Barnes & Noble

James Cameron's spectacular underwater adventure The Abyss, which cost a then-unheard-of $50 million and was dismissed by many as a shipwreck of a movie, has nonetheless been a hit with home viewers. The Special Edition incorporates 28 minutes of footage excised from the theatrical release and restores the Titanic director's original vision, filling plot holes left by the studio cuts. Ed Harris is an undersea oil-rig engineer hired by the Navy to investigate the mysterious immobilization of a nuclear submarine. His estranged wife and fellow specialist, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, comes along on the mission, as does paranoid naval lieutenant Michael Biehn, whose deteriorating mental health endangers them all. The discovery of alien life-forms underwater adds to the tension, which is further enhanced by Cameron's claustrophobic settings. The restored footage answers most criticisms of this picture, enabling The Abyss to finally take its rightful place among the modern classics of sci-fi movies. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

The crew of an experimental, high-tech submersible is called into action to investigate a mysterious nuclear submarine crash. A series of strange encounters leads the crew to suspect the accident was caused by an extraterrestrial craft, and that they may be participating in an encounter with an alien species. However, in order to make contact, they must not only brave the abyss, an exceedingly deep underwater canyon, but also deal with the violent actions of one of their own crew members, an increasingly paranoid Navy SEAL officer. Approved by director James Cameron, The Abyss: Special Edition is an extended director's cut of the 1989 underwater science fiction epic, reinstating nearly a half hour of footage removed from the original release under studio pressure. Much of the restored footage places the film's events in a grander political context, as the crew's mission becomes a factor in the dangerous escalation of nuclear tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The largest change involves the film's ending, which provides further information on the aliens' mission on Earth, bringing the film to closer to Cameron's intention: a modern remake of Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still. Judd Blaise

Product Details

• UPC: 024543071099
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Solaris / Abyss
• Us or Them 3-Pack
• Abyss/Alien
• Ultimate Sci-Fi Collection (20pc) / (Box)