So, this is an odd one. "Aliens of the Deep" is clearly designed to be viewed on an IMAX screen - which, of course, I wasn't. I was watching it on my TV via Disney Plus. So , visually it's not as impressive as old James Cameron intended - but as a documentary, how is it? Too long, and only interesting about half the time.
Veteran film director James Cameron continues his obsession with all things deep sea by arranging an expedition, to the hydrothermal vents and investigate the life that thrives in such toxic and inhospitable environments. Accompanying the marine biologists are a team of NASA scientists eager to learn what they can about the technology needed to explore similarly difficult terrain in Space.
When I say it's interesting half the time, I mean it's interesting when it's showing their actual discoveries. The vents have their own ecosystems linked to the heat generated by the superheated water, shrimp and crab like creatures exist in large numbers and tube worms mix around the deep sea submersibles. They experiment with taking samples of rocks and with how close they can get to the vents.
It's less interesting when it's using CGI to imagine creatures during fantasies about what it might be like to explore the seas of another planet. I guess the idea is that it's supposed to fire your imagination, but for me it was mostly padding what was already a slow-moving experience. It doesn't spend anything like enough time doing the actual interesting thing it does, showing you the actual creatures that live in these environments. The human stories of the scientist are generally a bit dull, though some of the film detailing the issues that the expedition has are more interesting.
I've spent a lot of time with space and undersea documentaries recently and unfortunately, despite some decent moments, this is a bit of a misfire.