Les fantômes du Titanic

Yes, it could be said that this is Cameron at his pretentious best, using one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century as one of the greatest cash-cows of the 21st. I'll even admit to a certain disappointment when I discovered what this project was about, many months ago. C'mon, Jim, I thought. Find something new.

Until I saw it.

Within the first five minutes of this hour long tour of the great ship, you realize that this is not about an egotistical filmmaker, but instead it's completely about the legacy and grave of Titanic. Cameron's minutes of screen time can practically be counted on one hand. What's awesome is sitting in that IMAX theater and watching the the bow of the ship, silhouetted by a massive lighting chandelier, tower over the audience.

The movie is as much about the ship as it is the experiences of those on the dive. "Titanic is a stage where God said, 'You have two and a half hours to act out the rest of your life.' Will you be a hero or a coward?" From the humorously tense Bill Paxton on his first descent, to the debates on board the Keldish, it's the emotion of the dive that comes to the foreground more than anything.

This is the closest any of us will probably ever get to the real Titanic, and it does feel as if you could just reach out and touch it at parts. It feels longer than an hour, but I was hoping it would be longer still - I didn't want it to end.

"You may leave Titanic, but Titanic never leaves you."

Now we have some idea of what that means.

Watching Ghosts of the Abyss on the big screen simply took my breath away. The photography was simply majestic, and will leave you in awe. If you are a hard core Titanic buff, you will recognize a little of the footage from another documentary that Cameron did at the same time as Ghosts. The 3-d effect is pretty interesting, but probably a bit overrated. This would have still been a fantastic documentary on the big screen even without the 3-d effect. It does make it very interesting though. They go into parts of the ship never seen before so it was very good. I left wishing it would have lasted about 2 hours longer. Even 90 years later the ship still has the power to take your breath away. I would rate this a 10 for people that truly love the Titanic, but maybe only a 7 for those do not. I left this movie feeling that James Cameron really has a love for the ship and really believes in what he is doing, and not that he just did it to make a buck like some have suggested. A must see for any fan of the Great ship.

A fascinating blend of present-day remains, and the grandeur of the ill-fated ship on its maiden voyage over 90 years ago. The ghosts refer to the super-imposed figures of that bygone era, who give us a glimpse of what it would have been like to travel on the Titanic back then. With all the effects of 3-D working to their advantage, and the eternal intrigue surrounding the sinking, you are nevertheless left awestruck at the ability of the producers to put this film together from over 12,000 feet below the ocean surface. I found that feeling never left me for the duration of the film, even when I made an involuntary movement to catch a rope thrown at us to more fully exploit to wonders of 3-D. This is undoubtedly an above-average film of this type, and worthy of at least 8/10 from me.

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".

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.