide to get it and happen to download it for the Xbox, I recommend just getting the regular version; there’s some enhanced or special version that’s apparently very buggy, but the original port works just fine.
38:51 - I think Ashleigh missed the point of the scene here. Lindsey wasn't holding her breath, she was drowning, intentionally, so that Bud could get her back and revive her.
The making of this movie in a half finished nuclear plant in Gaffney SC is the stuff of legends. I can't wait for you to read all about it.
“You know what this is beautiful, in 1889 I’ll bet y’all were shittin’ you pants.”
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Damn, I feel so old now and I’m an 80’s baby.
One of my favorite random questions to ask people is:
- "If you could LIVE in either the ocean or outer space, but be able to VISIT the other, which would you choose (and why)?"
- "If you could ONLY LIVE IN EITHER the ocean or outer space, which would you choose (and why)?"
Both of these realms are beautiful AND scary for different reasons, and I absolutely see the attractions and aversions for both of them. I personally would like to LIVE IN THE OCEAN and VISIT OUTER SPACE:
- I, too, love the ocean (water, mermaids, variety of creatures, etc.) but it's still scary because the depths are still so mysterious to us.
- I think outer space is beautiful in its own way, but the scariest thing to me is the fact that if you become untethered you will simply float away, possibly for eternity, never able to return.
This is such a childhood favorite of mine, THAT I LITERALLY PUT IT ON LAST NIGHT FOR WHITE NOISE.😂😂😂
So many pieces of dialogue are so nostalgic for me, i watched this so many times.
Additionally, the liquid oxygen concept stayed with me as a kid. I was always obsessed with the idea. I found a book called Leviathans of Jupiter, by Ben Bova, and the crew have to train to breathe the fluorocarbons, in tanks of the stuff, all the way at the bottom, so they can acclimate to the pressure as well.
Edit: changes in pressure at depth can cause extreme heat, which vaporizes everything in milliseconds. Pressure changes kill you faster, but not more mercifully. It's quick, but gruesome.
Only problem they had and why to cut from rat to crew faces was that rat in a panic soiled itself .
With Ed Harris , hes not inhaling it , they just fill the helmet .
And this was so fun to film that Ed Harris hit James Cameron in face because he nearly drowned .
End scene is bit rushed and model ship propeller dangling got theatre to react , poorest made scene from Cameron .
I’ve heard nightmare stories from friend who is a deep sea welder
@@pete_lind
Oh yeah. I've looked into some stuff about this movie over the years. It's the reason the liquid oxygen thing was so fascinating for me. All the adults in my life kept telling me it was just an effect for the movie, and I kept telling them to READ ABOUT IT.😂 Lol
It's the reason I became interested in film making, and looked into all the movies I loved. It got worse with LoTR. Those came out when I hit puberty.😂
I don't know why James Cameron is so obsessed with working in complicated aquatic environments for his movies. They're always a safety nightmare 😂
@@slanty8
I. Admire. The crap. Out of people like that.
Lol
That is some serious work. Needed work, that only certain kinds of toe-the-line heroes/fools can really do.
All the hats off. All of them.😂
In case you don't know who crazy man is, that's Michael Biehn from 1st and 2nd "Terminator" movies. Also was in "ALIENS"
That part where Coffey was listening to Lindsey sarcastically referring to the water tentacle as a Russian one was reversed before it was inserted into the movie. This was to make him seem even more crazy and unhinged, and I think it does. Cameron is so old school.
I can’t tell you how many times I watched this as a kid!!!! Strangely not afraid of the ocean
The scene with the rat is real, and this was HELL to film.
GREAT Movie
"I have the reflexes of a dead squirrel" 😁😁😁🤣🤣🤣, I'm 💀
YES. You need to watch the director's cut. There's a whole extra hour and the plot makes more sense. But I LOVED this movie and so glad you enjoyed it. There are documentaries about it, it was amazing what they had to do to actually film this movie, let alone deal with all the stress of working underwater for so long. Another great one!
36:31 Sad thing is, Coffee isn't a Bad Guy, but a victim of Pressure induced Psycosis. He is losing control of his Facalties and higher reasoning, and falling back on his training.
A victim of bad luck.
The underwater scenes were filmed in an unfinished rod watering tank at a nuclear power plant in Charlotte NC.
In medicine we have a saying about drowning in cold water: you’re not dead until you’re warm and dead. The body shuts down in cold water. Many people have been revived after 15 to30 min.
Not me watching Schitt's Creek as you point out Roland. I never noticed that!
The guy in the beginning you wondered about is Chris Elliot, from Groundhog Day. Also, watch him in Cabin Boy 1994.
Nobody remembers Letterman. :^(
@@RideAcrossTheRiver Letterman only had a cameo, and not exactly known for acting. but a fun part indeed.
@@rogerwalker3969 Nooooo ... Chris Elliott was a regular on Letterman!
@49:32 "What does this mean?" & "Are they trying to figure out a way to communicate with him?" That is why you need to see the SPECIAL EDITION. 30 mins longer, lots missing here.
The Abyss is so scary, the actors refused a sequel.
They refused because Cameron was a nightmare and almost killed them all. He and Ed Harris got in a fist fight at one point, I believe, and Ed and Mary Elizabeth refuse to talk about it to this day.
As an HSE- and Fire Safety Professional, I vow, from now on, to only use the metric of "Sphincter Factor (SF)" to measure the severity of near-miss-incidents. Why this hasn´t been addapted as a unit of measurement, is beyond me.
This movie was an absolute nightmare to film. People nearly died, lots of screaming matches, and many of the actors on set refused to talk about or promote the movie due to the time they had. It’s worth watching some of the documentaries though because it is fascinating!
The directors cut adds so much more to this movie. It's a completely different movie almost. I could never watch the theatrical again after seeing the directors version.
Tidy Bowl in the toilet. We used to use that regularly in ours, turns the water blue.
This movie is nearly 40 years old which means Ed Harris was in his 30s when he made this film. I’ve never felt like the man he portrays in this movie ever. I’ve never felt like a man. 37:30
The rat breathing the liquid scene is 100% real! They actually filmed it breathing real oxygenated perfluorocarbon fluid. When Bud "breathes it" at the end it just Ed Harris holding his breath (not an easy task !they prepped lots in a shallow tank!)
It is also possible to cool the brain and slow down the rate it uses oxygen to reduce hypoxia, they use it on babies to reduce damage when they've been oxygen deprived.
Normally brain damage would occur at 1-10mins, with 15 minutes being virtually impossible to recover from, but in theory Lindsey could have survived longer
Checkout the case of Karlee Kosolofski's, the girl who froze and was revived nearly 6 hours later!
I love Michael Beihn (Coffee, the pressurized psycho here). Loved everything I’ve seen him in. Terminator, Aliens, Tombstone, etc.. I only wish he’d had more roles.
I loved this movie when I was a kid, and you're right, it still holds up now. It just really unlocked a lot of what-ifs in my young little brain, and I still find it fascinating.
The story told to the oil workers was that the mission was to search for survivors. But the military was well aware that was an extremely unlikely possibility. Instead the true mission was to A) determine if the submarine had been attacked and how it had been disabled.
B) to prevent Russian divers from visiting the wreck and stealing a nuclear weapon from the site.
The Soviets had their own nuclear missiles but militarily it's always helpful to see what the other guys packing. So being able to investigate the enemies"nuclear secrets" would have been a huge deal during the cold war.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio stared in Robin Hood Prince of Theives as Maid Marian (you've seen the parody, Men in Tights).
That Crazy guy is Michael Biehn Kyle, Reese from Terminator, and Corporal Hicks from Aliens.
Yeah, that breathable liquid is real, albeit only small animals can fully breathe it like this without taking damage. This rat was OK after really breathing that stuff, and Cameron later took her home as his pet. I think it's because larger animals have to breathe in so much of it, while the internal sacs of our lungs are no more robust than those of smaller animals. It's just so much weight and viscosity that some injury would occur before long, unless you're the size of a rat or smaller. So this stuff doesn't work for humans in real life, but it is a real thing, the concept exists outside of the movie, and the rat really breathed it in the movie.
One of the top 20 movies of all time in my book. To say it was ahead of it's time is an understatement. This movie would be huge if it had come out today.
Coffey already had the warhead. It was strapped to Big Geek to deliver it, but to the NTIs in the trench rather than the sunken sub.
2 .5 miles straight down. I still say this from time to time especially when a big situation is right in front of me.
I love this movie but with the extended ending. I love Ed Harris, Maria Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn.
See Lindsay is smart enough to know that, not only would she be flippy-floping up into a hurricane, but also she's die from the decompression.
Yes, you have to watch the extended edition...it goes more into the aliens and Buds encounter with them...there was an entire scene taken out that explains the aliens motivations for helping them in the end.
Interesting thing about deep water subs, most are made for very limited dives, sometimes only a single dive. They're designed to withstand the compression going down but the decompression when they come back up often damages them; like flexing a piece of metal back and forth, eventually it will break. So, reuse isn't a good idea.
I was on submarines 150 was average Cree. Lot they got right. Here's a bonus, subs used to have screen doors...it went over hatches in foreign ports to help keep rodents and insects out. Great reaction as usual thank you.
The idea that they could swim to the surface to get saved, even if they could make it that far, would not work. The reason the water pool in the rig does not flood the whole thing is because the air pressure in the rig matches the surrounding water. Which means the same "air" is saturated in your blood stream. Everyone who learns to scuba dive learns about this. You start swimming up and as the pressure gets lighter the gasses in your blood stream come out of solution and form bubbles. That is the bends. After you go up 3 miles from that pressure you will suffer a very painful death... probably before you get any where near the surface. (Hence the comment near the start of the film that they will have to spend 3 week decompressing)
Cracks me up when you’re like “this sub. I mean rig. Whatever”. It’s like you’re mad about being corrected-whatever 🙄. Except you corrected yourself! 😂
Corridor crew did a dive into the special effects and did talk with some of the crew of the movie. Not necessarily a react, but something when you do have some time to check out.
This was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. I am glad you liked it! After you finish Firefly you should watch The Expanse. It is excellent.
"How many things could go wrong...?" The movie was just getting started at this point. 😁
NHI, Non-Human Intelligence, is the common term nowadays used by ufologists. It also includes terrestrial beings from different dimensions, etc.
I suspect the "critters" have to live in water like fish, so you couldn't see them at the end.
"How is he brave enough to go down to the Titanic?"
That's small potatoes. He rode by himself to the bottom of Challenger Deep.
I saw this movie at the theater when it first came out. It involved inner space. I was let down a bit by the ending that really looked like constructed (fake) models. Today, the ending would probably be more believable with CGI effects. But I really loved the resuscitation of M E M's character. The "water creature" was also so cool to see.
32:42 "Steel pipe versus gun. What's gonna win?"
Where lies the element of _surprise?_