Review of Britannic

Introduction

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic - the famously "unsinkable" ship that sank on her Maiden voyage with a huge death toll after striking an iceberg. Although the story has always captured the imagination of the public, James Cameron`s epic retelling ,complete with a staggering recreation of the sinking, rekindled the interest in Titanic as it stormed to the top of the all time box office takings list. It is therefore to blame for Britannic - the story of the Titanic`s sister ship, which also sank, albeit in different circumstances.

This made for TV film is supposedly "based" upon real events, and tells the story of the Britannic, a hospital ship in the Great War, used to carry weapons to Egypt, which attracts the attention of the Germans.

Video

Being made for TV, the video comes in 4:3 and in general is of reasonable quality - the exception being the opening montage of footage of the Great War which (and not surprisingly for its age) is pretty atrocious at best. The main feature however is presented with a crisp picture which is stable and free from grain or dirt.

James Cameron had to make the most expensive film of all time in order to make his Titanic look convincing, and the end result was undeniably gob smacking on the big screen. Britannic didn`t have the benefit of the huge budget, but will be invariably be compared to Cameron`s blockbuster - and visually, despite being newer, it can`t compete. The CGI ships are less than convincing most of the time, and on occasion hilariously poor - one panned shot across the bow of a British warship featuring the Union Jack fluttering in the wind is abysmal and looks like a CG demo on the Amiga. The Britannic itself looks ok from some angles and very bad from others, not quite fitting into the scenes properly. Other problems include the very poor water spray effect surrounding the periscope of the pursuing U-Boats and the wake from the liner and the smoke from the chimneys, which is awful.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and the lack of a multi-channel soundtrack gives the sound the similar low-budget feel as the video. The dialogue is clear and understandable, but a little low compared to the score and effects at times. The soundtrack itself is very flat and lifeless, designed for small speakers each side of a TV screen rather than the power and range of a cinema.

Features

Extras consist of biographies and the trailer - very uninteresting - and no sign of a documentary about the Britannic that would have been a worthwhile addition to the disc.

The disc is packaged in a clear Amaray case, which details the 14 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, Britannic is a dreadful film that deserves to sink to the bottom of the sea and join the wreck of the ship - I wish I could personally put all copies of this DVD into the hold to stop you from having to endure it. The poor visual effects would have been excusable if the content had been up to the required standard, but the good cast are hindered by an absolutely dreadful script, which at times sees characters exchanging mono-syllabic words in slow pondering sentences - which are almost unbearable to watch, and one exchange between the principle characters must rank as one of the worst scenes ever committed to film.

The biggest problem is however the plot. Does this sound familiar? A large, unsinkable ship sets sail, with a variety of passengers on board. Two meet and form an unlikely bond - the rest I`m sure you know. Aside from the name and location, Britannic is uncannily similar to Cameron`s movie, but despite being just half the length, doesn`t offer anything like half the enjoyment. Admittedly, Cameron`s film isn`t perfect, but at least it`s worth watching and well made, which Britannic certainly isn`t.

Unsurprisingly, I recommend that you avoid this and watch Titanic again if you want to see a love story/ship sinking film.