Paul Magne Haakonsen
Now, it was not because of James Cameron's "Titanic" movie that I decided to sit down and watch "Ghosts of the Abyss", it was solely because I have a historical interest in Titanic and her demise, as well as the fact that I had family aboard the doomed ship.This documentary, which is about James Cameron and his crew returning to Titanic, was actually rather entertaining.And it was such a wonderful treat to get to see inside the sunken Titanic, as it lay there on the bottom of the North Atlantic. It was especially great to me, as I had family on the ship.The documentary has lots and lots of nice images of Titanic. And it was quite interesting to follow the crew down into the depths of the North Atlantic and join them as they investigated the once magnificent luxury liner."Ghosts of the Abyss" is definitely well worth the time and effort. And if you have any kind of interest in the Titanic or the events that lead to its sinking, then you should definitely take the time to watch "Ghosts of the Abyss".
Michael_Elliott
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) *** (out of 4) Director Cameron's "return" to Titanic was this documentary with groundbreaking technology that hoped to capture images of the sunken ship that had never been seen before, Cameron was joined by countless historians, scientists and even Bill Paxton as they went 12,000+ feet below the sea to the final resting place of Titanic. This is a very mixed film because it was originally intended for IMAX screens but even then it was shot 35mm and blown up for IMAX so several people complained that the images wasn't nearly as good because of that. Seeing it at home you obviously loose the scope of the production but the images are incredibly clean and most of the time they're amazing. The crew are armed with the smaller cameras that are pretty much robots that can swim their way through the ship and reach areas that would seem impossible. The main reason to watch this film are for these images of the ship, which is pretty much just a burial ground for over a thousand people. We get to see the rooms of the Captain, Molly Brown and even Ismay but then we get to see even lower levels of the ship. The ship certainly isn't in the best of conditions as more and more bacterial grow on it each passing day but it's amazing to see windows still in place and one sequence shows us a bottle of water that is still standing upright. These images are amazing to see as well as being quite haunting because even though your eyes are wide open pulling all of these sites in, you have to remember the lives that were lost. The film runs just under an hour and it's certainly worth watching for all of this footage but at the same time there are a lot of issues with the movie. For starters, there's really not much of a story and there are many times when you have to question what Cameron was wanting to show or how he was wanting us to take what he was offering. Just look at the sequence where one of the robots pretty much dies inside the ship and we have to sit through the rescue. This sequence just seems like something that should have been in the deleted scenes section of the DVD. With that said, being this close to the Titanic is reason enough to sit through this.
Luciana Guillen
Loved it! It was such a great investigation, very immersed in the topic, they took all the details and explained the whole thing, in my personal opinion, really enjoyed the explanation accompanied with graphics, very great! I'm a really TITANIC history freaky, so I can tell that for anyone who wants to see a really accurate investigation with all the details that any ''fan'' wants to know, here is the place, this is the documental. As the TITANIC movie was, this one from J.C is such a work of art... it's the ''forensic facts'' as the old Rose said once in TITANIC movie from 1997. Also you'll love how the investigators are pretty interested in how was the disaster step by step, and recreate the whole thing again and again, also easy to follow, and nice graphics. A really good work!
critic_at_large
If this were James Cameron's slideshow of his ocean vacation, we would all agree he did a great job. Unfortunately, this collection of nice pictures doesn't work well as a film. Moreover, the incredibly high technology that enables remote cameras to drop two miles to the sea floor without imploding is not matched by state-of-the-art 3D imagery. To fit in their sardine cans, the 3D cameras used for this film had to be very, very small, and they had to use extreme wide-angle lenses. The result is that, notwithstanding the IMAX format, the scale ends up feeling small. There are a number of shots of the giant, four-story tall engines that powered the Titanic, still intact at the bottom of the ocean. Amazing! These things should take your breath away. Somehow, they don't in this presentation. You just don't get a feel for their size. Also, the blue/red 3D technology borrowed from the 1950s is not in the same league as the new polarized 3D technology used in, for example, the most recent Space Shuttle IMAX film. Disappointing. Also, Bill Paxton was not the right choice (yes, I get the whole "life imitating art" thing, but he added exactly nothing to this film). Rod Serling's narrations for the Cousteau films were interesting because, well, he was Rod Serling, but also because he had interesting things to say. You didn't hear Rod saying "look at that" or "wow" or "I can't believe we're really here." Finally, a crew member describes seeing an object on the ship that really brings home the humanity of the tragedy. Do we get to see the object (I am not identifying it here so as not to spoil this part of the film)? No. A waste. Now the good: the computer graphics are terrific, the reenactions are good, and the lighting, expert commentary, and photography are engaging enough to remind us of how many souls were lost in the Titanic disaster, the heroism and cowardice along the way, and how terribly sad and unnecessary the loss of life really was. Worth seeing, despite its flaws.
AD
