7/10
this documentary, simple as it may be, shows us what is possible in the future.
12 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
James Cameron is at it again. No, not with another 'Avatar' sequel (although he is making about a baker's dozen more of those), but with another water based documentary, complete with his 3D technology. Cameron is known for brining us great films such as 'Terminator 1' and 'Terminator 2', 'True Lies', 'Titanic', 'The Abyss', and 'Avatar'. With films like 'The Abyss', 'Titanic', 'Avatar', and hell - even his first film 'Piranha 2', you can tell he is fascinated with large bodies of water.

Since Cameron now is a billionaire, he can pretty much do anything he wants to. So instead of wasting it on drugs and cars, he has chosen to educate us and explore one of the biggest mysteries still known to human kind. And that is the deepest part of the ocean. We've been to the moon, Mars, and further, but we have never been to the deepest point of the ocean, and that is on our home planet. Since Cameron has a passion for exploration and discovering new things, not to mention access to funds and a brilliant team, he has taken his hobby and made it an educational and scientific endeavor.

Cameron's mission is to journey down to the deepest point of the ocean, which is about five miles down, and collect samples, discover new life, and explore. And that is what this documentary 'James Cameron's Deepsea Challenge' sets out to do. In this short 91 minute documentary, we see Cameron and his crew research and assemble the one-manned submarine that will dive to the bottom of the ocean. All of the tests with the dives, equipment, and 3D cameras that should sustain the massive amount of pressure, traveling that low to the ocean bottom. And then we see the actual dives, which has Cameron himself inside a very small spherical room, operating the craft itself. If one thing goes wrong down there, he would be immediately vaporized within a second.

If you remember the fun documentary where Cameron and Bill Paxton (Pullman) went down to look at the real Titanic, there were several suspenseful scenes where alarms went off, which raised our blood pressure. Those types of things happen here as well. This documentary shows quite well the hazards and payoffs with each failure and success, as Cameron pushes his crew and himself to meet deadlines, so that he can explore something that nobody ever has before. Seeing the amount of hours and man power to make this journey happen is quite incredible.

I wouldn't expect some major discovery or big alien life forms here, but rather just the feeling that somebody did reach the deepest point of the ocean without exploding is quite impressive. And I think Cameron here is hoping that future generations will look to this and be inspired to take this further and explore more, since there is unexplored ocean territory down there larger than North America still. Who knows what is down there. And this documentary, simple as it may be, shows us what is possible in the future.
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