'Ghosts' an ambitious study of the Titanic

By Rene Rodriquez
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Director James Cameron used deep-sea submersibles and remote-controlled robots armed with digital cameras to film the wreck of the Titanic for "Ghosts of the Abyss." The robots' small size and extreme maneuverability made some rare views possible. Buena Vista Pictures 'Ghosts of the Abyss' G 59 minutes

Few are as obsessed with the ship as filmmaker James Cameron. In "Ghosts of the Abyss," the director returns to the subject of his 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," this time making the actual ship, and not a computer-generated recreation, the star of the show.

Using high-definition 3-D technology specifically designed for the film, "Ghosts of the Abyss" allows the viewer to tag along with Cameron and actor Bill Paxton during their 2001 expedition to the wreck, when they used remote-controlled cameras to photograph the interior of the ship as extensively as the hardware would allow.

The more you know about the 1912 tragedy, the more you will appreciate the sights of "Ghosts of the Abyss," such as the actual room once occupied by the unsinkable Molly Brown, or a shot of a bowler hat owned by Henry Harper, resting, eerily and peacefully, in his cabin.

It is enough, however, to have just seen Cameron's 1997 blockbuster to share his thrill of exploration. "Ghosts of the Abyss," which runs a concise hour, spends a little too much time with Paxton, who serves as the audience surrogate here, fending off seasickness during a dive or registering fear as he's warned about the dangers he's about to undertake.

But the remarkable 3-D photography, which adds amazing depth and detail to the projected image, makes even the pointless passages absorbing. "Ghosts of the Abyss" is at its best, though, when Cameron just allows images of the legendary ship to fill the screen, occasionally juxtaposed with photographs and filmed recreations that show you exactly what the Titanic looked like when it set off on its doomed voyage in April 1912 and into the pages of history.