!! In the film:

* {{Anvilicious}}: If aliens looked at us and saw the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, they'd wipe us out in self-defense. But if they looked and saw ThePowerOfLove... they might let us live anyway.
-->'''Lindsey''': ''We all see what we want to see... [[SociopathicSoldier Coffey]] looks and he sees [[DirtyCommunists Russians]], he sees [[HumansAreBastards hate and fear]]. Bud, [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre you have to look with better eyes than that]].''
* AwardSnub:
** The studio pushed hard to get Creator/MichaelBiehn an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Supporting Actor. But they were unsuccessful.
** Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gives an extremely powerful performance that is undoubtedly the heart of the film, particularly Lindsay's speech to Bud during the dive, and was completely ignored on the awards circuit.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Arguably the best score ever written for a Creator/JamesCameron movie, Music/AlanSilvestri's stunning orchestra/synthesiser/choral music is widely considered among his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoDDHZ_JZBc best work]].
** Music/LindaRonstadt's gorgeous cover of "Willin'" also makes an appearance during a workaday scene.
* CultClassic: As the only James Cameron film to lose money at the Box Office, it still has a sizable fan base for its performances and technical innovations.
* DancingBear: While the extreme difficulty of the production was not explicitly used as a selling point in the advertising, it came up again and again in entertainment news coverage of the film.
* EsotericHappyEnding: The aliens implement a BenevolentAlienInvasion when they learn humans are capable of love. Unfortunately, there is no realistic way, even with a mile-high mega-tsunami demonstration of might would they ever get some countries or warlords to back down, who [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters depend on conflict and the killing of innocents]] as part of their business model. This would likely result in a war, and as the aliens don't differentiate one potentially-virtuous human being [[HumanityIsInsane from its entire race]], many may die pointless deaths.
* HarsherInHindsight: The story is about a separated married couple falling back in love, complete with the wedding ring being a minor plot point. James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd divorced after filming.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Michael Biehn would go on to play a SEAL team leader twice more in ''Film/NavySeals1990'' and ''Film/TheRock'', although both characters are far more heroic that Lt. Coffey.
** Speaking of ''The Rock'', Ed Harris also appears in the movie, but playing the villain opposing Michael Biehn's heroic character.
* HoYay: Bud's fight with Coffey devolves into wrestling in the pool, both of them ripping each other's shirts, making the thing feel rather homoerotic.
* ImprovedByTheReCut: The Special Edition is widely considered to be the superior version -- except for the climactic music being utterly borked.
* JerkassWoobie:
** Lt. Coffey wasn't exactly a nice guy to begin with, hell, he even mocks Lindsay when she tries to inform the troops about High Pressure Nervous Syndrome,[[note]]To be fair, she's lecturing deep sea Navy divers about a deep sea condition, which is like giving a detailed lecture to construction workers on what a hammer is[[/note]] but there are times when it becomes clear how severe his condition is and he becomes a very pitiable man because of that.
** Lindsey only counts for the 'jerkass' part in the sense that she's a MotorMouth disliked even by the people she's working with at first, but she was the only girl with several brothers, and has often had to fight for her voice to be heard. Just as she reconnects with her husband, she spends hours believing him dead, and she's left sobbing after Bud's final message.
* LesYay: One Night is driving one of the submersibles while the truck-driving song "Willing" plays on cassette. She starts singing along, and everyone else joins in over the intercom. She starts on the line "See my pretty Alice in every head light." Bonus points for playing a cover version sung by a woman, instead of the original which was sung by a man.
* {{Narm}}:
-->"THE CRANE! WE LOST THE CRANE! IT'S ON ITS WAY DOWN TO YOU!" [[note]]This example of narm is atypically reasonably justifiable. He was speaking over a UQC, an underwater telephone, that operates by taking sound and converting it via heterodyne to an extremely high frequency that can be transmitted - more or less - through water to depth. It works, but the sound fidelity stinks, and the deeper the receiver is, the worse it is. At Deepcore's depth, the UQC reception would've absolutely sucked. So the yelling, and its odd, very specific cadence to help enunciate enough to be intelligible, is actually quite reasonable.[[/note]]
** "Goddammit, you [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch!]] You never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight! [[WorstAid (slap)]] Fight! (slap) Fight! Right now! Do it! [[ChewingTheScenery Fight goddammit! Fight! Fight! Fiiiiight!!]]" While Ed Harris's performance is quite strong, the sheer clichéd use of HowDareYouDieOnMe can be quite comical. While it's easy to infer that the aliens had a hand in reviving Lindsey, it makes it unintentionally hilarious.
* NightmareFuel: The liquid breathing scene. The visible panic on Bud's face as the liquid enters his lungs is so real, you have to wonder if Ed Harris was even acting.
* OvershadowedByControversy: It's virtually impossible to bring this film up without a mention of the infamously troubled production, including Ed Harris punching James Cameron, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio walking off the set after they ran out of film, and Cameron himself nearly drowning.
* PortingDisaster:
** The US and UK DVD releases are non-anamorphic. This means that on many TV/player combinations by default it displays in the correct aspect ratio, but with a huge black border around the whole picture. This is annoying if your system does not have a zoom feature.
** As of 2021, the letterboxed DVD release remains the last, best version released on home video. And it's been out of print for 20 years. Film buffs are not happy.
** Downplayed with the HD television transfer, the only HD version available. It's a gorgeous and competent transfer, but only of the much-less-beloved theatrical cut.
* {{Squick}}: Coffey cutting rank chevrons into his arm with a K-Bar.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: [[VillainHasAPoint Coffey]] mutters, "It went straight for the warhead, and they think it's ''cute''." In other words, just because it's not Russian doesn't mean it's ''safe'', especially if said aliens have a BlueAndOrangeMorality.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The technology used on the rig, especially for communication, is very blocky and analogue, but the Special Edition's rather obvious metaphor for the Cold War, as well as Coffey only referring to "the Russians" make the movie something of a late 80s time capsule. Then there's also the mullets on most of the male characters.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Creator/DreamQuestImages, Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic (the pseudopod), Steve Johnson's XFX (the creature effects) and Fantasy II Film Effects (the climactic spire rising sequence), take a bow. And an Oscar.
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!! In the Pausewang novel:

* FinaglesLaw: Very much in effect, with basically everything going wrong that can go wrong. From a massive global recession that manages to impoverish Germany enough for the growth of third-world-style slums to nazis rising to power again in Germany to non-stop refugee waves to rabid racism basically everywhere in the Western world and everywhere else, everything is massively at war and starving and seemingly doing nothing else all the time and also the environment is nothing but dying without a single person’s concern ever…
* IronWoobie: Gesa becomes one during the course of the story. [[spoiler:She decides to finally take her own stance due to having seen too much of the Schlott regime’s cruelty.]]
* ScareEmStraight: A Pausewang trademark. The need for gloomy images outweighs it all.
* TakeThat:
** To the Catholic Church: It is explicitly written that no Catholic clergy participates in the described anti-DVB protests, criticizing the Church’s perceived apolitical ways (Pausewang was Catholic herself).
** To German Neo-Nazi parties of TheNineties: The German right-wing extremist party ''Die Republikaner'' is explicitly named, several villainous characters are depicted as its members, and the party plays a large enabler role in the rise of the new Nazi government.
** To Pausewang’s own generation: Many of those who actively oppose the DVB are rather young people, with the older ones usually being supporters despite most of them still having seen WWII. Given that Pausewang was over sixty herself at the time of publication, this is a jab towards her generation’s behavior regarding the Nazi past.
* TruthInTelevision: Rike, the youngest sister with Down syndrome, was born when her mother already thought that she was hitting menopause. It is proven that the probability of having a child with Down syndrome rises with the age of the mother at birth.
* TheWoobie: Many characters, but Gesa and Jirgalem both stand out.
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