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The Abyss - Special Edition (1989) * FULL LENGTH REACTION (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-26 20:08:13
Edited:
2025-08-01 12:18:26
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Content

Thanks to our May Marble winner, James H. for this request!

I have to say... this is not at ALL what I was expecting or even remotely close to what I thought the movie was going to be.

At no point did I think there would be a civilization down there 🤣

Such a joy to see Ed Harris again, and I really do like him. I need more of his movies, that's for sure.

I'm a little bummed that I read the IMDB trivia, but it's also a good thing since it reminds me that not every movie is a good place to work. It sours my impression of the movie a bit, to be honest.

Visually, this movie was amazing. The amount of underwater-ness is remarkable and always terrifying to see. Movies that take place underwater are always terrifying for me, since one wrong thing and everyone can die.

The love story wasn't anything new, but the way that it happened was. The stakes are very real and when you're in a life or death situation, making smart decisions is so important.

I still have no idea how to explain my surprise for this movie and it being nothing at all what I thought it would be 🤣 

For this style of reaction, you need your own copy to watch the movie.  Also know there is an extension that allows you to do Picture-in-Picture in case you are interested: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/picture-in-picture-extens/hkgfoiooedgoejojocmhlaklaeopbecg?hl=en

- Vero 🌊

Files

FULL LENGTH REACTION | The Abyss - Special Edition (1989) [2024]

Reminder that you need your own copy of the movie to watch along with me since this is solely my reaction. The video is there so you can have an idea when the scene changes in case you need to sync up, but it is HEAVILY blurred so I don't have any copyright issues. Enjoy!!

Comments

Razor Bikini

Oh hell yeah, I’m looking forward to this. I only just recently watched this for the first time myself, but I’m happy for a reason to revisit it. I hope you’ll watch other James Cameron movies in the future too.

James Hadden

Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed the ride, I wasn’t entirely sure you did, but that’s ok, none of us love everything we watch. If true (at time of release, movies shown in theatres should not exceed 135 minutes) then this special edition could be considered the original and the theatrical cut is the alternative as Cameron needed to chop the runtime. The main difference between the two is the alien interaction at the end. It is still in the theatrical release but shorter. The whole tidal waves part and humans’ propensity for war was cut. It just shows Bud’s message about the one way trip and his love for his wife. I do actually prefer the theatrical ending, as this one feels a bit on the nose for me, but I like the longer character interactions dotted throughout and Bud’s longer dive including Lindsey’s candle story in the SE (I’m a sucker for these things). I doubt anyone else would think these are sensible reasons, but there you go. I only quite recently learned about the traumatic experiences during filming, which sucks. I feel really bad for the actors, and the rat. It has taken some of the shine off a movie I’ve loved since the 90’s which is a shame. However, I am able to still enjoy the visuals, story and performances (even more so considering).

James Hadden

If you want more Ed Harris then, “I feel the need, the need for speed” - but the second one (sorry, couldn’t resist 😁). Oh, and The Truman Show, and The Rock. Besides what you already mentioned those are all I know him from.

Scott Howard

I've always liked this movie inspite of James Cameron, whom I've never liked. Didn't know about the Ed Harris incident, but am not surprised by it. When a movie has actual trauma associated with it, you want to just stay away from it. I don't watch the twilight zone movie now because of the Vic Morrow and the two Kids incident. I'm always amazed by how many Scifi movies focus on the very obvious fact that the human race needs to be rescued. It's interesting to see the different ways they think this is going to happen. The special effects were stunning, the water snake thing was amazing and, I believe, ground breaking at the time. As stated above a really good Ed Harris Role was the Truman Show and another that goes, I think, under the radar is China Moon. I couldn't see what the differences with the original was. It's been so long since I watched the original, I can't really be sure, but I think I noticed some scenes that went on longer than I remember but I didn't see anything really that added to the movie. There is a reason that they cut movies for a theatrical release. I enjoyed the reaction and it seemed to me that you were into it. :)

WastedPo

Apologies for the long, un-asked for post: Okay, so I haven't actually watched the reaction yet, so I don't know what Vero's response was to the ending. But let me describe my personal experience with this movie. I've long loved the normal, theatrical cut of this movie. So one day, I saw that the Special Edition was available on disc, and I thought this would be a good way to watch it with a friend, who had never seen any version of The Abyss. Now, I had *heard* of the special edition before. But all I heard was that it was basically the same movie, but that there were some extra special effects added a few years after its normal release, when James Cameron had gotten additional funding for it. It sounded pretty benign to me. Well, it turned out to be a change that I would place along the lines of the Special Editions of "Star Wars/Return of the Jedi." (And that's an analogy that probably won't resonate with most people, as now ONLY the special editions of Star Wars are available to the public.) Throughout the body of the movie, the changes were basically what I'd anticipated they'd be--some additional scenes and dialogue here and there that helped flesh out the characters. However, it was the extended *ending* that had me hiding my face during this watchalong. In the theatrical cut, Bud finds the civilization. We infer that they are compassionate and of superior intelligence. They show bud the text messages he'd sent his wife on his way down. They eventually bring their civilization up to the surface, bringing the whole crew with them (as seen in the extended cut). However, their intentions/origins are left ambiguous. We can INFER that they are in many ways superior to us. And also, we still get the "anti-war" message, since the entire threat of the movie still involves the crazy military guy sending an active nuke down to the depths that Bud still has to disarm. Said nuke also threatened to annihilate this unknown species/civilization. It was subtle and it worked. (Heck, we weren't even sure if the creatures were aliens in this version, or if they were native to earth.) But that's not the version that I saw with my friend. What I saw with my friend was that message driven home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The aliens in this version were super-preachy. Instead of being a benign species, they show Bud (and the audience) images of war. (Because get it? War is bad. And now the aliens have to directly tell the audience that it's bad, because apparently the whole plotline with the crazy military guy wasn't enough.) The aliens in THIS version aren't merely potential victims of the bomb, but they're here to THREATEN humanity if we don't change our ways. Now Bud has to advocate for us. And the worst part was the additional footage on the beach. That massive tidal wave and all the people pointing at it. That was *not* in the theatrical cut. My word, to me it doesn't even feel like it's part of the same film shoot. It looks like some Youtubers wanted to make an Abyss fan film, which they then spliced onto the end of the regular movie. It's just so cheesy and amateurish. (Even the score sounds like it's all temp keyboards, rather than Alan Silvestri's actual orchestral score.) So now my impression of the Special Edition is that it took a really great movie and turned it into something silly. During the aforementioned watchalong, my friend said that it was okay, because she "likes cheesy movies." (But it's not *supposed* to be cheesy, I could only think.) I also want to mention that I have given the Special Edition other chances since then, along the idea that maybe I was too harsh on it the first time. But that beach scene is still terrible to me (along with how heavy-handed the aliens now are). I realize that most people prefer the Special Edition, even passionately so. I have only ever seen people give glowing praise about it, and pleading reactors to only go with the Special Edition. They even get angry at reactors if they happen to watch the Theatrical Cut. So, yeah, I guess it's just one of those things. Thank you for attending my Ted Talk.

JAKH

You were surprised by the name Coffey. "Coffey", "Coffy", "Cauffey", Cauffy", Caffey", or "Caffy" is a common surname among people of Irish descent.

JAKH

James Cameron's early movies were a series of successes: "The Terminator" (1984) "Aliens" (1986) sequel to Ridley Scott's "Alien" (1979) "The Abyss" (1989) "Terminator 2" (1991) "True Lies" (1994) I would suggest keeping "Titanic" for October to watch with your other selection of horror films.

JAKH

Good Ed Harris movies in a variety of roles: "Absolute Power" (1997) "Pain & Gain" (2013) *True Story* "Milk Money" (1994) "A History of Violence" (2005) "Cleaner" (2007) "Enemy at the Gates" (2001) *Inspired by real events* "The Rock" (1996)

Verowak
>>141935240

I love hearing that! I always assume everyone has seen these movies a long time ago, so it's nice that you've seen it for the first time recently!! I do want to see more James Cameron movies, he really is a good filmmaker

Verowak
>>141953937

I think my biggest issue was expecting horror and it not being CLOSE to that. That's why I like going into movies with no expectations or idea of what will happen. It was not at all what I was expecting, so it's taken me a few days to process it. I think it was great, but the ending is just what you said... it's a bit on the nose, which is part of what I assumed would have been removed for the theatrical version. But you did mention that there are additional/longer character interactions in this version, which I'm glad I saw. So it would be nice to have a version with the theatrical cut ending, but everything before the alien interaction kept as per the special edition. The character interactions is what made this movie great for me, it really felt natural and I love how the crew felt like a family.

Verowak
>>141954262

I'll eventually see him pop up in movies here and there. The Rock is high on my list of movies to watch, so a huge bonus that he's in it!!

Verowak
>>141972686

It's sad hearing behind the scenes stories. It's easy to think that people are protected at work and that things go smoothly, but that's not always the case. Now that you mention it, the human race being saved is very common, but they all have different ways of going about it. I love seeing what people come up with!! I was into it, I've realized that sometimes it takes me a few days to reflect on the movie, so I'm trying to figure out how to go about it for recording my outro lol

Verowak
>>141996505

I rather enjoyed reading all of what you said! Not having seen the theatrical cut, and having had a few days to think on the movie... The ending with the alien interaction is what I assumed was a bit part of what was cut for the theatrical version, and I would prefer that ending. I am a big fan of subtlety, which the alien/Bud interaction was NOT 😅 Having the aliens be a mystery and being able to fill in the blanks ourselves is a huge plus, imo (theatrical cut). To me, it appeals to a wider audience and it's always fun to let our imaginations run wild. I've also been thinking on how to edit this for YT, and my original thought was to leave out a lot of the alien/Bud interaction, but I feel like that will make a lot of people upset, since like you say, most people prefer the Special Edition to which I assume the bulk of it is the alien/Bud interaction at the end. I could be wrong though. I completely agree with you with the beach scene, it did not feel like part of the same movie! I will say, I'm glad I saw the Special Edition and especially getting to see the comments you're all leaving telling me what you think of either/both versions. However, I'm not sure how I'll be editing it for YouTube 🤣

Verowak
>>141999425

I wasn't surprised by the name itself, but because a character in "The Green Mile" had a similar name, though I didn't get the quote perfectly correct 🤣 Had I not seen "The Green Mile", I wouldn't have reacted to it at all 😅

Verowak
>>141999677

I definitely won't be watching Titanic for horror month, if anything I'll try to get it out slightly before the Titanic sinking next year :D

WastedPo
>>141996505

Ah, I'm glad you found my experience worth reading. Yeah, it's tricky with reactors if they have quibbles with something that the majority of the audience loves. It probably would be wise to edit the reaction in such a way that any issues you have with the movie are at least diplomatically presented. I know that sometimes reactors just flat-out, unambiguously dislike the movie they're watching, and it results in negative fallout in the comments. One example is when "Nikki and Steven" just made fun of "The Mist" all the way through. Though it sounds like you were a lot more diplomatic and respectful in your reaction than they were, so you probably don't have to worry about triggering a similar backlash.

Tony Bain

You should watch the documentary of the making of the Abyss which came with the DVD for this. It'll likely be on YouTube. Very interesting and incredible what they went through in making this film.