The movie that could have been...

More than being a bad film, Raise the Titanic is a disappointing one -- because it would have had everything going for it, if only the filmmakers hadn't screwed up every step of the way.

Weak, bland, uninteresting actors in the leads. Plodding, uninspired, inept direction. Poorly realized or stupid characters. A beautiful music score that unfortunately was so staid and ponderous that it only emphasized the slowness of the action. A bad script that betrayed its source and ended up with a limp, meaningless, totally unsatisfying resolution. Generally poor special effects, although the "raising" itself is well done.

And I didn't even bother to go into specifics.

Yet had they had a faster-paced film, with engaging, charismatic actors, more innovative and sympathetic characters, a good director who kept tension high and events moving, greater attention to producing convincing effects, and a sharp, witty script with good characterizations, compelling plot development and fealty to the novel, they would have had a real winner. This sounds like a lot, but it's no more than the assets any successful film manages to pull together.

You have to wonder what in God's name Lew Grade and his associates thought they were doing in relentlessly okaying so many bad choices, one after another, all of which combined to sink this film. Could they really have been that blind, and just plain incompetent?

Raise the Titanic should have been a great, enjoyable adventure movie. It wound up being a clunky, pretentious bore. The ineptitude demonstrated in every facet of it is so dumbfounding it's amazing to think that the people involved were all professionals. Rarely has so much potential for making a good film been thrown away at every single opportunity.

But, oh -- what could have been!