Titanic (1997)

Director: James Cameron
Story: James Cameron
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane
Music: James Horner
Time: 194 minutes
Bottom-line: Dazzling visual effects and expensive sets make this film a great watch, despite other setbacks.

  Cameron returns to filmmaking three years after True Lies to create his masterpiece Titanic. Being the most expensive film at the time of release, Cameron made this a success despite several criticisms about production costs and other things. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Bill Paxton and Kathy Bates, Titanic, as the name says, depicts the ill-fated maiden voyage of the ship, along with the romantic relationship between two people on board.

DiCaprio (right) as Jack, and Winslet as Rose

The story begins with an underwater exploration of the Titanic, by Brock Lovett (Paxton) and his group. They are searching for a rare diamond, called ‘The Heart of the Ocean’. They don’t find the diamond, but find a safe with the drawing of a nude woman, dated 14th April 1914, the day Titanic sank. As they display this on television, a 90-100 year old woman, named Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart), claims that she is the one in the painting. She meets Lovett, who wants her to tell the story of how the Titanic sank.
 The scene cuts to 1912, where a wealthy Rose DeWitt Baker (Winslet), her fiancé Calvin “Cal” Hockley (Zane) and her mother aboard the ship. Rose’s dialogues let the viewers know that she is unhappy with the marriage. Five minutes before the ship leaves, a young man named Jack Dawson (DiCaprio) and his friend win third-class tickets for the Titanic. Rose starts to love Jack. Cal, unaware of her thoughts, presents her with a rare diamond ‘The Heart of the Ocean’. Rose, knowing that Jack is a great artist, asks him to paint a picture of her wearing only the necklace. The same night, the Titanic hits the iceberg. The rest of the film is about whether or not Jack and Rose escape from the Titanic, and what happens to all the other people aboard the ship.

The sinking of the ship

This was the film that really boosted DiCaprio’s career. Until then he did not work with any major director and he didn’t act in any film that became such a major success as this one, but after this film, everyone recognized his acting talent. Both DiCaprio and Winslet have acted very well, expressing various emotions, from happiness to fear to sadness. Billy Zane and Kathy Bates have also done good supporting roles. Gloria Stuart was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, but I didn’t find anything great in her role and I don’t think she deserved a nomination.

The story is a slow one. Though exciting to see, because of the visual effects, the story could have been better. What can be depicted in one minute, takes 5 minutes on screen. Out of the 194 minutes, the thrills start only in the last hour, after the ship hits the iceberg. Until then, only the romance between Jack and Rose, and the stories of other characters and other small incidents on the ship are shown. Even if you start watching in the last hour, but you know the story till then, you wouldn’t have missed much. The romance between Jack and Rose could have been greatly reduced. Just showing several scenes of them kissing each other does not strengthen the chemistry between them; on the other hand it makes the film more boring. However, James Horner’s score is good, and the song ‘My Heart will go on’ is beautiful and very melodious.

The special effects, like in any other Cameron film, are exceptional. The ship shown is an actual scale model, which was designed after the actual ship’s builder supplied the blueprints. Cameron used most of the effects during the sinking. Sources say that he criticized other films about Titanic, which showed the ship gracefully sinking into the sea, but he wanted to show how terrifying it really was. The time between the crash till the time the ship entirely sinks beneath the water is about one hour, and during this one hour, I, as a viewer, felt very much involved with the characters in the ship. The crash is portrayed in a very realistic manner, and if you ask any person in today’s world of how the Titanic sank, he will recite whatever he saw in this film. This is the impact the film has on the viewers.

The camera work is excellent. The crash, which ever parts of it were shown using a scale model, has been filmed superbly. The first scenes, which show the underwater exploration, have also been shot well. The editing is also very good. There are many scenes in the film that shift from 1912 to the day the old Rose tells Lovett the story of Titanic. All these scenes move smoothly from one to another, and the scenes during the crash are also cleanly shot and edited.

To conclude, James Cameron’s Titanic is a great watch. The typical visual effects of a Cameron film are excellent. The last hour is brilliant to see. The first two hours are a bore, so you have to patiently wait to see the ending. Despite the slow story, excellent acting and spectacular effects make Titanic a memorable film.

My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 88%