QM2 - The Queen Mary 2; Special Commemorative Maiden Voyage Edition
by Edwin L. Cies
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DVD details
Actor: Brian Brieske, Commodore Ronald W. Warwick, Edwin L. Cies, Robin L. Ricketts, Rupert AbbottDirector: Edwin L. Cies
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Dolby, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-06-11
Studio: Genesee Productions / CunardVoyages.com
DVD Reviews of QM2 - The Queen Mary 2; Special Commemorative Maiden Voyage Edition
DVD Review: Indescribably Awful! Really, really bad!
Summary: 1 Stars
My wife and I had the good fortune to cross from New York to Southampton in July of 2006, and thought that this DVD might bring back some happy memories. Instead, we got stuck with a product so awful that we can't even in good conscience donate it to Goodwill. The whole thing comes across as though it were done by a high school student with a cam-corder. As I am a seventh-grade teacher, I might conceivably use this as punishment by showing it at after-school detention and making the students answer questions while they watch it. It's really that bad. To give you an idea of the sloppiness, a still close-up of a cottage at Madeira is labeled "Madiera". Apparently a proofreader was not in Genessee Productions' budget. And what a cottage at Madeira has to do with the Queen Mary 2, only the director of this DVD knows.
My issues beyond the above are many. First, the musical theme is the Barry Manilow version of "Sentimental Journey". Sounds like the entire band is on thorazine, and has the effect of transforming a vital, modern, supership into a thing of memory. It's bad enough that the mood is set with this wretched musical offering, but it repeats ad infinitum throughout the show. Further, it would appear that most of the passengers on the initial voyage were elderly, overweight, and caucasian, which has the effect of making the ship appear to be a very affluent home for the aged.
There are three main characters in this DVD. One is a "335-day plus" Cunard traveler (who is also the director, heaven help us), and the other two are his friends, a newly married couple, who have never traveled on a ship. None of them has anything remotely interesting or intelligent to say about the QM2 - the wife says it's big and has different levels; the husband says he likes not having to worry about parking the car; and the director (who of all people should know better) refers to the QM2 as a "boat" and compares her to a five-star hotel. Oh, the director is also very preoccupied with "elegance", and talks delightedly about getting to "dress up and be Fred Astaire". This is apparently a reference to the transAtlantic tradition of formal dress for dinner.
The actual film footage of the ship's exterior and interior conveys almost nothing of its majesty, which is great, or the attention to detail of its design team, which was absolute. The film crew does most of its shooting from three vantage points, and the filming technique creates the impression that the ship is standing still, even as it is crossing the Atlantic. In fact, the only footage in the whole documentary that conveys the power and motion of a transAtlantic liner is the stock footage provided by Cunard which shows the original Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, and the Queen Elizabeth 2.
There is a little talk by the three silly people about the QM2 carrying on Cunard's British heritage. This is just ignorant, as Cunard, the parent company, was purchased long ago by Arab interests and later sold to the Carnival consortium, which is American. Further, the QM2 was built in France, unlike all past Cunarders, which were built within the U.K. (Note - Cunard's latest ship, the Queen Elizabeth, was built by the Italian shipbuilder, Fincantieri, as was the Queen Victoria.) And, if you sail on the QM2, you can speak to staff members all day long without encountering anyone British. My most memorable encounter was with a German woman at the purser's office. The problem created by the German was later solved by another young lady who was Italian. Our dining room waiters and room steward were Filipino, and the only U.K. staff member I recall was a young Scotsman in one of the stores.
The QM2 is a magnificent ship (Not a "boat".), and crossing the Atlantic on her is memorable. If you have any interest in doing so, then avoid this DVD at all costs. And if you do watch it after reading this, don't say you haven't been warned.
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