Titan: The OceanGate Disaster

I enjoyed watching this documentary but the longer I watched, the more I got annoyed with Stockton Rush. There is zero doubt that his is the sole cause of those people loosing their lives. He let his Ego outweigh his common sense(if he even had any). He was an example of someone who is rich that would leverage his wealth and connections to get what he wanted or he would ruin someone's life if he didn't. He should have been the only one on that Sub when it imploded. There were problems all along the way and he kept ignoring them and wanting to push forward. If someone didn't agree with him he would blame them for something and then fire them.

By the time we reach the end of TITAN, to see what the audience is waiting for... the death of the five passengers including infamous Stockton Rush... the documentary is over, which is very strange...

It's not that it seemed too short, because it's a good-enough runtime and definitely holds your attention... but there must have been lawsuits pending concerning the families of the people who died. With the exception of the daughter of Mr. Titanic (the one ringer on board who knows about the fateful ship, and who was used to legitimize things)...

Instead, TITAN deals with the many, many, many mistakes/misjudgements leading up to the tragedy: so that way they attempt to explain the ending with all the problems of the past... which is somewhat interesting but ultimately a cop-out...

Also, there has never been a scarier, more formidable noise than what the submarine was making as it went further underwater... It was like Satan using a pick-axe on someone's nerve-endings...

The fact that Oceangate founder/CEO Stockton Rush was able to con all these people into taking such risks is like some kind of unexplainable cult...

But even THAT aspect could have been delved into further: not necessarily the good/positive aspects of Rush, but the confidence he must have had that allowed the people to be conned in the first place (from workers to investors), and for so long: It must have been more than money that brainwashed these people... many of them scientists...

Instead he's a kind of nerdy impatient scientist instead of the mad scientist they're building-up... whenever he's interviewed it's a bit of a let-down...

Meanwhile, since the frame-story involves his former employees in court while delving into all the near-implosions and endless testing of the submersible, what could have been totally suspense-filled, isn't...

Except the scenes with actual footage of being underwater with Rush and his cohorts... from another famous wreck to The Bahamas... which has aspects of watching an underwater thriller, like The Abyss...

Speaking of, there should have been (more) footage of James Cameron (or perhaps interviews with him) because he was warning people before and after the tragedy, and is far more interesting than anyone interviewed here: he'd have made a perfect Van Helsing to Rush's bloodsucking murderer...

And it's very annoying and anti-climactic ending on the second-to-last run with the obnoxious "influencer" who resembles a superhero's boxer shorts... too much 11th hour time's spent on him and his fake crying-for-the-camera...

So when things sum up, they literally... sum up, and quickly... Probably because everything in this case is still in red-tape limbo...

So perhaps Netflix should have waited a few years to make this documentary... which means, they too, like Stockton Rush, basically jumped the gun on a creation that just wasn't ready.

The arrogance of Rush to believe his own hype, and refuses to listen to anyone regarding safety is incomprehensible. He literally took what amounted to tin can into the water and killed 4 people because of his arrogance. Refusing to get it certified so there could be oversight was the height of arrogance. Refusing to register it under any country especially the USA because he knew they would have oversight was sheer arrogance. I'm sorry for the people who died because they had no chance because he believed his own hype. Do you think there was a reason his own wife would not go on any dives with him??? Too bad it didn't implode when he was on it alone.

Netflix loves to take their time but thankfully this is a self contained documentary. They got key people involved in Oceangate to talk and do a good job covering the tragedy for the most part. When compared to Discovery's 'Implosion' TV-like documentary it is more cinematic, less melodramatic and presents actual data in an entertaining manner. Unfortunately it just suddenly stops. It shows a Youtuber testimonial then cuts to the conclusion bypassing all the drama of the crew on-board, the botched rescue operation and subsequent media circus. Somehow the inferior Discovery doc has a better closure and a exclusive key piece of footage missing here.

This was a decent documentary that focused mostly on the events leading up to the disaster and on the people within the company. The main event is hardly talked about which was disappointing. The events leading up to it are somewhat interesting and I really liked David Lochridge, the guy tried everything he could but unfortunately, everything and everyone was against him. This documentary is more for behind the scenes of the company but there's another documentary from Discovery that covers the implosion itself better and has interviews with the investigators themselves which I did like better though it is a bit more dramatic than the Netflix one. Overall, it's fine but I think the ending might disappoint a bit.