Titanic [1998] [DVD]

Some people don't like the love story in the film, but I found it magical. DiCaprio, as much as I hate to admit it, is an incredibly talented actor, but it is really Kate Winslet who shines the brightest in my eyes. The complexity of Rose, engaged to wealth and status but yearning for something real that cannot be bought, calls out to the humanity in all of us, and we delight in her forbidden romance with the poor and socially inferior Jack Dawson, ready to take up arms ourselves against her rogue of a fiancé and his dastardly henchman. Some of the purity of this love was lost for me inside the car in the storage room, but no one can deny the power of Rose's love for Jack when she sacrifices her own survival to stay by his side. This is the kind of all-encompassing love we all seek but a rare few of us ever find.

Equally powerful is the extraordinary presentation of the Titanic's final hour. One feels as if he is actually there feeling the shudders as the iceberg rips through the great ship's hull, detecting the list of the decks as the front section begins to settle under water, watching with fascinating unbelief the water as it begins its climb from the lower to upper decks, getting a sense of the complete and utter panic that ensues once Titanic's fate becomes clear to all onboard, and watching numbly from afar as the smokestacks break off, the hull splits, and the fractured ship dives beneath the waves en route to its eternal resting place. The surreal aspect of it all, with the music playing in the background while brave men say a final goodbye to their wives and children in the lifeboats and less fortunate men, women, and children stop to embrace death in whatever way they can, is truly magical and tugs at the heart-strings of anyone professing to be human.

The incredible music accompanying this film is also intensely moving, whether it is reinforcing the passion of true love newly found or lamenting the tragedy of souls lost. If the love story and tragedy do not bring tears to your eyes, the extraordinary music will. I wonder how many men in particular sat through all of the closing credits in the theatre hoping their tears would dry before the lights came back on. The ending is to my eyes absolutely perfect and truly beautiful. This movie affects me greatly no matter how many times I have already watched it. I hope that some of those individuals vowing never to watch Titanic will reconsider their decision; I feel sure that many unbelievers would find themselves as captivated and completely in love with this motion picture as I am upon experiencing it.

Billy Zane is perfectly one-dimensional and completely familiar as the conceited and selfish, immoral heir to a Gilded Age fortune. Kate Winslet as his intended is a ravishing beauty with oomph and a mind of her own. Leonardo DiCaprio as the wily and clever sketch artist who seduces her while twice saving her life comes across curiously as part Huck Finn and part John Boy. His romantic bravado in the freezing water, saying he was so lucky to have won the steamship ticket because it allowed him to meet her, was enough to embarrass even the most hardened Harlequin novelist.

Most of the action before the bow scene was almost painful because just about every line was written so that a ten-year-old could understand what he was supposed to feel about whom. Evil, decadent rich people. Good, clever, hard working poor people. (They even party better.) Cliché followed cliché. But the romantic bow scene was artfully staged, and after that Kate came to life. It was strange to see her in the early scenes. She seemed almost a bad actress, as though the mediocrity of the direction had reduced her. But her part was so big and she had so much to do that her natural talent overcame the early junior high school text and the later schmaltz.

Since the audience knows the ending, Director James Cameron knew he had a fine opportunity for dramatic irony, but his touch was a bit heavy handed . Since the audience knows eighty-five years of history unknown to the Titanic passengers, we get these further heavy bits of irony (Check the heads of the midbrow audience nodding knowingly.)

My sensitivities were most offended, however, when Cameron has the salvage crew smugly celebrate their good fortune before the safe they have hauled up is actually opened. That was the tip off for everybody in the audience to wisely know there would be little of value in the safe. Duh. In real life those guys don't celebrate until the gold is in the hand. Cameron's style is to flatter the audience, make them think they're smart, the usual pandering of a mediocre talent. Why did the Academy vote this best picture? Simply because it was a popular lavish production squarely in the Hollywood tradition, employing a whole bunch of movie folk, and it was a financial success, just what the industry craves. I should add that everything technical in the film was excellent, and Cameron's dramatic direction was a lot better than his dialogue. Also, because of the exquisite detail, watching the big ship sink was a whole lot of fun.

It has to be admitted, Titanic is a masterpiece. For its time, the CGI was amazing and the sheer scale of the film was awesome. The film does not have a downfall, though when it comes to the plot. The Day After Tomorrow, one the same scale, had a hollow character story line. Titanic did not fall into that trap. It has been disputed that the script is hollow and some of it is but remember, this is a tear-jerker blockbuster that won 11 Oscars - you have to laugh though when you hear that James Cameron, director of Aliens and Terminator, wrote a love story.
Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor, though he does overact on occasions. I think the people who hate him feel that way because he always plays a wishy-washy character. Jack Dawson, our star of the film, is a prime example and you do feel like throttling him as he stands on the bow and screams "I'm king of the world!" Shudder.
With the basic out of the way, the plot is simple if you don't know it which I'm sure you do. An old, 100 year-old-woman (Gloria Stuart) goes a ship to meet some bountry-hunters, led by Bill Paxton. She resites them her experience on the Titanic and how she fell in love. Her eventual lover, a young, penniless man, Jack Dawson wins a ticket onto the Titanic in a hand of poker. On his journey, he falls for engaged rich woman, Rose (Kate Winslet who is playing a young Gloria Stuart) and a love affair begins, abruptly shattered when the ship hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic. It shows their struggle to survive through the chaos of people.
If you take the film seriously, you should appreciate it. Kate Winslet is, although she became mega famous for the film, over shadowed by DiCaprio but certainly not out acted. I find her to be the most powerful character in the film, a character which is develops and is eventually unleashed. She plays the role with complexity and a form of arrogance. She is selfish and certainly not kind-hearted through being so spoilt by her snobbish mother (Frances Fisher). Once she has an interest, she focuses on it and becomes very passionate, as she portrays. It'd a shame that she did not win the Oscar for Best Actress.
The cast is grand but not an overly famous one, which, like with Lord of the Rings, is an advantage in respects. Billy Zane plays Rose's evil fiance, Cal, Bernard Hill plays the ill-fated Captain of the ship, Johnathan Hyde is the fame craving Ismay, builder of the ship and David Warner is Cal's bodyguard. What makes me laugh if Kathy Bates' character. For me, she is comic relief in the film because she's so pointless and again, wishy-washy. Don't get me wrong, she's a good actress but just her American style, almost macho character is hilarious.
The love story is not as bad as most think. It's a nice love story, rather than a great one. At first you see Rose and Jack to be playmates more than people who fancy each other. When they first kiss on the infamous bow scene, it's more of a passionate teenage romance. The drawing scene, however, when Rose asks Jack to draw a picture of her naked, is more serious and in a sense, dark. If you don't know the film, you might get a surprise to see nudity in a 12. Again, Kate Winslet did it extremely well, giving an impish shyness to it by trying to distract Jack. The scene when they make love in a car, whilst being chased by stewards is hard to take seriously. It wasn't romantic and it didn't really fit in - in the back of a cramped car, you wonder how they manage to undress.
The actual Titanic story is more entertaining than the future aspect. It's more of a resital and gives a form of support to the film, since you wonder what happened to the characters after the film. It probably would have been fine without the supporting storyline.
The soundtrack for the film is quite good, composed by James Horner (Troy, Braveheart) and, as we know, Celine Dion sings the finale. The song is true to the film because if you listen to the words, it makes subtle sense.
If you are prepared to watch this film with no aversions or grudges, this is a must see because, even if you don't enjoy the love story, it is an Oscar winning epic on a grand scale, standing in comparison with Ben-Hur and Return of the King so it is a DVD that should sit on your shelf; boy or girl.