Titanic – The Jack Edit

November 19, 2009 @ 3:30 am

The editing was great! Audio/video/cuts all top notch (although my copy had a glitch, but i’m guessing just affecting my burn or something)

Unfortunately I REALLY REALLY did not enjoy this. As an idea this is executed perfectly and I’m actually surprised I didn’t like it! Without the history/perspectives/characters from the original this really highlights how horrible the sets and acting were in Titanic. The first 1/2 I’d give this a lowly 3 on entertainment and gradually up to 6 in the finale. The ending cut/fade wasn’t very fulfilling, either.

But I realize from all these great comments that I am in a small minority here, and it got me thinking if i’d even like the OPPOSITE of the Jack Cut, LOL :)

March 13, 2011 @ 2:37 pm

I thought this was a well-done edit.
I noticed that a couple scenes were absent, and if they are in my memory after a single viewing of this film so very many years ago, I guess they made an impact and so I wonder why they were cut. One is the “I’m the King of the world!” with Jack standing, arms extended, on the forward rails. Another scene is the musicians on the sinking ship, deciding not to split up and flee, but rather to stay and play together as the vessel sinks; the musicians are shown noting that they don’t get much audience at dinner, either, but that they’ll play anyway. When I saw that one, I wondered if the final shot of them would be shown, and when it wasn’t I felt that the previous shots really could have been totally removed, or at least heavily trimmed to minimize their depiction. In keeping with the fanedit’s idea/purpose of presenting strictly “Jack’s story”, I think the absence of the ‘King of World’ celebration and the inclusion of the violinists is betraying that goal.
A minor issue was when the minder of the husband (a.k.a. the gunman) comes looking for Rose while she’s down at the party with Jack; we see him come down and scan the crowd, but that’s it. Did he see her, did he approach them, what happened with this? A shot to close this action was missing, though I’m sure director Cameron must have had it in his film. Again, a bit later, the gunman is jumped by Jack in the flooding dining room (so that Jack & Rose can escape him hunting them), and then later he is quickly shown on the deck, bloodied by trying to survive as the ship is going under. This was more acceptable to be there, but surely Jack did not see him, so I just felt that the shot should not have been left in.
Another couple scenes had some transitional wipes, which seemed to be added, not original to the film – and thus noticeable. It also stood out that the theme song “My Heart Will Go On” was used about four or five times, though it was thankfully the orchestral ‘score’ version(s) and not the Celine Dion ballad (ugh).
Other than what’s mentioned above, this fanedit didn’t seem too much different, which is complimentary because it is an hour shorter! It still provided the main story, and yet at the same time it was appreciably briefer, with no Bill Paxton modern-day submariner sequence. It all adds up to make it a go-to edition of “Titanic” for me, and it’s done very well, but just not one of Boon’s/CBB’s best releases (which are plentiful).
7/10

October 25, 2009 @ 10:28 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

November 17, 2008 @ 3:45 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

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.