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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of The Abyss (Alan Silvestri)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the 2013 2-CD set if you enjoyed the magnificent final
twelve minutes of choral majesty in the original version of the film and
desire some additionally strong music from earlier in the story that was
ultimately rejected.
Avoid it... if the dynamism of those twelve minutes, along with a handful of vintage 1980's Alan Silvestri action cues, aren't worth extended sequences of mundane and sparse electronic atmospherics that sustain most of the score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Abyss: (Alan Silvestri) Long after James
Cameron impressed audiences with a preview of liquid digital effects
that would become famous in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the 1989
underwater alien thriller The Abyss has gone somewhat forgotten.
Also off the radar is Cameron's much-discussed director's cut of the
film that included a 20-minute ending that the studio felt was far too
long and editorial to be included in the original theatrical release.
The picture tried to merge themes of action, science fiction, political
thrill, and commentary of the human condition, all of which causing
widely ranging reasons for audience dissatisfaction in test screenings.
An underwater energy rig is asked to explore the wreck of a mysteriously
sunken American nuclear submarine, leading the crew to battles against
their own military partners and bizarre deep-sea mysticism that turns
out to be an alien race responsible for much of the messy backstory of
the plot. Add to the equation a high dose of interpersonal strife and
you have a reflection of the production's frustrating creation process,
from malfunctioning water tanks to the extensive editing of the final
cut. While The Abyss is one of Cameron's weaker efforts, it is no
less impressive in many of its parts, however, especially in the action
and suspense sequences. Despite Cameron's previous collaborations with
Brad Fiedel and James Horner (who was reportedly too busy at the time to
have taken on The Abyss as an assignment anyway), he collaborated
with up and coming composing star Alan Silvestri for the score. The
versatile Silvestri had caught the attention of action score collectors
with his exciting and ambitious music for Back to the Future and
Predator, two scores that would influence the music in the
aforementioned action sequences in The Abyss. For the project,
Silvestri was tasked with creating two completely separate sounds for
the same story, mirroring the story's two sides. In the first half of
The Abyss, the underwater platform crew is tested by the elements
and each other while slowly beginning to realize that some of the
problems they and the recently sunken submarine are experiencing are due
to the creatures that exist at the bottom of a nearby abyss. The second
portion of the film involves the creatures of the abyss themselves and
their triumphant surfacing as a method of saving Ed Harris' life and
announcing themselves to the world of humanity.
Cameron was impressed by Silvestri's ability to handle these two differing sides of the score with ease, and in The Abyss, the music is functional in the first half and magnificent in the second. The climactic scenes of the film, underscored by Silvestri's magical choral and orchestral blend, put the finale cues of the score into concert halls around the country, yielding a lengthy series of re-recordings. Everyone from The City of Prague Philharmonic and Crouch End Festival Chorus to Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops began producing equally impressive performances of the finale cue. The score opens with a preview of the romantic and redeeming themes that Silvestri would largely save until the climax of the film. A burst of straight militaristic snare bravado was to accompany the sinking of the U.S.S. Montana at the outset but was dialed out. Most of the following major cues would be defined by Silvestri's cost-saving electronics (one can only imagine the woes of the exploding budget for The Abyss in its final stages). Many of the cues are so lightly atmospheric that they barely register, often including a slight synthetic tingling to help further the wondrous aspect of the deep. Silvestri also attempts to utilize electronic pinging and underwater clanging effects, causing an eerie echo to many of these soft cues, though he doesn't quite capture them with the resounding and convincing authenticity of Basil Poledouris at roughly the same time. The orchestra does make a few notable appearances before the alien influence begins to shape the score. In "The Crane," a terrific storm sequence features material similar in action style to the final storm scene in Back to the Future. Likewise, the "Sub Battle" cue cranks up some of the rhythmic and brass heat directly from Predator just prior. In other cues, you hear continued references to both of those scores, though not in significant doses. Unfortunately, Cameron rearranged these cues heavily in the film, so it's difficult to match Silvestri's original intent with the final product. The only distractingly poor action cue during the first half is "The Fight," for which Silvestri employs a more invasive and primal electronic rhythm. In "Resurrection" we first hear hints of the "humanity" theme that would develop in full in "Bud on the Ledge." Cameron rejected Silvestri's original "The Only Way," a lovely Cocoon-like statement of the main theme, preferring a more subtle kettle drum-led cue that was renamed "Lindsey Drowns" on the original album release for the score. The final twelve minutes of the score for The Abyss are pure orchestral and mixed choral dynamism, featuring Silvestri's two major themes in a simple, broad harmonic spectrum, often with outstandingly satisfying counterpoint. The "Finale" cue features a symbolically rising flourish of these themes to rousing conclusion. The mixing of the male and female sides of the choir are of particular note, with the cues featuring the sensitive female tones and the deep male counterparts in elegant layers at the same time. The director's cut of the film added scenes both before and after the aliens' dramatic surfacing, and Silvestri's music is not employed to any great length during these additions. For the scene in which Bud (Harris) is shown the horrors of mankind, Cameron purchased the rights to Jack Nitzsche's "The Walk to the Gas Chamber" cue from The Seventh Sign, with moderate success. The tragedy of the extended version of the film is the terrible original music written by Robert Garrett specifically for that director's cut. Apparently, Silvestri was working on the film after it had already been slimmed down, and Garrett had already been involved in the project as a temp-track composer. Garrett's juvenile electronic music is a far departure in quality compared to Silvestri's obviously superior material, and this sudden change in musical tone is bound to cause a distinctly unnerving reaction for film score fans who witness the tidal wave sequence on the director's cut. As such, the consistency of Silvestri's music makes the original version of the movie, regardless of the numerous other factors that go into the debate about the merits of the additional plotline, a better overall experience. The original Varèse Sarabande album provided only 47 minutes of the score, but this presentation does offer most of the work's highlights, including the bulk of the majestic material. A 2013 expanded and limited 2-CD set cleans up the sound quality a few degrees, adds extensive extras, and fleshes out the early suspense and action music a bit better, the latter really benefitting from its original placement and edits. The most impressive and heartbreaking addition to this set is the aforementioned original death scene in "The Only Way," one of Silvestri's best career compositions for full orchestra. The final minute of this cue, highlighted by a more frantic rendition of the score's theme set over rambling piano and snare drum, is nothing less than outstanding. Both of these albums fail to feature the Nitzsche and Garrett material, which is probably for the better. Overall, aside from some of the action bursts, this score won't impress you until its final quarter, but those final tracks will be well worth the price. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1989 Varèse Album:
Total Time: 47:07
(track lengths not listed anywhere on packaging or CD) 2013 Varèse Album: Total Time: 113:54
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1989 album includes no extra information about the
score or film. That of the 2013 album includes details about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The Abyss are Copyright © 1989, 2013, Varèse Sarabande, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/29/97 and last updated 2/2/14. |
