This is what widescreen, surround-sound home theater was designed for: big effects, big sound, big story.
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Before "Titanic", there was "The Abyss." James Cameron's epic 1989 underwater sci-fi adventure comes to the home screen in a special-deluxe, two-disc set that is almost as stunning as the film itself. This is what widescreen, surround-sound home theater was designed for: big effects, big sound, big story. The second disc adds a few dollars to the set's asking price, but if you don't mind spending the money, it's big entertainment.
The abyss of the title is a two-and-a-half-mile-deep ocean trench at the bottom of which lies a gigantic spacecraft inhabited by benign alien beings who are able to control water. Cameron, who wrote the screenplay and directed, is no stranger to science fiction, having made "Terminator 1 & 2" and "Aliens"; nor is he unfamiliar with films like "2001," "2010," and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." He uses the uncharted ocean depths the way other writers, including himself, use outer space.
It's unclear how long the aliens have been living contentedly under the sea, but the story begins with their discovery by a team of divers on a mission to find the survivors of a recently sunk U.S. nuclear submarine. One of the mission leaders is a tough, determined, experienced diver named Bud Brigman, played by Ed Harris. He and his crew work with oil rigs but are commissioned by the military as the most expedient way of accomplishing the rescue. Flown in to accompany Bud is his estranged wife, Lindsey Brigman, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, a no-nonsense lady who designs underwater vehicles and who at the moment is on unfriendly terms with her husband. Working with Bud and his crew is a team of Navy Seals led by an uptight, straight arrow Lt. Coffey, played by Michael Beihn. It isn't long before the humans are in conflict not only with the aliens but with one another.
I said this was a big movie, and so it is. Its theatrical-release length was about 141 minutes, which was already pushing the limit. This DVD contains not only the movie's theatrical-release version but the director's Special Edition as well, which runs almost a half an hour longer. To be honest, it's too long. It's too long to sustain our interest in what is basically one catastrophe after another for nearly three hours. The movie's preliminaries go on forever and aren't particularly exciting. Then, the calamities begin. The crew is subjected to hurricanes, a bout of underwater bumper cars, a wacko Navy guy trying to detonate an atomic bomb, and the possible start of World War III. It tends to be a bit much, with the extracurricular events upstaging the aliens. I recommend if you buy this DVD set and haven't seen the film before to watch first the shorter, theatrical-release edition. Later, you can enjoy the longer version with the added scenes.
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