> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Will a 4K Release at Last Redeem a Forgotten Gem? - URL: https://goodoil.news/will-a-4k-release-at-last-redeem-a-forgotten-gem/ - Published: 2023-02-02T01:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2023-02-01T01:46:25.000Z - Author: Cam Slater - Tags: Movies, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-16 22:34 His name is James, **James Cameron**, the bravest pioneer… but surely, in the 13 years he’s been buggerising around in submersibles and making yet another yawn-inducing spectacle about the creepiest blue cat-people this side of MidFur, James Cameron could have found the time to bring one of his best, yet most under-rated films out on 4K? Sadly, for the moment, we’ll have to make do with watching The Abyss on primitive old DVD. *The Abyss* is strangely neglected in Cameron’s film canon — strangely because it’s easily one of his best. It’s probably beaten out of the top spot by *Aliens* and *The Terminator*, but it still belongs in his Top 5\. The only thing that mars the film is the very one thing that has come to typify his latter film output: ruining a solid SF adventure story by overdosing on mawkish, hamfisted “messaging” (mercifully, most of the “message” was cut from the theatrical release). In terms of the overall story, though, and by a country mile when it comes to action, great performances and dazzling technical skill, *The Abyss* is an only slightly-flawed masterpiece. In the first of Cameron’s cinematic forays into watery worlds, *The Abyss* tells the story of a team of roughneck oil workers whose experimental underwater drilling rig is co-opted by Navy SEALs investigating the sinking of a nuclear-armed submarine in a deep-ocean trough — and making contact with a race of deep-sea dwelling aliens who’ve been lurking at the bottom of the ocean unnoticed for decades. Perhaps part of *The Abyss*’s lapse into obscurity is the fact that very few of the actors involved ever wanted to talk about the film again, after its notoriously punishing production schedule. > Cameron’s desire to shoot the film’s underwater sequences as practically as possible meant that 40% of the filming on *The Abyss* was done in massive water tanks. Cameron, the film’s crew, and the actors all had to spend hours at a time underwater, which resulted in a decompression chamber being built on-site and special safety divers being assigned for each actor. > > The process wore down everyone who worked on the film, but their hard work paid off. *The Abyss* is one of the most beautiful-looking films that Cameron has ever made, and that’s thanks in large part to the practical means in which it was shot and **Mikael Salomon**’s work as its cinematographer. It’s the kind of film that fills you with awe while watching because you just have no idea how they managed to make it. > > [Inverse](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/sci-fi-movies-amazon-prime-april-2021-the-abyss?ref=goodoil.news) To get an idea of just how tough filming *The Abyss* was, watch **The Critical Drinker**’s “Production Hell” episode on it. But was it all worth it? As a cinema-goer: *absolutely*. *The Abyss* is a film I’ve watched countless times since its release. While Cameron can sometimes be accused of lazy casting, in *The Abyss*, everyone, from leads **Ed Harris**, **Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio**, and **Michael Biehn**, to the array of memorable, likeable supporting actors, turns in a stellar performance. As with most of Cameron’s first decade of films, though, visual spectacle and virtuoso technical skill dazzle the eyes, even as they’re grounded by the human drama. > Much has been written about the ground-breaking special effects. In fact, if you Google the film, one of the first things you’ll find is the “water tentacle” scene where an underwater alien uses fluid to mimic a human face. The morphing effect predates a similar liquid metal visual in Cameron’s 1992 film *Terminator 2: Judgement Day*. > > But all the technical talk tragically overshadows why *The Abyss* is great. Of all Cameron’s films, this is the one most like *Aliens*, in that it captures just how emotionally affecting a sci-fi story can be when it’s about a group of people trapped in a hostile environment. > > But what makes *The Abyss* truly great is how it elevates a classic sci-fi premise: What if an advanced intelligence encountered the arms races happening around the world, and judged humanity for them? > > “It was my version of *The Day The Earth Stood Still*,” Cameron said in *Empire*. “A function of my Cold War angst, and a comment on how an alien super-intelligence might judge rather harshly the way we mistreat each other and our beautiful world.” This is not a bad premise: except that the aliens come across as over-cutesy underwater ET the Extraterrestrials, and the messaging is as hamfisted as the romance in *Titanic*. But as the heroes grapple with their paranoias, hopes, enmities and clashing personalities — and the ever-present danger of being crushed to a pulp in the blackness of a deep-ocean trench — and as Cameron blows the viewer away with a commitment to rigorously grounded technical virtuosity (even going so far as to for-real immersing a live rat in a breathable liquid), all of that is easily forgiven. > Nothing about *The Abyss* contains the same indulgence or over-the-top quality of Cameron’s other blockbusters. It’s tempting to say *Aliens* is still his best, but it benefits from piggybacking off **Ridley Scott**’s 1979 original. *The Abyss*, meanwhile, is more original than either *Terminator*, and quieter and less ostentatious than either *Avatar*. > > *The Abyss* is a humbler kind of Cameron movie, and it’s aged well. > > [Inverse](https://www.inverse.com/culture/the-abyss-james-cameron?ref=goodoil.news) Fans of the film are abuzz with the news that Cameron has teased a 2023 4K remaster of *The Abyss*. Until then, we’ll just have to make do with the DVD release from two decades ago (it’s not even available to stream, locally). Bugger yawneroos like *Avatar: The Way of Water*, this is the James Cameron masterpiece I’m looking forward to in 2023. 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