The Abyss (1989)
2 factual errors
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Ed Harris, Leo Burmester, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn
Factual error: There are no fish in the entire movie except the scene in the sub with the crabs on the dead guy. Phytoplankton are attracted to artificial lights which means a whole food chain develops around submarine structures like the Deepcore rig - just look at any film of the shoals of fish feeding around the legs of an oil rig. You'd think there would be fish in the ocean at least every now and then, but we don't see a single one.
Suggested correction: Why? They're in a noisy, huge, lit up oil rig. That would drive most, if not all fish away from the immediate area.
Jason HoffmanPlankton are attracted to artificial submarine lights which establishes a thriving food chain around submarine structure like the Deepcore rig, and fish are not scared away by noise. Just look at the films of the shoals of fish feeding around the underwater structures associated with oil rigs.
Factual error: When disarming the nuke Bud is trying to figure out which one of the two wires to cut. With only two wires running between two separated modules (in the film, one part is unscrewed from the other) any current flowing through one wire must be returned through the other in order to conserved electric charge. Cutting either wire, in this case, will result in breaking the circuit. There is no way for either side of the circuit to detect which wire(s) were cut.
Continuity mistake: Early in the film Bud throws his wedding ring down the latrine and then retrieves it with his right hand so it is covered with the blue disinfectant. In a (much) later scene, Bud has a blue right hand, despite not having had one in the intervening period. (01:44:48)
Bud Brigman: The guy is on his own, he's cut off from his chain of command, he's showing signs of pressure-induced psychosis, and he has a nuclear weapon. So as a personal favour to me, could you put your tongue in neutral for a while?!
Trivia: The dead sailor harbouring a live crab, spooking Jammer out of his wits in the sunk submarine, is director James Cameron's younger brother Mike. The scene had to be shot several times to get it right, forcing Mike to hold the live crabs in his mouth, until the cry for "action", before releasing them. At one point he had to crush one with his teeth, as it gave him quite a bit of grief. Brotherly love immortalized.
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