Ghosts of the Abyss | | Cast : | Bill Paxton, Dr. Lori Johnston, Lewis Abernathy | | Director : | James Cameron | | Studio : | Buena Vista Home Vid | | Format : | Color | | Released Date : | January 01, 2003 | | DVD Released Date : | April 27, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 13, 2005 | | Summary | Well Worth it! | Content
 | I found this dvd excellent! Bill Paxton presence and natural reactions were thought provoking vs. being a purely scientific presentation. There certainly was plenty for Cameron to do as well as some very real risks in this production. I feel this was a greater personal achievement than making "Titanic" the movie. Having no less than 3 hurricanes above water as well as diving 12,500 feet where 1523 lives perished certainly gives one pause! Having personally been to sea in grave weather on an oil tanker gave me a better perspective than sitting as an armchair reviewer. This is a remarkable dvd! I also recommend Titanic The Complete Story my first Titanic set given as a gift for Christmas, as well as Nat'l Geographics Midway and PT109 explorations all of which are available through Amazon... |
| Rating | | | Date | February 10, 2005 | | Summary | The footage of the Titanic alone | Content
| makes this an absolute must. As has been noted, the way Cameron presents each area is extremely well-done, and never ever boring. Some seems hokey at first, but then you realize it was done to humanize the ship even more than it already has been, and in a toally positive way. You find yourself wishing for even more. But I have to agree with what others said -- there's way too much Bill Paxton. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all that, but I bought this to see the ship, not him. The extras disc is pretty decent, too, especially if you're into the technical aspect of the expedition. Easily the best Big T footage available. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 18, 2005 | | Summary | Great footage... | Content
| ...of the wreck of the Titanic the way you've perhaps seen it many times before, but you had no idea what you were looking at... until now! If you're "a fan" (if that's what you call it), or interested in the myths of the wreck asleep 3800 metres below the surface - then watch this. Ghosts of the Abyss, as mentioned, explores deeper into the wreck than anyone has ever done before - and is amazing to watch. And you get to "see" what you're looking at because of the great computer-animation added, the pictures and footage of the Titanic "now and then" are mixed, a superb effect.
Some uninteresting material is also to find on the dvd, when for example one of the tiny "camera-submarines" (whatever they're called) gets stuck inside the wreck. If it's supposed to be funny the way they make a big scene out of its' rescue, well, I don't know. But it's a waste of time, and a little disrespectful considering the tragedy behind the old wreck.
Also Bill Paxtons' narration is sometimes a little too dramatic, "The Titanic never quite leaves you blablabla...". I don't want to act unsensitive here, but these should've been Kate Winslets' lines in an earlier movie.
Other than that, an interesting and impressive documentary! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 16, 2004 | | Summary | First good Cameron film since T2. | Content
| Ghosts of the Abyss (James Cameron, 2003)
[Note: this review refers to the ninety-minute DVD edition rather than the theatrical release.]
It is appropriate that James Cameron, who effectively ended his career as a serious film director with Titanic, should return to the same source material in order to attempt to redeem himself. He succeeds, though one wonders whether he will ever again be able to turn his camera to fiction (in a telling line, Cameron tells Bill Paxton, "there's no script. We don't know what we're going to find." Maybe that's why this worked when Titanic failed so... titanically). His follow-up to this (and the second big-screen project since the moneymaking machine slash critical joke that was Titanic) is another documentary. Praise be.
Cameron obviously watched a lot of Jacques Cousteau National Geographic specials back when we were all kids. This is, at its base, roughly the same beast as those old specials, except that Cameron has a bunch of new technology to play with, including remote cameras specifically designed for the excursion, and he also has CGI. In that way, he can explore pieces of the Titanic that no one's seen for almost ninety years, and give viewers perspective of the historical accuracy of the settings on his monumental bomb by overlaying short pieces of the movie into the wreckage with CGI. These scenes work so very well that it's almost as if Cameron made the big, bloated mess in order to get footage for these ninety minutes.
The photography is gorgeous, absolutely top-notch. And there's a certain feeling to seeing something that no one has seen for ninety years that you have to feel to believe. This is the rough equivalent of video cameras having been present at Carter's first entry into Tutankhamun's tomb. Definitely worth watching. *** ½ |
| Rating | | | Date | July 30, 2004 | | Summary | Ghosts of the Abysmal | Content
| An unbelieveably pretentious pseudo documentary. While the deep underwater photography is stunning and the technology that makes it possible revolutionary, the mysterious poetry of the fallen vessel is constantly interrupted by prosaic banality and inane chatter especially from actor Bill Paxton who keeps repeating "Oh, wow" and "I can't believe it's the Titanic!" Well, duh, Bill, yes it is. That's what the documentary is about.
Everyone acts like studying the rusting remains of a sunken ship is similar to finding a cure for cancer or the solution to world hunger. Would that they had spent half the budget of this self-promoting puff piece on a donation to AIDS research. The theatrical release version seems long enough but the extended version proves to be endless. It's the precious version with all of the boring parts left in. Hovering in the background, pulling the strings, is the grand godfather of Titanic obsession James Cameron who seems embarassed at times by all the forced excitment. Ironically, just as the illusions about the Titanic being unsinkable came back to haunt its creators and bury them in watery graves, this documentary too may prove to be one of the saddest moments in the history of human egomania.
One star for photography. And one star for robotic machines that make techy noises. |
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