This documentary provides dramatic insights into James Cameron’s quest to reach the bottom of the sea.

Cameron has been obsessed with the oceans of our world and their mysteries since childhood. He became scuba certified at 16 and went onto make a series of films about the lure of the oceans and the unknown secrets of their depths.

These films include; The Abyss, Titanic and a string of documentaries about the depths; including Ghosts of the Abyss, Volcanoes of the Deep and Bismarck. He has also created the most spectacular 3D film of all time, Avatar. In DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D all of Cameron’s obsessions about the deep, technology, his skills as a story teller, and his ability to create amazing 3D effects come together to deliver a truly beautiful and thrilling tale of a 21st century team of adventurers who set out to conquer the last true frontier – the deepest part of the ocean at 36,000 ft. This is at the bottom of the Mariana Trench near Guam, known as the Challenger Deep. This depth is more than Mount Everest is high or the cruising altitude of a commercial airliner.

Fifty years earlier the US Navy sent the submersible Trieste to this place, manned by Walsh and Piccard. But once the focus of US Government exploration turned to outer space, no further attempts were made to descend into the depths of the oceans. When making Bismarck Cameron had descended to 16,000 feet in two Russian designed Mirs submersibles. He then felt challenged to go all the way to the very bottom of the ocean. But no such vessel existed.

Cameron then set out to not only make and record this journey from his own point of view by piloting the vessel, but to first create the submersible vehicle, the associated technology and film equipment to enable this remarkable adventure to happen and be communicated to the general public. This is a journey comparable to journalist Henry Stanley’s into the depths of the Congo in the eighteen seventies.

The ground breaking DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submarine was engineered in Sydney by Ron Allum and his team. It took a radical new direction in design, being built like a vertical torpedo that could descend into and rise from the depths rapidly and also move horizontally like a seahorse by using thrusters at its mid-point. The sphere carrying Cameron was made of 2.5-inch-thick steel, custom forged to withstand 16,000 pounds per square inch of pressure at 36,000 feet.

Many years and untold millions of dollars of investment later, the expedition finally left Sydney in 2012 for diving tests in Jervis Bay. These tests proved the device could actually operate underwater and all could be recorded on film in 3D. The expedition then moves onto tests deeper into the ocean near New Guinea and an island off Guam, then ultimately into the abyss of Mariana Trench. The expedition was challenged by the ticking clock of Cameron’s need to be in London in late March 2012 for the premier of Titanic 3D.

DEEPSEA CHALLENGE runs 90 minutes and the telling of this tale combines the excitement of creative film making in never before experienced conditions with the challenges of inventing the means to creating all the technology required to facilitate this adventure.

Tragedy befalls this expedition into the depths of darkness when producer and directing partner Andrew Wight, who is Australian, and film maker and cinematographer Mike deGruy are killed in a helicopter accident during a journey to film the sub during the test dive. Everyone is devastated but the adventure continues…

This story is engrossing, the characters captivating, the technology overwhelming and the 3D effects phenomenal. Never before has a film seemed so real and enveloping. It just wouldn’t be the same in 2D.

The ending is somewhat of an anti-climax, but the journey is absolutely riveting. And in the ultimate product placement challenge, four specially designed Rolex watches were put on and in the sub, together with the Rolex from the original Trieste dive in 1960.

All emerged in perfect working order! As does Cameron, who makes it to the London Premier of Titanic 3D on the very next day.

Highly recommended.