The sinking of the Titanic remains a defining moment in worldwide culture despite occurring over 100 years ago at this point. No one could have predicted another infamous disaster, albeit one with significantly less casualties, would occur in nearby waters destined for the same bottomless abyss as the doomed ocean liner. Titan: The OceanGate Disaster chronicles the infamous implosion of the Titan submersible that shockingly occurred in June of 2023 by internally assessing just what went wrong. It traces back the tragedy through eyewitness accounts, working with creator and infamously difficult millionaire, Stockton Rush, as well as assessing the various external factors that contributed to the catastrophic event. Those hoping for explicit detail about what the victims felt may be disappointed; instead, director Mark Monroe puts Rush and his entire crooked operation under the microscope.
Jumping all over the place in its timeline of events, Titan actually begins with the loaded horrific event in question. We see footage of folks pulling up to the submarine, excited for the journey that will follow. Worldwide news reports and obsessive updates about the horrors at hand leap out nonstop. Several different talking heads are introduced that will be our window into the makings of a disaster. Emily Hammermeister, a woman who helped load people into the doomed sub and was at one time eyed as the face of OceanGate, becomes a vital talking point. So too does David Lochridge, the OceanGate Director of Machine Operations, labeled here as “The Whistleblower.” Others are also introduced in this way. A relative of one of the five victims, the daughter of P.H. Nargeolet, gets the simple moniker of “The Family Member,” whilst Tony, the Director of Engineering, has “The Engineer” painted as his label. Presenting each of the major players in this way fully forms Stockton Rush’s inner circle; film director Monroe often presents these relationships in a physical kind of way, almost looking like a family tree. The biggest difference here is that the people depicted on the tree simply fade away as they become wise to Rush’s corner-cutting methodology.
Perhaps the most eye-opening aspect of Titan lies in its timeline of events. Rush knew about the many issues that went with doing deep diving. He recruited some of the submersible industry’s astute experts, and not even they could convince him that he was essentially playing with fire. His revolutionary ideas were certainly ambitious. He wanted to make visiting the Titanic into an elite tourist destination, a pricey ticket for over $100k that only the “first class” amongst us could truly afford. Before Titan, the last deep-sea exploration of the Titanic occurred back in 2005. The enduring mystique of the Titanic contributed to the obsession over the mission. Longing to be the next Elon Musk and marveling over that billionaire’s “swinging dick” approach to life, Rush knew he could nab “Titaniacs” if they could get the specifications on his submersible working safely. But from what we hear, safety seemed to be the last thing on Rush’s mind. He was so cocky that he probably never imagined the worst would happen. Anyone that stepped in his way was an enemy, halting the progress on his passion project. No matter who called into question the durability of Titan’s carbon fiber hull, Rush was going to make it happen, even if he had to “test” with human subjects.
As with any horrible occurrence, there are often ways to prevent said instance from happening at all. During multiple trial runs, eerie creaking, cracking noises could be heard from the hull. The immense pressures of deep sea diving meant that the submersible could snap at any time from too much force. At one point, OceanGate worked with Boeing, but that company parted ways citing costs. The notes they provided are scary indeed: going to the depths where the Titanic lay, Boeing left a skull emoji. Any concerns were completely ignored, minimizing any potential risk of death or damages. In the footage we see of Rush, he never comes across as particularly maniacal; then again, who would allow themselves to be filmed that way on camera? In the firing of an essential employee doing a risk assessment, Rush’s true character emerges on audio. He simply wanted to sweep it all under the rug. If our legal system worked a bit faster, a pending lawsuit might have stopped OceanGate’s progress. Instead, it was simply left to sit in perpetuity.
Who is ultimately responsible for the OceanGate disaster? Was it the newly hired engineers, with minimal experience in what they were actually building? Was it Stockton Rush, literally rushing his way through trial runs and ignoring horrifying red flags? Rush always wanted to be famous, and he certainly achieved a sick level of fame by carrying out his expedition. At the cost of real lives, OceanGate got off the ground. But its journey was anything but successful. Monroe’s documentary exposes the ultimate evil of OceanGate’s hellbound creator, warts and all. It implores the viewer to ask who is responsible for this travesty. Though it resists a garish dive into the victims or what was happening in that submersible before it imploded, this searing documentary paints a full picture of the why and the how. Without feeling insensitive or too probing about its central topic, Titan: The OceanGate Disaster emerges as a must-see.
Titan: The OceanGate Disaster screened at 2025’s Tribeca International Film Festival
