10 Director's Cuts That Seriously Improve Movies

The Abyss is one of James Cameron's most under-appreciated movies. It's more subtle in its handling of other-worldly beings. There are no time traveling robots causing havoc, alien serpents don't burst through any chest cavities, and there are no blue humanoids battling colonialism. Instead, the central conflict stems from a good old fashioned fear of communism.

Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) is recruited by the U.S. government to assist in a deep sea operation to recover an American submarine, downed after coming into contact with an unknown object. During the expedition the crew encounter a non-terrestrial intelligence (NTI). Pretty soon Lieutenant Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn), jumps to the conclusion that the NTI must have something to do with the Soviets, and arms a recovered warhead.

Underwater chaos ensues and the armed warhead ends up at the bottom of a deep sea trench. Bud has to go on a suicide mission to disarm it, but he is saved by the NTIs. It's revealed that Buds was saved due to his humanity.

Cameron's extended edition follows pretty much the same narrative, but with some key differences. The central conflict is dramatically enhanced by an impending war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It's also revealed that the NTIs are intending to cause a mass tsunami to prevent the human race from utterly destroying the planet through nuclear war.