Titanic: The JACK Edit Reviewed

[sladetwc]

When I first saw the "ad" for Titanic: The Jack Edit by CBB group, I admit, I was a little more than skeptical. I mean, when I first watched the 1997 epic, I was in a room of blubbering women watching the movie for the 10th time hoping that THIS TIME, Leo DiCaprio does not die. But I wanted to give this movie a chance for two reasons:

1) CBB rocked with Creasy (more on that fanedit later)
2) I was hoping for more gratuitious Kate Winslett nudity (I LOVES me some British redhead)

To my chagrin, surprise, and delight, I loved this cut. It took out everything I hated. There wasn't one second of that edit that I said, "Why am I watching this?" I found myself actually on the edge of my seat, hoping like all those blubbering girls so many years before, wishing that the movie wouldn't be over when Jack slips below the water for the final time.

My girlfriend (who didn't enjoy Creasy) actually tolerated this edit, and she's the purist (she's got the Collector's Edition three disc "Hell that's too much Titanic!" version). She enjoyed it for what it was, which was a new take on a classic. I enjoyed it for what it was: a version of that movie that I would sit through and not need to get up every five minutes and get more coffee.

So hats off to CBB group (which I understand is Boon flying solo now) for their stellar work, which in MY eyes will take the place of the original any day of the week!

 

[boon23]

wow. thanks! You just made my day even more perfect.

 

[Philfrog]

I've only skimmed it so far, but I noticed you kept in the nudity, which is a good sign. In fact, I hear that removing a Kate Winslet nude scene from any movie is illegal in at least five countries. ;-)

 

[Aztek463]

I've only skimmed it so far, but I noticed you kept in the nudity, which is a good sign. In fact, I hear that removing a Kate Winslet nude scene from any movie is illegal in at least five countries. ;-)

As have I.

 

[Zebedee]

Just finished watching this. Beautifully edited Boon. Seamless and smoothly done. Top job!

As you intended, you have created a tightly focused version, with a more personal account of the tragedy. And it works very well. I'd say it upped my enjoyment of the film.

 

[Psyklax]

Here is my (rather long) review of Titanic: The Jack Edit. Enjoy.

I have watched one other CBB edit, The Matrix: Dezionized, which I thought was fantastic (I haven't actually seen Matrix 2 & 3, and don't intend to, based on popular opinion and how good Dezionized was), and I was intrigued by the concept behind The Jack Edit: change the focus of the film to being about Jack. Fair enough.
I saw Titanic twice at the cinema when it came out, ten years ago, and since then I've not seen much of it. Personally, I liked it, and everybody seemed to like it then, but popular opinion since then seems to be that it sucked badly. Funny how popular opinion changes. Nevertheless, I gave this one a go to see if it could improve on it.
Personally, as enormous as the task was and the radical change it makes to the movie is, it somehow doesn't quite work. Don't get me wrong, the pacing is very quick, and removing old Rose completely does change it a lot, but I feel that it's a little TOO focussed. Some of the deleted scenes are welcome, adding a little more depth to Jack's character. Of particular interest is the subplot between Fabrizio and Helga, which was pretty much non-existant in the regular film, but shown in full here. It's nice to give Fabrizio more screentime, as he seems a bit useless in the original.
Unfortunately, they're the only supporting characters to be better off in this. I understand the edit is focussed, but characters like the Captain and Thomas Andrews the shipbuilder, vital to the depth of the plot, are chopped out drastically: the Captain is more or less removed entirely. Maybe it's a personal thing, but trying to make the film more suited to men shouldn't involve removing a lot of the historical and ship-based story. The plot seems to speed along a little too quickly as a result.
One particular edit, I believe, should've been done a little differently: when Jack and Rose are spitting over the side, and her mother interrupts them, there's a piece of old Rose narration that's removed, but now Molly Brown says her line about Jack, despite the fact nobody's said anything about him yet. The line would be better off removed so that he just wipes his chin, and dinner is called. Incidentally, Molly Brown's character, like many others, is an unfortunate casualty of the edit: we don't understand why she acts different to the other first class passengers (because she's 'new money').
The most controversial piece of editing, for me anyway, was the whole sequence of the Titanic hitting the iceberg. That was drastically cut, and was over in seconds, with no warning and little obvious damage done. Perhaps this was the point: Jack doesn't see much happen, assumes they'll be fine, and forgets about it. Still, removing the 'iceberg right ahead' line etc made the sequence a little too "wham, bam, thankyou ma'am" for me.
One more thing that I wasn't sure about: the ending (SPOILER ALERT - obviously). I was hoping, given the tight focus on Jack, that it wasn't going to end as soon as he was sunk in the water, but it does. Yes, we know that Rose is probably going to be okay, as the boat is coming back to get her, but what an unsettling note to end on. Personally, the way the original ended - with Rose remembering being on the Titanic and walking up the stairs to Jack - was much more satisfying, and for the purposes of this edit would leave us with a flattering image of Jack, which would surely be more than acceptable.
I don't want to sound like the edit didn't work at all - there were certainly positive aspects, as I mentioned - but I couldn't personally recommend it over the original, there's just too much cut out. On the other hand, the edit did exactly what it set out to do: make a version of Titanic about Jack, and Jack only, at the expense of historical detail, supporting character development, and any other detail. As much is said in the numerous disclaimers. In that respect, at least, the edit is a success.

PS. I'm concerned about the technical aspects of the CBB DVDs, namely the picture quality and the fact that the 5.1 mix appears to be a mono sound coming out of every speaker. Something's gone awry in the mixing there. Also, the DVD has a widescreen flag on the movie, when the movie is non-anamorphic. Shame.
PPS. I wouldn't use the term 'womaniser'. I think 'chick flick' is the term you're looking for: a womaniser is a man who has sex with a lot of women. Other than that, keep up the good work! =]

RATING: 3/5

 

[boon23]

thanks for the review, psyklax. A lot of the things you mentioned are of course issues and are so especially to those who liked the original Titanic. The edit was not created for them. Many decisions had to be made and one of the most important ones was to focus entirely on Jack. A lot of great and for the Titanic important scenes had to be cut because of that, but the guys and I tried several ways and this one was for us the most fulfilling.
The sound issue is kind of correct. All CBB edits are in fake 5.1, which means that stereo sound is just expanded to all speakers. It is the best I can do with the software I work with. And the movie is 2.35 widescreen presented in 16:9. Nothing wrong with that.
The iceberg scene was one of the most difficult scenes and we edited and previewed it like 20 times with different takes, but it always seemed "too short", even when it contained all the scenes from the movie. This was caused by so much footage missing before. the final decision was to cut almost ever scene of the iceberg and believe me when I say, this worked for this very edit best.
Once again, thanks for taking the time and writing such a cool and detailed review.

 

[Psyklax]

Thanks, I like to give constructive criticism where possible.

Regarding the picture and sound, the DVD appears to be a little smaller than 2.35:1, and is non-anamorphic, making the 16:9 flag on the video incorrect. On my TV it would switch to 'wide' mode, stretching the image, which looked clearly wrong. I instead had to zoom in on the image. On a 4:3 display this might not be so much of an issue, but nevertheless, it's non-anamorphic. Bizarrely, the opening credits, Fox logo etc ARE anamorphic, and correctly presented, but when it says 'Directed by James Cameron' and the film proper starts, it's non-anamorphic. Hmm.

Having 'fake' 5.1 audio is not what I would recommend. I don't know what software you're using, but if you can only get 2 channel audio from your source, keep it 2 channel! A Dolby Pro Logic output, on either a full 5.1 system or a standard TV will sound far superior to channelling the audio to every speaker: voices coming from behind me were most distracting. This was most evident on The Matrix: Dezionized - the German and French dubs, both in 2 channel, sounded far better than the 'fake' 5.1 English audio, which is a shame. Another reason for keeping 2 channel audio is that the bitrate can be lower, saving space for the video. If you're stuck with 2 channel audio, upmixing will get you nowhere.

Regarding both issues, I use Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD, which I love partly because re-editing MPEG2 is so easy, but also because it only re-encodes video when absolutely necessary, keeping quality at maximum. I have done a couple of extended versions of films where the main film was 5.1 audio, 2.35 anamorphic, but the deleted scenes were 2.0 audio, non-anamorphic. I stretched the deleted scenes to be anamorphic, re-encoded them, and stuck them into the main film with Womble. The audio still needed re-encoding, but Womble's upsampling of 2.0 audio to 5.1 is excellent. The DVD was a little over a single layer, so DVDFab shrunk it a tad, and I couldn't even tell the quality had decreased. Very impressive.

Nevertheless, these are technical aspects - another post for another day. I suppose The Jack Edit just wasn't my cup of tea - but then, I kind of liked Titanic, so it'd always be tough. =]

 

[boon23]

haha, now please don't explain to me, that womble is a better software. It isn't. I know its pros and I know its wrongs. It is nice you are trying to help me here, but in fact I am a VERY experienced faneditor, so this "feels" a bit wrong to me.
Most peopel disagreee with you on the fake 5.1, that is why the feature will stay. It produces better quality on surround systems.
And as for the image issue it sounds like a pan and scan setting problem on your DVD player. The image is clearly 16:9. No one else has reported any problem like that. I know exactly what I am doing there.

 

[AvP]

most SL on dvdfab will say it needs shrinking..let me quess it said 95%

 

[Simba7]

I've enjoyed watching this edit and even borrowed it to my sisters so that they could watch it as well. Nicely done, I would have probably left some more of the love story intact, but that would have been against the whole idea of the edit.
4/5 well done!

 

[boon23]

the love story is complete, mightyZ. No scene is missing there, in fact almost all the additional scenes add some more to that.
Still thanks for the nice comment. I am glad you and your sister liked it. If I would edit it again, I would make the ending longer.

 

[Mollo]

Titanic: The Jack Edit

First a little back ground.

In 1958 a classic film was released about the sinking of the Titanic. It was called A Night To Remember and starred Kenneth More and Honor Blackman. The film was a great success in Europe and America and this film set the formula of all subsequent disaster movies by following the experiences of a wide and diverse cast. It has been noted that James Cameron based his vision of the Titanic on the formula set by A Night To Remember but added the new ingredient of a passionate love affair to bind the whole. Many scenes of life aboard Titanic are lifted note for note from the 1958 film.

The Cameron Edit

Titanic is a sprawling yet to some a satisfying epic. It is unabashedly emotionally manipulative yet somehow Cameron succeeds in pulling off one of the greatest contrivances in cinema history and he does it with an extraordinary flourish.

Titanic: The Jack Edit

"...courageous attempt to create a version...bearable for men."

The Jack Edit is a very entertaining edit, well conceived and executed. It is still very much a James Cameron film but more focused and compact. Staying with Jack works incredibly well, in fact for the first part, until the first Jack-less scene with Rose, it works even better than the original. I really like the first introduction of Rose and her sudden attempt at suicide. It makes her more susceptible to Jack's charms as she is so emotionally disturbed and confused.

The film follows the love affair between Jack and Rose very closely and each scene blends flawlessly into the next. I can truthfully say I was completely involved in this story and was glad that my attention was never taken away from the lovers. Most of the scenes of other passengers that have been removed are the ones that were borrowed liberally from A Night To Remember and so the fan-editors, maybe unintentionally, have made Titanic more of a James Cameron Film as the story is now solely about Jack and Rose and not a nod to another movie.

Finally the scene arrives that I had most problems with in the original. That of the spurned lover shooting at Jack while the Titanic is sinking. Strangely enough because The Jack Edit focuses on only the love story, the action of the jealous fiance' seems more plausible and the scene works! Hats off to you!

The Jack Edit follows the original as the climax arrives but eradicates the cheesiness by losing the flashbacks after the sinking.

So did this Fan-Edit work? Yes absolutely but The Jack Edit has failed in the fan-editors claim to make this version more bearable for men because what they have done is created a more overtly romantic film. By concentrating only on the love that burns between Jack and Rose this is now a pure love story with the sinking as a catalyst by which that love is tested. In fact this might be the ultimate version for women because all the scenes that touch the female spirit, such as Jack drawing Rose, making love in the car and 'flying' at the bow of the ship are all still present but without the distraction of any others fate. This is not a criticism because The Jack Edit works so well.

I cannot recommend this fan-edit enough and if you are a romantic like me it cannot fail.

Technical Assessment

I noticed only one jarring sound edit in the whole edit. It comes after the ice burg is struck when it cuts to Jack and Rose.

The opening cut from titles to horn sounding is a little ruff and could be smoothed.

The end. The fade-out on Rose blowing the whistle is too quick. If you started the fade-out earlier but allowed the sound to continue so when you hear the line "turn the boat around" you have completed the fade out. It would also add some doubt to Rose's fate.

 

[boon23]

thank you for this very nice review and: you got it.
Even my wife, who totally loves the original Titanic, really liked the fanedit and she tried EVERYTHING to keep me from working on it with the guys. With the focus an Jack, the focus also totally moves on the intensity of Jack's and Rose's love for each other. So, yes, this is even more of a romance than it was before, but still I think that men generally get bored by the surrounding stuff, especially in the beginning, when all that luxury and the life of the wealthy and wannabes i sshown in so much detail. A lot of women on the other hand specifically enjoy this, also the "old Rose" scenes.
The ending was a bit complicated, because we wanted to finish with Jack drowning, yet the original ending is so intense. I think ending-wise "The Jack Edit" is no match for the original, yet it still works. And you could be right about an even longer fadeout.
Thanks again for writing this that detailled.

Technical: About that jarring sound edit: I just checked again and I don't realize it. The cut is at 1:02:15 and is a gentle slide. Correct me if I watched the wrong scene. Maybe it was an overdub, because the crashing iceberg was really loud, but on normal volume settings it seems ok to me.
The cut from opening titles to the horn was intended that way. But you are not the first to mention it.

 

[Mollo]

A pleasure boon and you should feel very proud of this edit.

 

[spelledaren]

I'm sold. Getting this to watch with the GF and maybe we'll both be happy

 

[sladetwc]

Since I reviewed this one before, I'm merely going to thank you, Boon.

Keep up the good work!

 

[spelledaren]

Watched this last week, in good company.

Overall a brilliant peice of editing. The changed perspective really makes for a different movie. Good concept that works all the way. I still had a few issues with it.

The scene where Jack first sees Rose is a good one. But right after this comes her almost-suicide. This feels a bit off to me, he sees her and right after she tries to kill herself. It just feels like a piece of a bad movie script...
I would rather have had it so that Jack meets her for the first time there at the back of the boat. But that scene when he sees her is really good! Arg. Hmm. maybe some other scene could be placed in between these two?

I like your removal of the first kiss! Now it is postponed until after the painting, and it really works well, I thought it was a better first kiss than in the original! The GF was surprised that it was gone though, but not overly annoyed or anything.
But, right after their now first kiss there is a sound that feels out of place as the scene changes. I was jolted out of the movie a little bit, and that was not a good place to be taken out of it, with all those emotions running high. Went back and listened to that noise again...I might have overreacted the first time. But it happened.

And the sinking. It just goes on and on and on. The movie is much shorter now and the sinking takes ages in the original movie, now it's a really major part of the total playtime. I get bored with it. Panic and despair, yes yes. This is more of an observation on something I would have tried to portray differently, but need not be a bad thing for people in general.

Final grade?
Great concept. Smooth editing of both video and audio (I had no problems with that horn in the beginning).
It works well for plot, but I have a few issues with the dramatic pacing in parts (as commented above).

I'll go all the way, with a green light from the GF, and give this

5/5

 

[boon23]

I am glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the nice comment and your thoughts. That is always helpful. Hehe, you are the first to mention that the ship sinks too slowly... . This might be caused by the chase scene.
What I am really really the most happy about with this fanedit is that NO ONE yet thought the score from the Narnia soundtrack was not fitting.

 

[Mollo]

My favorite part was the introduction of Rose on the upper deck and then her sudden attempt at suicide because she instantly has a history. She has in one stroke become a complicated, fragile and an interesting character. I like this FanEdit better than the original.