Product Details

• Actors: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff
• Directors: James Cameron
• Writers: James Cameron
• Producers: Gale Anne Hurd, Van Ling
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: May 21, 2002
• Run Time: 138 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (380 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000062XM6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #350,400 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Meticulously crafted but also ponderous and predictable, James Cameron's 1989 deep-sea close-encounter epic reaffirms one of the oldest first principles of cinema: everything moves a lot more slowly underwater. Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, as formerly married petroleum engineers who still have some "issues" to work out, are drafted to assist a gung-ho Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn) with a top-secret recovery operation: a nuclear sub has been ambushed and sunk, under mysterious circumstances, in some of the deepest waters on earth, and the petro-techies have the only submersible craft capable of diving down that far. Every image and every performance is painstakingly sharp and detailed (and the computerized water creatures are lovely) but the movie's lumbering pace is ultimately lethal. It's the audience that ends up feeling waterlogged. For a guy who likes guns as much as Cameron (his next film after all, was the body-count masterpiece Terminator 2: Judgment Day), it's interesting that the moral balance here is weighted heavily in favor of the can-do engineers; the military types are end-justifies-the-means amoralists, just like the weasely government bureaucrats in Aliens. --David Chute

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Abyss - A true Science Fiction classic!, January 27, 2004

By 

K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (Cape Girardeau, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Abyss (Special Edition) (DVD)

"The Abyss" is one of the most intriguing Sci-Fi/action movies to have ever been made. From the very beginning of this exceptional movie to the end, for the first time viewer or for those that have watched it many times, it is a highly inventive and an ultimately captivating movie. Although there have been many movies made about events under the surface of the ocean, few can match up to the intensity that "The Abyss" is laden with.

One of the more intriguing aspects about the edition of "The Abyss" that I'm reviewing today or any other version that contains both the original theatrical release and the Special Edition with twenty eight minutes of additional footage is how the whole tone of the conclusion of the film changes between the two. This is not something that I wish to go in to in great detail; suffice it to say that the Special Edition gives a whole new meaning to this classic movie.

From Ed Harris to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to Michael Biehn and all of the other marvelous actors that performed in this film, they all deserve high praise for their collective efforts in creating this Science Fiction classic. It isn't too often that Ed Harris or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gets the lead roles in films but in the case of "The Abyss," they both proved that they were quite ready for such roles.

In 1984 first time director, James Cameron gave millions of movies fans just the first taste of his directing talents when he burst on the scene with "The Terminator" which started a run of extraordinarily successful movies culminating in "Titanic" which is one of the highest grossing films of all times. "The Abyss" was the third in this run of incredible movies and arguably the most intriguing of them all as the script, while being science fiction and adventure is "that much more" inventive than the rest of those films. In addition to James Cameron's exceptional talents on this film, the musical score by Alan Silvestri makes "The Abyss" that much better, greatly enhancing every scene!

The Premise:

Welcome to what appears to be the mid eighties or early nineties and we have an American nuclear submarine that is patrolling an abysmal trench in the Atlantic. Their tracking something that is going faster than anything they've ever seen before and suddenly they lose all power as the "thing" goes by; a minute or so later, all power is restored but it's too late, they slam right into the abysmal wall and the ship goes down, fortunately for them, they get a beacon off before the bridge is consumed by water... Some twenty odd miles away is a deep sea oil rig operation with a control ship on the surface and an underwater station at about fifteen hundred feet below the surface. The US Navy comes in and wishes to send a SEAL team down and use the station and the crew to find the sub...

What follows from there is one of the most intriguing, captivating and enthralling Science Fiction films ever made that only gets better every time you see it and if you've never watched it before, you will most certainly be blown away by what director James Cameron created in this film!

I highly recommend this film to any and all who are fans of Science Fiction or fans of very good dramatic films with a "splash" of Sci-Fi in them. {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

-Theatrical Version
-Special Edition with 28 minutes of additional footage.
-Audio Commentary for both versions.
-Collector's edition 12 page booklet.
-Bio's for all of the actors, director and several others.
-DVD-ROM content.
-60-minute documentary - "Under Pressure: Making the Abyss."
-James Cameron's complete screenplay.
-Multi-angles of pseudopod sequence.
-3 DVD-ROM games.
-Extensive storyboards and original concept art and more!

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars NON-anamorphic picture, June 5, 2007

By 

aaroneddie "aaroneddie" (Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Abyss (Special Lenticular Cover Edition) (DVD)

So disappointing! I thought this would FINALLY be the anamorphic dvd we've been waiting for, but... NO! Strange that so many "different" versions of this film have been released on dvd without the anamorphic addition. A HUGE amount of dvd buyers now own hd tv's and home theater projectors... the anamorphic aspect of a dvd is of significant importance to us!! I love this movie... what a total shame.

70 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable!, June 6, 2007

By 

Christopher Reid "creid" (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Abyss (Special Lenticular Cover Edition) (DVD)

Dazed and confused!!!!! I feel like I am in the Abyss!!!!! What happened to the Anamorphic? The box cover even states anamorphic? What is Fox up to? I was so excited that all of the advertising for this edition stated anamorphic, but I was left so violated when I discovered that I had yet spent more money for the same version that I had on the 5 star edition. Fox please have someone check this stuff before you fool the public!