Titanica

Titanica (1995)

*** (out of 4)

Good, if rather routine, documentary about the sinking of the Titanic. The main attraction here is that there were seventeen dives down to the resting site of the ship, all with high tech lights as well as IMAX cameras. Having watched just about every Titanic documentary that I could get my hands on, I was a little confused by the mission of this film. I say that because the start of the movie talks about the various new bits of technology that's going to allow them to get some of the most amazing footage that has ever been seen of the ship. Great. However, once the film is over you keep asking yourself what exactly did they film for seventeen dives and why is it that so much footage appears to be missing here. The majority of the 67-minute running time (the home video version) is just like any other documentary in that we here about the building up the ship, about some of the passengers and then of course that deadly night when the ship hit the iceberg. We get several images of photos of the ship, newspaper reports and there's even some interview footage with historians and Eva Hart, a survivor. This is all fine but if the filmmakers were going to brag about this new technology it really does seem that they would have given us more images of the sunken ship and not just the same story. Now, with that said, I understand that some of the story was needed for those unfamiliar with the event but I don't think this should have been the main focus. When we do get images of the ship there's no question that they are quite breathtaking. The images are certainly haunting and crystal clear as well.

I do agree the film doesn't come across as well as it coulda been shown as an IMAX film. But that aside, I don't care who talks to who. Sometimes I don't mind a mix of the history of within something like this. This technically could be useful if you watch this and Ghosts of the Abyss back to back as they are using Mir 1 and 2 in GOTA. The best footage is the debris field. The Titanic has it's debris field and that is part of the Titanic. It is very short, but with the hour your given, it really isn't that bad. I'd say my rating has more to do with watching this before you watch Ghosts. Instead of going in to a dead ship. And I've got the book with the photos of some of the white star line. And I learned some stuff thru the short interviews I hadn't before. I'd have to watch again to remember totally :)

9/10

Quality: 6/10 Entertainment: 9/10 Replayable: 9/10

One of the main reasons people see IMAX films is because of the size of the screen. This is especially true of IMAX format documentaries. However, in the case of this particular film, the size of the screen is the ONLY draw.

Filmed in 1992, this movie followed a wave of Titanic popularity that peaked when the ship was found on the ocean floor by Robert Ballard in 1985. In this film, one of the many film crews that have been down to Titanic since then brings back images of the Titanic that are huge, and the Titanic is certainly deserving of such a format.

However, that is where the point of this film ends. All of the images that are in this film have been seen before, and there isn't anything surprising contained within. If one was to watch the National Geographic presentation that was shown on television a short time after the wreck was found, they could have seen everything that appears here, albeit a tad smaller. Martin Sheen did an excellent job at narrating that particular presentation, and Leonard Nimoy does an adequate job here as well.

Being a huge follower of the whole Titanic story, I was just bored to tears with this film. I wanted to see it because I am also a huge fan of the IMAX format, but I wish I hadn't wasted my time. The least they could have done was try and find something original to show us, rather than the same old same old. The fact that Titanic survivor Eva Hart is seen in this film isn't even a draw (bless her soul), as she has been seen in almost every documentary ever done on the Titanic, and her story seems to change a little bit each time she tells it.

Overall, the best thing about this film is that it is presented in IMAX format. Along with this, the music that goes with the film is extremely haunting, and matches the whole story behind the presentation. However, I can't even recommend this film to Titanic buffs, so I wouldn't recommend it to the average layperson.

My Rating: 3/10

If you're interested in the Titanic, you will definitely want to watch this DVD video about the sinking and the ship's fate. Eva Hart, the Titanic survivor, is interviewed here. She is the voice of reason who lost her beloved father in the disaster. Her mother had a terrible premonition about boarding the ship. The documentary is about the ship's disaster and its history. Eva Hart was a lovely British woman. I didn't even recognize Leonard Nimoy's voice at first. Still a perfect choice to narrate this beautiful documentary.

This IMAX film did not give me what I was expecting. I wanted to see the ship more than I wanted to see the three guys talking in the sub. That's what most of the movie was. Just one long conversation. Definitely the worst IMAX film I've ever seen. Unless you're the eavesdropping type, I'd recommend avoiding this titanic failure.