Review - Titanic 2

On the same day...on the same course...



Metrodome were nice enough to send me a review copy of Titanic 2 quite recently, and whilst I watched it quite some time ago this review has been slow to come.

Let's face it, we know this film isn't going to be great. I approached it, as many would, as something that is light entertainment, a B-Movie that you can sit down, turn your brain off, and watch with childish glee.

The story, unsurprisingly, is about a ship named Titanic 2. It looks almost exactly like Titanic, but has a few modern technological upgrades. At the same time as we witness the launch of Titanic 2, we are introduced to James Maine (played by Bruce Davison, as the DVD box proudly proclaims) up in the North Pole researching the effects of global warming.

Whilst there, a giant piece of ice breaks off, and crashes into the ocean, sending out a Mega Tsunami filled with icebergs. Guess where it's headed?

That's right, straight for Titanic 2.

Needless to say, hilarity ensues. You can guess who is going to die, but how they do so is another matter entirely.

You can tell from the outset that this film was made on a very limited budget that they tried their hardest to use as wisely as they could, it's just a shame that it wasn't used in the right places.

Visually, this movie is unimpressive the majority of the time. The sets they've managed to piece together are believeable to an extent, but all sense of believeability is lost when the camera pans out to show us the digitally built portions of Titanic 2. This unimpressive CGI also extends to many of the death scenes, or action shots, as people look like they've been cut out of the scene in Photoshop and quickly spun away.

The lead character, Hayden Walsh (played by Shane Van Dyke), is both the writer and director for Titanic 2, which screams of ego trip to me, whilst Bruce Davison only makes minor appearances.

Perhaps the biggest highlight, for me, was the revelation that the captain of Titanic 2 was played by D.C. Douglas. That may sound odd, but he's a bit of a geek favourite of mine, having played the character of Albert Wesker in several of the Resident Evil games.

After sitting through the 82 minute runtime I felt a moment of sorrow. Titanic 2 is not a great film, and could barely be described as a good film. I remember when the trailer first hit the internet it recieved a lot of attention for how hilarious the premise seemed.

The moment of sorrow came at the realisation that Van Dyke and The Asylum (the company behind the film) really missed an opportunity when naming it. Titanic 2 is a cheesy name, something that would automatically put many people off from viewing it.

It's not good enough to be taken seriously, and it's not bad enough to be picked up for a laugh, and so it came to me; the best name for this film, a name that would grab the attention of passers by that wanted a cheap laugh, would have been Giant Ship Vs. Mega Tsunami.

With this title, The Asylum would've been able to cash in on the stoner market that so enthusiastically support Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus.

Titanic 2 was written and Directed by Shane Van Dyke, Produced by The Asylum, and Distributed by Metrodome Group