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Dr. Anatoly M. Sagalevitch, Genya Chernaiev, Victor Nischeta, Pamela Conrad, Dr. Arthur Lane, Dr. Jim Childress, Dijanna Figueroa, Michael Henry

Director James Cameron is best known for his science fiction achievements in cinema with blockbuster titles such as Terminator, Aliens, and the disaster drama Titanic. However, a real life adventure excites him far more than the fictional creations that he can experience in a safe distance in the theater darkness. Thus, after having made the documentaries Expedition: Bismarck (2002) and Ghosts of the Abyss (2003) Cameron embarks on his third underwater voyage in Aliens of the Deep where he assembles a joint adventure by American and Russian scientists who begin to explore the unknown depths of the Earth. ***

\ The anticipation is overwhelming after having seen the two previous documentaries and all of Cameron’s fictional creations, as this must undoubtedly be as captivating. A brief introduction informs about the importance of sunlight and the photosynthesis, as the depth of where Cameron and his crew are entering will not have any sunlight whatsoever. It is a scientific approach to the story that Cameron tries to document, however, they are about to enter an unknown area of the world unlike his two previous underwater adventures where the history of the ships were fairly well recorded. This sets up some obstacles in the storytelling technique, as it leaves the audience in the dark as well. ***

The storytelling is not the only thing that seems to cause trouble, as do the laws of physics on the ship when they are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The crew together with Cameron show how they must solve the problem in order to find an alternate solution to their problems. Eventually, they can set off for the bottom of the ocean, which brings the audience on an expedition to the most remote locations in the world where very few humans have ever entered. Jointly, NASA scientists, marine biologists, and many other scientists work to find the use of the knowledge in the ocean’s depth, as it can be applied to space exploration and an understanding of how planets are created. ***

There are intriguing moments where strange creatures of the sea drift effortlessly by the small deep-sea submarines. However, it is not as often as the title Aliens of the Deep suggests, which might have many viewers loose their attention. Instead, there are intriguing facts of how life could live without sunlight from the heat and how chemicals on the ocean floor are generated by the Earth’s magma center. Thus, after having lost the audience’s initial interest it might be hard to keep their attention through the rest of the fascinating biology lesson that this cinematic experience offers. *** ---

An exceptional quality of the image submerges the audience through the underwater adventure, as it comes with the aspect ratio 1.78:1. Its anamorphic widescreen will have those with HDTV’s drooling to the immaculate image, which is better quality on many of their other DVDs. The sound is also very good, as it efficiently uses all speakers in the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, which has two different language tracks English and French. ***

The audience can chose from the theatrical IMAX version, which runs 47 minutes. The second version is an extended cut that stretches over 99 minutes. There are also some sneak peeks of films released or are awaiting theatrical release such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and Toy Story 2 (1999). ***

Aliens of the Deep presents an interesting theme, but it does not come across to the audience in an efficient manner. The storytelling lacks focus and makes it hard to watch while the title leads the audience in the wrong direction, as it suggests more Aliens of the Depth. Ultimately, this documentary offers an experience worth a viewing, as it possesses unique material, but lacks solid presentation to a lay audience. ***