Titanic

Director: James Cameron
Screenplay: James Cameron
Starring: Bill Paxton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, David Warner, Gloria Stuart, Kathy Bates.

John's Review

Titanic is finally here, after two years of rumours, the most talked about film is in theaters. Well the good news is it's well worth the price of admission. Both lavish and incredibly detailed in it's historic recounting of the tragic tale, Titanic is surpringly light and entertaining considering it's three hour time span. It is certainly not an instant classic romantic story, like say Gone with the Wind or Cassablanca, but it certainly dazzles and entertains. The "unsinkable ship" is shown as an amazing emotional ride by Cameron, who combines technical wizardry with a very human if unbelievable love story.

Unlike a documnetary of the ill fated voyage the film does not seem bogged down with technical information. Now not to say that it lacks any, I was very happy to see someone explain the reason for why it sank. Instead the story centers on two main characters Jack Dawson (DiCaprio) and Rose DeWitt Bukater (Winslet). Dawson is a penniless artist who wins his ticket aboard the ocean liner minutes before it sets sail, Bukater is a sheltered teenage high society girl who is being forced into a marriage with Cal Hockley (Zane) by her mother. The love struck heroes meet on the first night aboard the ship, now keep in mind this is two nights before the ship sinks. The story is told by an old and withered Rose (Stuart) to a greedy yet, caring treasure hunter (Paxton) who is in search of a legendary diamond that supposedly sunk with the ship.

The film could have been told as a drama that centers around the many inhabitants of the floating city. This would have worked much better for me. Instead it is relies on a heavy handed almost forced romance between Rose and Jack. These characters have no history between them, yet we are supposed to believe that they fall maddeningly in love with each other after a few short hours stretched over two days together. Cameron said in an interview that he had never done a romance before, I beg to differ James. The Abyss was an amazingly well done romance. Unlike this film, The Abyss had two characters that had a three years history together before the film even starts, something that can be built upon. To me this was the only part of Titanic that I did not enjoy. I almost found myself wishing the ship would hurry up and hit the iceberg so I could see the good part. (Of course every single woman who has seen this movie will disagree with me 100%)

Of course best of all in Titanic is the boat itself. We first get to see it's ghostly remains at the bottom of ocean in the beginning of the film long before we ever see Cameron's monstrous recreation. The final hour of the film is by far the most incredible part of the movie. Watching people fall off the ship and fight to get aboard a handful of lifeboats makes us think as if we're watching the actual sinking itself.

James Horner's music is hauntinlgy beautiful, Cameron's set designs are awe inspiring and the ship itself is absolutley amazing. Do I recommend this film? Yes. Do I think it is the best film ever made? Not by a long shot.

Grade: B

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