Titanic – The Jack Edit

February 17, 2009 @ 1:53 pm

This was a good movie and an excellent edit, if not perfect. Though I really can’t compare it to the original version, because last I saw it was nearly ten years ago – and what I remembered from the movie was almost all in this cut, except Old Rose beginning and ending (and some more deaths when the ship is sinking), so I can’t say how much is changed. Apparently quite much.

There were, however, two things I didn’t like. Firstly, the iceberg comes and goes very swiftly. Without showing the iceberg before hit, or any try for an evading maneuver, one might think this is only some first scrape foreshadowing the real iceberg still in the coming. Not much more would be needed, but something that establishes the threat. Without such, we slide from “no danger” to “we’re sinking” a little too little hassle. The material doesn’t support the way in which the viewer isn’t given clearer hint of the coming doom very well, even if that’s the way it was for the people on the ship. And this, imo, stands still even as there’s probably no single sane person on the planet who wouldn’t know how a story about Titanic would be ending. Otherwise, I thought the “catastrophe aspect” was handled very well. Though they were interesting in the original edition, to tell the central story of Jack & Rose no more was needed to show of the fates of the other passengers and crew.

Finally, the last dining hall chase/shootout between Rose’s fiance’s bodyguard, what ever his name was, and Jack & Rose… It felt already too repetitive and added nothing new to the stew. What’s more: As the diamond doesn’t matter much in this edit, Old Rose and all being cut, it’s just tad strange to make so much of it in that scene, when its meaning in the plot – to frame Jack of the theft – has already gone. And then its final outcome is left completely unknown, but hinted at. One can suspect it was still in Rose’s pocket when she was saved, but in the story of Jack & Rose it shouldn’t matter. If after the end of the movie the viewer is wondering is the diamond in Rose’s pocket or not, he/she has quite missed the mood.

November 17, 2008 @ 3:45 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

April 10, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

Every year in April I dust off my Titanic movies and documentaries for watching on the lead-up to the night of the 14th/15th. I’ll select one of the movies to watch over the approximate time frame of the sinking. This year is a little different, since I had got it in my head that I wanted to find and own a copy of the 3 or 4 disc “complete” package of Cameron’s epic. Within minutes of starting my google search I discovered fanedit.org. Imagine my glee at finding not only a complete Cameron “Titanic” but also the “Ship of Dreams” and the “Jack” edits! Talk about striking a motherlode!

So the “Jack” edit by boon23 is my first official complete DVD fanedit package. Others have expressed most of what I liked about it, so I’ll just hit one thing. The choice of perspective — focusing on Jack — makes for a totally different take on both the love-story and the sinking of the ship. Not to mention the relegation of many a solid supporting role into that of walk-on bit-players. In this I think CBB has hit a bases-loaded home-run. Whereas Cameron sold us the Jack & Rose love-story in order to be able to tell us the real love-story (his obsession with the ship), the “Jack” edit sells the viewer a scrappy Saturday-night high-adventure TV story of a young explorer of the the world who happens at the wrong place and wrong time to fall in love with the wrong girl…and paid in full-measure for that love.

It is really quite a strong piece of work, and makes for a perfect 2 hour movie. Very little drags in this version of the story — except perhaps the restored scene where Lovejoy pursues Jack & Rose at Hockley’s urging. That restored sceen could have had a minute trimmed out of it and been just as effective. By focusing half the running time on events during the collision, sinking and death-by-freezing in the water, the CBB “Jack” version of the story mirrors the pacing of the classic “A Night To Remember”, which uses the POV of 2nd officer Lightoller as it’s guideline.

I have to agree with the comment that ironically, in recrafting this manly, heroic, POV the love-story is actually of even greater-importance than before. But in a good way because now there’s more focused action and high-adventure, and the love-story drives everything that happens, rather than only 50% of it. Perhaps a cut to the final scene of Rose by herself claiming Dawson as her name would have been good. (Food for thought: I wonder if an equivalent strictly-imposed “Rose” POV edit would be as interesting. Certainly not as action-packed!)

I thought that technically this DVD was well-assembled. The bonus features were useful to watch first in order to establish what the faneditor was trying for. I was never quite able to get a decent widescreen on my TV that didn’t seem just ever-so-slightly squashed, but that may be me and my equipment. I shall try it again on another setup and see if that doesn’t fix it. My other issue with the film was that it seemed perhaps just a bit too video-compressed and lacking in crispness @ DVD5. Sort of like watching it on VHS. I’d like to see it in dual-layer DVD9 for comparison.

Still, those are minor quibbles. All things considered a very strong fanedit that makes me interested in having a go at a few things in my own DVD library. 10/10 for achieving the faneditor’s stated goals and perhaps 8/10 as a full-fledged DVD experience that would have been quite a delight to have arrive in my Netflix queue!

February 3, 2010 @ 10:50 am

Watched this excellent edit last night, it moves along at a cracking well paced speed, for me i found it be very enjoyable, the focus on Jack and Rose is wonderfull the way it unfolds, this could have been released as the final movie! Plenty of scenes I have seen before, that work really well in this edit.
The ending has been mentioned, it’s the editors choice, it worked as an ending, it could have gone two other ways, They both die in the water, which is left in the air here, or with a couple more short scenes
could have shown Rose to have been saved, and arrive in the states,
video/audio quality 10/10

Thanks.

December 14, 2009 @ 10:29 pm

I DL’d this version to watch on a long mission (I fly planes for the USAF) where I would be staying in a lot of hotels outside the US. I thought it’d be a perfect time to really watch this edit. I had watched AdigitalMan’s extended edition with my girlfriend about three weeks prior to watching this edit. I feel I have a pretty good perspective on the “original” version and this edit.

First, I understand why/where the cuts, edits etc. were made. Based on what I know of CBB’s intention for this edit, he made the correct choices to realize his intention. I might have included the “iceberg straight ahead” scene and kept more of the iceberg striking the Titanic. I realize that Jack didn’t personally experience these scenes, but a movie still for the audience watching it and the inclusion of these scenes would have made for a better edit overall. A viewer wants to experience these scenes, even if the main character does not.

Secondly, there is some loss or resonance with many of the scenes because we only see things that contain Jack, and then later on, Jack and Rose. Again, I am in complete agreeance with CBB’s edit because of his intentions to make this a Jack-centric edit.

I was surprised that I didn’t enjoy this edit as much as I really expected to. Technically a great edit, great video/audio quality etc. A perfection execution of the editor’s intention. I didn’t realize how much a great deal of the secondary characters/secondary plot is necessary for this movie. Don’t misunderstand, I had a very dififcult time sitting thru AdigitalMan’s extended version too – just too long and slow in many areas (NOT due to AdigitalMan’s edit – his is flawless – it’s just a long movie and has slow spots as released).