DIE RUCKKEHR - TITANIC 2 [Blu-ray] [2010]

Movie showed up a week earlier than they said. Perfect shape and good movie

I remember when I first saw this movie back when it came out, and back then I was horrified at how awful the film is and how evoking the name Titanic was the only reason it caught my eye.And Titanic II? The sequel? Sequel to what?No doubt, it's likely a semi-sequel to the James Cameron film. It borrows some similar scenes and has a similar story format.These days I just enjoy the shock and disbelief from people when they hear there is such a thing as a Titanic sequel, but also OH MY GOD the film actually is terrible.However, I now know that the awfulness is semi-intentional, which in a way kinda makes me admire the charm.It's kinda like watching someone bad at ice skating, or bad at riding a horse.You actually need to be skilled to pretend you're bad at ice skating.We laugh at clowns because they are participating in the gag.The Asylum may as well be considered the clown studio, and we laugh both at them and with them, for better or for worse.

"Titanic II" is just as ridiculous as you could possibly expect, except with much lower production values. Written by, directed by, and starring Shane Van Dyke as Hayden Walsh, an uber-rich tycoon who has commissioned the "Titanic II" to sail on the 100th anniversary of the tragic voyage of the original, the movie entertains every cliché possibly related to the genre (shoddy construction, trying to break a speed record, his ex-girlfriend happens to be a doctor on the ship, iceberg perils, etc.) while centering itself on the currently faddish plot of a green global warming calamity. This sailing is supposed to complete the journey started 100 years earlier with a new ultra-modern ship (that looks the same on the outside.) Some very basic research may have assisted the creators of this masterwork: it's difficult to miss that the ship's going the wrong way as it cruises past the Statue of Liberty during its departure from port (of course, the real "Titanic" was going from England to New York,) but such trivialities matter little.It's clearly obvious that the film rented out the "Queen Mary," now a permanent museum ship (and a beautiful and genuinely charming place to visit) to turn into the "Titanic II" for a few days. The location shooting at Long Beach is the best part of the movie, as the "Queen Mary" is a gorgeous vessel, but you will definitely notice the jarring differences between the actual bridge of the ship at the outset (I can just hear the "Queen Mary" staff telling the actors not to touch anything!) and the hilarious bridge set seen later on which looks like an elementary school multipurpose room. The entertainment value of such camp potential is overpowered by the stench of badness here, though. The melodramatic script infuses a terrible script and ridiculous premise with absurdly horrible acting to become tedious very quickly.The film is also a preachy anti-global warming diatribe which fails on every level, particularly on the level of basic science (it wouldn't even skate past a group of disinterested Geology 101 students who just needed a science class to graduate.) You see, the icecaps in Greenland are cracking off and producing a mega-tsunami of ice that moves supersonically and will destroy everything in its path. Of course the "Titanic II" is the latest of technological wonders, but even as it's going 50 knots (!) it has to shut down in mid-Atlantic because the engines can't take it. (Huh?) Hayden Walsh (in an apparent and grossly inaccurate homage to the late J. Bruce Ismay from the original tragedy) knows much more about "Titanic II" than either the Captain or Chief Engineer do, which leads to extremely hokey conflict and hilariously bad dialogue ("The lifeboats are deathtraps!") Walsh knows so much about the ship for instance, that he recommends using the elevators when the ship is sinking and on fire. Good thing he's on board. In the end Walsh tries to make up for everything that went on earlier in his life and has to be the hero, die a cold and wet death, and leave the love of his life as a survivor. Has that ever been done before? In a film? About a sinking ship? The swimming in the passageway scenes also remind me of something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it....Everything about this film smells. The acting smells like feet, the script of a teenage boy's gym locker, and the hack science like a dead skunk. All things considered the whole production stinks like fetid cheese, and should be avoided at all costs.

This could have been a great movie. Back in the late '90's, a company really did plan to build a "Titanic II", so this could have been a really interesting movie. The story is just OK, but what really spoils it is the total cheapness of the sets and graphics. For example, there's a scene of people running around on a concrete floor; CONCRETE??? On a ship??? I don't think so. There's lots of running through hallways, but the hallways CURVE! Curved hallways- on a ship? NOT! The ballroom is obviously from some hotel. There are lots of closeups of actors, done strictly to camouflage the real settings. And what in the world is up with the captain's hat being so HUGE on his head??? Did they lose the actor it was designed for? His head must have been enormous! No ship's wheelhouse looks like this, either. Then there are the special effects...The CGI work might have been passable if they's bothered to actually putt the name of the ship on her while she's moving. As it is, she has no name in those scenes, even though she does when they've used the Queen Mary as her stand-in. Totally unacceptable. Then there's the way she scoots out of port- NO ship behaves in that manner. It looked like a great idea, but the execution is really bad. This film REALLY makes me appreciate James Cameron's "TITANIC" and all the delail that went into that magnificent film.

Ok, first thing people should know: THIS NOT A SEQUEL TO THE JAMES CAMERON FILM, but is rather a stand alone. I mean, what's Titanic about anyways? Titanic. What's Poseidon about? Poseidon. So is Titanic II about Titanic II? Yes. And despite being a "stand alone", rather than a sequel to the super succesful Titanic, it could be considered a fictional sequel to true events. I mean, don't get me wrong, I know there's films with better sound effects and visual effects. As a matter of fact, I've never heard worse sound effects. But it's a TV movie and Asylum movie, people. Even Tremors: The Series, which kept part of the cast members from Tremors 3, was in the same line with the crappy effects, but I KNOW Tremors fans like the show. Anyways, The Asylum did disappoint me with The Terminators, but ignoring everything that people criticize about Titanic II, I did enjoy it. I bought it before I watched it and decided to watch it again one night. Point: I love Titanic II just about as much as any other disaster film.

If you like bad SyFy movies about disasters, this one is for you. Yes, its cheesy and predictable, but still worth a watch!