Yesterday evening, I watched this movie (the extended version) for the first time. I was expecting some wonderful underwater photography, and a lot of chills and thrills. In hindsight, I must say that:
The cinematography is actually breathtaking! The sets are great! (claustrophobic, dirty, dark, complex). The SFX are good, even by today's standards. Harris' and Biehn's acting was very good, but all the other characters (including that terrible woman) were only by-standers.
However, the SCRIPT is, uhm, well, ridiculous. First of all, it's obviously a rip-off from several earlier movies, like (e.g.) "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". What's worse: It's completely absurd. Who in the world would believe this stuff: "A Navy SEAL gets psychotic and tries to nuke some aliens, who are residing in an underwater trench, by using a nuclear warhead from a submarine that was sunk by those very aliens, whom he - the navy seal - mistakes for the Russians"????
I actually found the first 50-60 minutes very exciting (most of all: the exploration of the submarine). Great stuff ! But when the SEALS started to pursue their own "secret mission" I quit. I watched the rest of the movie somewhere in between amazement ('cause of sets, cinematography and SFX), and amusement ('cause of the laughable story). It's hard to feel thrilled by something that you know would never be remotely possible. "Contact" by Robert Zemeckis was much more believable - and thus, much more involving.
What also sucked was the "climax" close to the ending: Monster waves, summoned by the aliens to intimidate and impress the earthlings (cf. The Day the Earth Stood Still), are stopped just before destroying everything. And all the people in the world (e.g. on the beach) cheer, applaud and probably live happily ever after. "There comes a time in each man's life when he can't even believe his own eyes" (Plan 9 from outer space). My such moment was when I watched the ending of this movie. Finally, the aliens' mother ship (cf. Close Encounters) looked as if Tron had tried to bake a pancake with handles (sic).
Despite these major flaws, I give "The Abyss" a 7, because of the many strengths it also has.
The cinematography is actually breathtaking! The sets are great! (claustrophobic, dirty, dark, complex). The SFX are good, even by today's standards. Harris' and Biehn's acting was very good, but all the other characters (including that terrible woman) were only by-standers.
However, the SCRIPT is, uhm, well, ridiculous. First of all, it's obviously a rip-off from several earlier movies, like (e.g.) "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". What's worse: It's completely absurd. Who in the world would believe this stuff: "A Navy SEAL gets psychotic and tries to nuke some aliens, who are residing in an underwater trench, by using a nuclear warhead from a submarine that was sunk by those very aliens, whom he - the navy seal - mistakes for the Russians"????
I actually found the first 50-60 minutes very exciting (most of all: the exploration of the submarine). Great stuff ! But when the SEALS started to pursue their own "secret mission" I quit. I watched the rest of the movie somewhere in between amazement ('cause of sets, cinematography and SFX), and amusement ('cause of the laughable story). It's hard to feel thrilled by something that you know would never be remotely possible. "Contact" by Robert Zemeckis was much more believable - and thus, much more involving.
What also sucked was the "climax" close to the ending: Monster waves, summoned by the aliens to intimidate and impress the earthlings (cf. The Day the Earth Stood Still), are stopped just before destroying everything. And all the people in the world (e.g. on the beach) cheer, applaud and probably live happily ever after. "There comes a time in each man's life when he can't even believe his own eyes" (Plan 9 from outer space). My such moment was when I watched the ending of this movie. Finally, the aliens' mother ship (cf. Close Encounters) looked as if Tron had tried to bake a pancake with handles (sic).
Despite these major flaws, I give "The Abyss" a 7, because of the many strengths it also has.