GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2003 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
With "Ghosts of the Abyss," Hollywood behemoth (and former "King of the World") James Cameron reanimates his obsession with the infamous White Star liner that collided with an iceberg on the night of April 15, 1912 and sunk below the icy, unforgiving waters of the North Atlantic. Cameron, as you may remember, previously made an underwater sci-fi thriller called "The Abyss" but it's probably his unassuming little picture from 1997 called "Titanic" with which filmgoers are the more familiar. With state of the art cameras and high tech equipment specifically designed for the shoot, Cameron takes us on a 3D (and IMAX!) exploration of the ship as it lies pretty much untouched some 12,500 feet down on the ocean floor. Along as our guide is Bill Paxton (from Cameron's afore-mentioned "Titanic"; "Aliens"), whose unscripted enthusiasm for the project is clear (as is his overuse of the word "spooky"). It is pretty spooky though, as Paxton and Cameron first descend in a pair of hermetically sealed bathyspheres and then send two remote-controlled robots (affectionately named Jake and Elwood) into sections of the ship heretofore unseen to man since the ship went down. Cameron cleverly employs ghostly CGI overlays to show us what it is we're looking at since it's not always obvious (that said, parts of the ship are in remarkable condition--wooden beds, water jugs, and stained glass windows have somehow stood the ravages of time, pressure, and salt water). And at 59 minutes "Ghosts of the Abyss" is just long enough, although Cameron does tag on a "dramatic" rescue of one of the 'bots after it loses battery power--ever the storyteller he. The IMAX format provides an excellent opportunity to view the larger-than-life vessel in its barnacle encrusted glory, although the 3D effects are uninspired and largely unnecessary. Not as record setting a motion picture as, say, "Titanic," but more haunting and ethereal.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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