MovieChat Forums > The Abyss (1989) Discussion > Why the wave ending had to be cut

Why the wave ending had to be cut

posted 6 years ago by grhqofb5 (346)
18 replies | jump to latest

So in the theatrical version, the oil rig guys are nice to the aliens, bud goes down a huge hole to save them, they find him and as a thank you they take him and the rest of the crew back up to the surface. Pretty simple.

In the director's cut, the oil rig guys are nice to the aliens, bud goes down a big hole to save them. They find him lying down and bring him aboard and save him. Then they tell him him that they like to watch TV, have formed a wretched opinion of mankind based on TV, and have decided to kill everyone with a series of waves. But at the last minute they change their minds because Bud showed them that man can love too? Sounds to me like a strech. It takes about 30 seconds for them to reverse course because of a couple of dopey text messages?

[–] TandyMan (11098) 4 years ago

I guarantee that edit was laughed out of test screenings. And rightly so. That's why they changed it.

[–] Esterhowse (468) 4 years ago

That is right and this is why I sight The Abyss Director's cut as an example of when a Director's Cut made a movie worse.

The irony is that, this is true of all Cameron director cuts. They all are worse than/add nothing to the theatrical cut. I guess that says a lot about how meticulous and effective he is with his editing.