Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster

Of course I am familiar with the tragedy that befell the Titan submersible and those inside it. And thus, when I had the opportunity to watch this 2025 documentary "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster", of course I opted to do so.

I harbored no expectations to this particular documentary, as I had in effect put the memories of this event so far away in memory that I no longer thought about it. Only by stumbling upon the documentary did my mind get reminded about the implosion and the tragedy. And of course I have my own opinions of Stockton and OceanGate.

Writer Gary Lang and director Pamela Gordon put together an insightful documentary that delt with the matter of the implosion in, what I believe to be, a neutral and objective manner. The documentary did put a lot of things out in the open that I was not aware of. But then again, I didn't really closely follow the incident back when it was on the news. I only kept up with in peripherally.

Watchable, sure. Informational, sure. The 90 minutes of this documentary were actually well-spent. Not something you watch more than once, though.

My rating of "Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Why, oh why, use Josh Gates for such an important story to tell. He was found to be a fraud internationally with his Petra 'expose' and comes from a 'ghost-busting' background?! Leave him out of real science and fact-filled documentaries. This is topic of real exploration and discovery packed with technology and science, so why use a renown fraud and tv-commentator to discuss what oceanographers, marine scientists,and physicists addressed with learned and earned knowledge. I liked it but found his scripted commentary to be lacking, and since his fraudulent 'discovery' in Petra, Gates should be retired or put out to pasture by the Discovery Networks ...

This TV documentary was rushed to compete and be released ahead of Netflix's competing product "Titan: The Oceangate Disaster". It focuses on the Coast Guard hearings crew members and lacks key Oceangate people that Netflix snatched first and locked into a contract. Some bad moments are interviewing a diversity hire person that gives no relevant information about the investigation and stock footage of an airplane doing a loop being shown to buy time. And this is in the 60 minutes version. Ouch. The only triumph of this documentary is the exclusive footage of a key moment in the tragedy (and they show it twice).

If you only loosely followed the headlines of the Titan submersible disaster, you'll probably find some interesting discussions about the delamination and negligence on previous dives leading up to the fatal implosion. If you actively followed and read as much as you could, this documentary offers little new information. One thing that feels left out entirely is technical details about the hull's construction and design. There are videos of the actual Titan hull being wound in carbon, with discussions from the designers who assisted in production of the hull with Stockton - yet that is completely absent from this documentary. Where are those people today and why were they never interviewed by the USCG?

The bulk of this documentary focuses on portraying Stockton as a narcissist who ignores all warnings and safety, to parallel the USCG's investigation that inevitably will draw the same conclusion. The interviews don't seem like they're acknowledging the whole truth, or are leaving out certain details. There seems more to the story that we are not being told. Ultimately Stockton may be responsible, but one man was not able to design, build, and operate a submersible sub without the assistance of at least a hundred other people over the last decade. The documentary also leaves out that OceanGate operated other submersibles.

This documentary is 90 minutes of "Stockton bad", instead of 90 minutes of telling the story beyond Stockton, which is what a lot of people wanted.

Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster is a gripping documentary that attempts to delve into one of the most tragic and bizarre maritime incidents in recent history - the catastrophic loss of the Titan submersible. The film deserves credit for its slick production, emotional interviews, and chilling underwater soundscapes that amplify the tension. It offers a strong human element, focusing on the lives of the five victims and their motivations for embarking on such a perilous journey.

However, the documentary falls short in several key areas. While it does well recounting the timeline of the disaster, it occasionally veers into sensationalism, leaning too heavily on dramatized speculation instead of sticking to verified facts. Some viewers may find its pacing uneven, with extended sequences that feel padded and repetitive, as if trying to stretch a 45-minute story into a feature-length runtime.

Additionally, the film could have dug deeper into the systemic issues that allowed OceanGate's risky practices to go unchecked, instead of lightly brushing over regulatory gaps. Experts are featured, but often in soundbites rather than substantive analysis. The ending leaves you unsettled, not just from the tragedy, but from a sense of incompletion.

Ultimately, Implosion is worth watching for its emotional resonance and eerie atmosphere, but it doesn't fully live up to its potential as a comprehensive or investigative documentary. It's a respectful tribute, but not a revelatory one.