Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie Review

The Big, BIG Blue

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 5, 2013

The competitive sport—perhaps "passion" might be a better word—of freediving was the subject of Luc Besson's 1988 film The Big Blue, a heavily fictionalized account of the lifelong competition between freediving champions Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca (called "Enzo Molinari" in the film). Freedivers push their bodies to unimaginable extremes so that they can reach ever greater depths in the ocean without the assistance of breathing equipment, using only the air in their lungs. New records are routinely set, and old ones broken.

The shorter theatrical cut of The Big Blue focused on rivalries and relationships, but Besson's longer director's cut included extensive underwater footage intended to convey the allure of freediving and the unique relationship that freedivers establish between themselves and the ocean, which is essential to their ability to remain underwater longer than anyone would imagine possible. That same sense of marine spirituality dominates director Bob Talbot's IMAX film, Ocean Men: Extreme Dive, which chronicles the efforts of Mayol's and Maiorca's modern day counterparts, Pipin Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari to dive even deeper than their forbearers. Talbot is not interested in chronicling a rivalry; he doesn't even put Ferreras and Pelizzari together on screen. His goal is to use the enhanced definition of the IMAX format to convey some sense of what so draws these men to the underwater realm that they repeatedly risk death to extend their stay there, unencumbered by any apparatus of life support.

Talbot is one of the world's leading underwater photographers. He has contributed cinematography, camera work and research to such films as Flipper, Free Willy, Into the Blue and The Life of Pi. The narration for Ocean Men was written by Mose Richards, a prolific scripter of nature documentaries, although much of the voiceover was supplied by Ferreras and Pelizzari themselves, with a small portion contributed by Jacques Mayol. The film was released to IMAX theaters in 2001.

(Note: According to IMDb, Ocean Men has a running time of 90 minutes, but the film on this disc is 40 minutes long. That is the only version referenced in any review or discussion I have been able to find, and I have seen no other reference to a longer verion.)

Ocean Men opens with a brief introduction to freediving and its history. It recounts the competition between Mayol and Maiorca, using vintage footage inset over contemporary sea vistas. It also visits briefly with the elderly Mayol in a moment that serves as a kind of "passing the torch". Director Talbot then gets down to the main business of exploring the distinctive and very different approaches to freediving of Ferreras and Pelizzari.

Ferreras, who is originally from Cuba and now operates out of Miami, is the scientist. His dives are accomplished with specially engineered equipment that lowers him steadily to a precisely measured depth, then returns him to the surface. He is observed at every stage, both by divers in scuba equipment stationed at regular intervals along the path of descent and by a medical researcher on the surface monitoring sophisticated measuring devices attached to his body. Ferreras trains like a professional athlete to prepare for these dives, which, despite the care and preparation, always contain a huge element of risk. The film includes dramatic footage of one dive from which Ferreras surfaced unconscious, and the narrator explains that he remained that way for a period of time with no indication that he would wake up. He did, and three days later set a new depth record.

Still, for all his technology, Ferreras' personal relation to the sea is more direct and intimate. In his narration, he says that he feels perfectly at home diving with sharks around him, and Talbot includes a remarkable sequence where Ferreras lazily pets a passing shark, then glides in and out of a wrecked ship resting on the ocean floor, as if he were just another marine inhabitant passing the time. Clearly this is someone who regards the ocean as his second home.

Pelizzari's approach is more overtly spiritual. He considers Mayol his mentor, and his dives are accomplished with nothing more than a mask and specially designed elongated flippers. His preparation consists of yoga and long hours spent underwater, teaching his body (as Pelizzari puts it) to do without oxygen. He often lies on the ocean floor looking up at the surface and counting the waves. As he prepares for a dive, he draws inward and imagines himself already in the ocean and reaching his target depth. Like Ferreras, he has his descent monitored by scuba divers, but Pelizzari's success is marked when he reaches a platform suspended at the designated depth and picks up a weighted disc from it, which he then carries back to the surface. While his scuba team decompresses, he returns to bring them champagne.

Recognizing that every "record" set by one freediver will shortly be broken by another, Talbot focuses less on the competitive element than on the passion that drives these unique individuals to such extreme lengths. Underwater photography has an inherently dreamy quality to it, but the addition of these adaptive humans, part mammal, part sea-creature-in-spirit, gives the imagery of Ocean Men an especially lyrical tone.

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Director Bob Talbot handled his own IMAX cinematography, and the gorgeous large-format images, both above and below the ocean's surface, are nicely showcased on Image/RLJ's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. With the exception of a few sequences at great depth or in caves, the underwater scenes appear to have been filmed in waters shallow enough to benefit from the illumination of brilliant overhead sun, providing plenty of detail for the IMAX camera to capture. The surface sequences are so exceptionally clean, clear and detailed that at moments one could be looking through a window. In just a few shots, notably of Miami seen from a helicopter, a touch of aliasing betrays the limitations of the Blu-ray's resolution.

Blacks are deep, and the colors are spectacular, especially the many variants and gradations of blue in the different ocean locations and depths. Establishing a strong contrast with these blues are the bright colors of the many corporate logos and sponsorship insignia, notable indications of how these freedivers finance their exploits.

Given the feature's short 40-minute running time, Image has not even had to use the entirety of a BD-25 to accommodate Ocean Men without noticeable artifacts.

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although distant sounds of water and waves occur on Ocean Men's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, director Talbot has chosen to set the mood with a dominant musical score, which allows him to move freely back and forth between different scenes and the efforts of the two different divers. The score has been recorded and mixed with an enveloping orchestral presence that is well suited to the subject matter. The original instrumental accompaniment is by Cliff Eidelman (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), but the track's most memorable element comes from the songs contributed by Irish vocalist Enya.

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Warning: If your player is connected to the internet, the disc will attempt to download "disc updates" at startup. Even with a good internet connection and a fast-loading player such as a PS3, this process can extend loading time by several minutes, for no discernible benefit. I recommend disconnecting one's player from the internet (or switching off access) before loading the disc. Otherwise, it will be necessary to cancel the update operation, which isn't as easy as it sounds.

• Trailers for Other IMAX Features (1080p, except where noted): A "play all" function is included.
• Wild Ocean
• Ride Around the World (480i)
• Mummies: Secrets of the Pharoahs
• Dinosaurs Alive!
• The Alps
• Coral Reef Adventure (1080i)
• Dolphins
• Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag
• Hurricane on the Bayou
• Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk
• Greece: Secrets of the Past
• Journey into Amazing Caves
• The Living Sea
• The Magic of Flight
• Mystery of the Nile
• Super Speedway



• BD-Live: BD-Live functionality is provided by www.dynamicHD.com and, as of this writing pre-street date, was not available.

Ocean Men: Extreme Dive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The theatrical market for specialty large-format films like Ocean Men has largely dried up, now that IMAX theaters are a regular element in the marketing of studio tentpoles. That's unfortunate, because a standard 35mm (or digital video) documentary about freediving would be just as interesting, but it wouldn't be as effective at conveying the pure sensual enjoyment that Ferreras and Pelizzari so obviously derive from their ocean adventures. Talbot's film puts you as much in their place as is possible without actually getting wet, and the Blu-ray brings the experience home. Recommended.