Ghosts of the Abyss

Director James Cameron returns to one of his signature subjects--the Titanic--with this hour-long documentary following an expedition in miniature submarines down to the wreckage of the doomed luxury liner to explore its remnants with specially designed robotic cameras. The venture, undertaken in the fall of 2001, employed the Reality Camera System, which incorporates digital technology capable of shooting hours of 3-D footage underwater and housing able to withstand 6,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, as well as two Remotely Operated Vehicles, originally called BOT 1 and 2 but affectionately renamed Jake and Elwood (who are almost as winning as R2D2 and C3PO), that could be maneuvered to prowl around the debris in the murky depths outside the subs that carried Cameron and his crew, including narrator Bill Paxton. Visually, the film is magnificent, and the maps and digital recreations used to clarify the topography of the ship are excellent. If Cameron goes a bit astray in staging scenes from the ship's last hours--inserting them like ghostly apparitions into the narrative--that's a minor flaw; for the most part this is a fascinating tour of a legendary site, and a worthy complement to the director's record-shattering 1997 film. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras on this two-disc set include the 60-minute theatrical version and the 90-minute extended version of the film, the six-part “making of” documentary “Reflections from the Deep” (32 min.), the nine-minute multi-angle function featurette “The Mir Experience,” and trailers. Bottom line: nice to have both the theatrical and the extended versions as well as some nice featurettes for this winning film.] (F. Swietek)