Titanic – The Jack Edit

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 29, 2009 @ 6:12 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

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 :)

October 13, 2009 @ 8:08 pm

Being the only straight man on Earth who really enjoyed the original film I got the urge to watch Titanic last night. I remembered that I had a copy of CBB’s Jack Edit collecting figurative dust and I decided it was time to give it a go.

First off, this cut removes a large amount of the film bringing the running time just over 2hrs. This was a nice change from the 3hr epic I was used to. This cut focuses primarily on Jack Dawson and we only see/learn the plot through his scenes – This worked great for a ‘new perspective’ on the film but there was a great deal of my favorite scenes that were removed.
All are secondary characters who’s scenes/stories do not directly intersect w/ Jack’s —

***SPOILERS***(the ‘present day’ old Rose/salvage crew plot is gone, the crows nest “ICEBERG DEAD AHEAD!” and subsequent bridge scene where the crew attempts to maneuver around the Berg. The scenes with the engineer explaining how the ship will flood and sink) ***END SPOILERS***

— so I understand why they were cut and this version works great w/o them but on a personal level, I missed them only because I felt they were some of the most intriguing/well acted/suspenseful scenes. They were the closest to “Jim Cameron” scenes in the whole film, if you will. ;)

Like the disclaimer states at the end of the edit – If you liked Titanic but felt it was a vaj-fest this edit makes it manlier and more thrilling. However, if you are like me (which you probably arent) and liked the original film – there are alot of great scenes that have been removed.

On the flipside, this edit restores 9 (IIRC) deleted scenes, many I have never seen, and does expand Jacks character and makes him more interesting IMO.

Video: 9/10 minor compression artifacts and noise. being a 2hr film, this would benefit from a DL release

Audio: 9/10 almost seamless – there was a small audio hiccup right after Rose/Jack kiss in the steam room (around 56:00) and another less obvious one at the end as Rose is blowing the whistle (around 1:58:00) maybe just my DVD but I rewound and heard them again so…?

Entertainment: 7/10 Like all the women and less of the men out there, I really liked the original version. I appreciated the trims around the love story to keep it less vaj-tastic but the trims to the rest of the story (while beneficial to Jacks story) irked me because I enjoyed them and truly missed them here.

DVD: 8/10 motion menu, trailers, commentary. overall an nice package.

Final Score (Average): 8/10

October 6, 2009 @ 9:34 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*