I have great respect for James Cameron, I really do. It seems that everything the man touches turns to money regardless of its quality. I also have great respect for Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, for giving great performances in this movie and having careers to this day that aren't solely based off Titanic. I was planning to watch this movie and write a review of how overrated it is. However, I have finished watching it and I can safely say that I don't have the heart to do so and would be a cruel heartless bitch if I did. Titanic isn't a perfect movie, and it is a teensy bit overrated, but it's still a terrific movie that I don't regret seeing.
There is an inherent problem with making a movie about the sinking of the Titanic. If you want to make it a thriller, you can't build up suspense because people already know of the tragedy that happened. So in order to have a successful movie based on a well-known tragedy, you have to make the movie character-driven. For example, James Cameron used a love story, and that seemed to work. Pretty much everyone has heard of this movie, and up until a few years ago I hadn't. I guess I missed the boat on that one. Don't worry, that will be the last boat pun in this review, but I might add one more sinking pun just for fun.
We don't need to talk about the movie as if we don't know what it is, but I'll summarize it anyway. Rose (Kate Winslet) is an upper-class girl who is being forced to marry a man she despises and live a life of rich oppression. Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a poor guy who wins tickets for the ship in a rather lucky hand of poker and meets Rose when he stops her from jumping off the side of the boat. A forbidden romance happens (gee, Leo sure liked to be in movies about forbidden romance. Not one year before Titanic he did Romeo and Juliet with Claire Danes) and only at the height of their emotional commitment does the ship meet with disaster.
That's pretty much all I need to explain for the story, but the first and last 20 minutes of the movie centres around the treasure hunters trying to find relics from the Titanic and they find the infamous nude painting of Kate Winslet. The lead explorer (Bill Paxton) is contacted by the now 101-year-old Rose (Gloria Stuart) and she is brought over to tell the story. The last 20 minutes is dedicated to showing how Rose moved on after the sinking of the ship and how she in fact posessed the maguffin necklace that was so valuable. I suppose the treasure hunters were added to provide some grounding for the movie's shameless romanticism. The story was kind of cliched, but most love stories are, and I don't have the heart to shame it for being cliched. The same pretty much goes for the dialogue, but again, I don't have the heart to criticize it.
The performances were pretty good, but I have one qualm. If Kate Winslet got a Best Actress nomination, then Leonardo DiCaprio should have gotten a Best Actor nomination. Kate was terrific, and she and the late Gloria Stuart made for two perfect personas of Rose. Granted, Gloria Stuart looked nothing like Kate Winslet in her youth, but it was a good idea for them to use her rather than putting age makeup on Kate Winslet. Needless to say, they were both worthy of their Oscar nominations. However, Leo was robbed of an Oscar that year, because he was damn extraordinary as Jack. I have also deduced that Jack Dawson has sex powers because there are a hell of a lot of life drawings of fully nude women in his sketchbook. I suppose looking at Leo DiCaprio for an extended period of time makes you want to take your clothes off.
The rest of the supporting performances were terrific as well, like Kathy Bates as "Unsinkable" Molly Brown, TV's favourite polygamist Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett the treasure hunter, Frances Fisher as Rose's mother Ruth, and Billy Zane as Rose's evil fiance Cal. Billy Zane's character was a no good rotten son of a bitch and when Gloria Stuart says that he committed suicide after the stock market crash in 1929, I was glad. After all, if someone sweet like Jack had to die than someone evil like Cal should die too just to even things out. Needless to say, all the performances were good.
I have just a few more notes before I wrap this up. The visuals in this movie are fantastic and I know James Cameron is planning for a 3D re-release and even though it would be entirely pointless, knowing James Cameron it will have better use of 3D than most movies. The score for the movie was also fantastic. As a matter of fact, in the concert band that I'm in, we are playing a selection of songs from this and I really enjoy playing it, even though there is little room to breathe for clarinet. Needless to say, the visuals and the score were fantastic.
Somehow, this movie has managed to drill through all the layers of cynicism that I use to shield myself and makes the romantic girl in me come out, plus the one that lusts for young Leo. I can't imagine the flocks of teenage girls that went to see this movie just to ogle Jack Dawson, sex powers and all. This is also the second movie I've sobbed at. The last 90 minutes of the movie is pure emotionally intense cinematic gold and I was crying the entire way through. The height of my crying was when Jack was hanging off the wall panel and telling Rose to move on with her life. Seriously, I was weeping like mad. Anyway, I was definitely crying.
Again, the movie managed to drill throught the layers of cynicism and made me grow a heart. I will say that Titanic is a teensy bit overrated, but I don't have the heart to say that it was overrated entirely. It featured some good performances, great chemistry between its two lead actors (at least more than he had with Claire Danes in Romeo and Juliet), great visuals, and a general sweetness to it that I found hard not to surrender to. I would definitely recommend Titanic to anyone and mark it as a must-see for everyone. So if you haven't seen this movie, I would get on that.
p.s. I do one hell of a Billy Zane impression, which includes me saying "now out, out, I need to apply more mascara". comment back if you agree that Zane always looks like he's wearing mascara.
