Review of Titanic II (2010) by Nathalie S — 06 Feb 2011

Yes folks, there is indeed a movie called Titanic II. But what's more surprising than that is the fact that it's not an ENTIRELY bad movie. It is in NO WAY a sequel to Titanic, but the story of a ship called Titanic II that runs afoul of an iceberg like it's namesake. The twist in this case is that the iceberg is thrown into the ship thanks to a giant tsunami that results from the collapsing Arctic ice shelf. What follows is a cookie cutter version of a disaster movie, filled with stereotypical characters, low rent sets, stilted dialogue, and many shots of extras, staring blindly off camera, not knowing what emotion they are supposed to be feeling at that moment.

With that said, it should be noted that the movie does, in fact have some redeeming qualities. Bruce Davison is an old acting pro, and he does lend a certain credibility to his role as a Coast Guard captain, who's daughter is on board the ship. While the visual effects are generally as bargain basement as you might expect, there are a few shots and sequences that don't look like they were made with a Commodore 64. One sequence that was surprisingly effective has to do with a Coast Guard helicopter trying to evade a tsunami wave that is a lot bigger than anticipated. There's also a few shots of the sinking ship that are pretty convincing.

Writer/director/star Shane Van Dyke isn't going to get any comparisons to James Cameron any time soon, but he does what he can with what he has. I can appreciate that a legitimate effort was made, even if the results are less than spectacular.

I can't recommend the movie, but if you are home on a Sunday afternoon, and are in the mood for a cheesy, turn your brain off, disaster flick, you could do worse.