Titanic (1997)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliet Winslet, Billy Zane, Danny Nuccie, Kathy Bates, and Bill Paxton
Review by Laurence Mixson
**** out of ****
Titanic is, without a doubt, the best movie I've seen all year. And believe me, I'm not an easy critic to impress: The English Patient was too long, Men in Black was over-hyped, and several of the "big summer releases" were dead in the water. Thank God this film got delayed until December. It's my Christmas present.
Titanic is in the tradition of the old Hollywood epics of years-gone-by, and it is truly a stunning film. While watching this picture you are completely mesmerized, never taking your eyes off the screen, nor checking your watch to see how much longer it's gonna last, despite its 3 hour plus running time. As a friend of mine,who's a true Titanic-buff, said "If someone doesn't like this film, it's because they didn't want to." Truer words are hard to come by.
Of course, it doesn't hurt that this film comes from one of my favorite directors, James Cameron, who is unarguably the greatest action director of all time. If you wish to argue that point with me, look at his list of credits: The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2, True Lies, etc. Still care to disagree? Not only has Cameron helmed the directorial duties of this film, he also wrote, produced, and edited it. And to show his true faith for the project, he renenged all directing fees and percentage points to ease the budget costs. It's obvious he truly loves Titanic.
The film opens with footage, both real and fake, of an underwater excursion by special submarines to the bottom of the Atlantic, where a team of explorers lead by Bill Paxton are searcing for a diamond called the "Heart of the Ocean", which, according to Bill Paxton's character, would be worth more than the Hope Diamond today. Their search turns up, dissapointly, no diamond, but instead a drawing of a young woman wearing the diamond. This picture is broadcast on CNN and is seen by a 101 year old woman named Rose, who claims to be the girl in the picture. She is flown out to sea to meet Bill Paxton and to tell them about the diamond. Almost all of the rest of the movie is her narration of the past.
Rose's narration shows us how she was an unhappy young girl, engaged to a rich man named Cal Hockley(Billy Zane) that she didn't want to marry. Her mother is pushy and obnoxious, and Cal Hockley is arrogant. They are boarding the Titanic, which is sailing to America, and this is where she is to marry Cal.
Meanwhile, a young man named Jack Dawson(Leonardo DiCaprio) and his Italian friend(Danny Nucci) win two 3rd class tickets aboard the Titanic in a poker game. They are overjoyed, and rush aboard just as the boat is leaving. For them, this is their ticket to America, to a better life. For Rose, she is sailing to her doom.
The first hour and a half or so of Titanic tells the story of how Rose DeWitt(Kate Winslet) and Jack Dawson fall in love. It's the classic wrong-side-of-the-tracks story, and does sometimes resort to a few cliches. But as I said above, the love portion isn't sappy and doesn't "weigh the film down", as some critics have said. It's sweet, and it didn't make me restless at all, despite the fact that I usually hate love stories.
Of course, it might help that Cameron introduces some pretty interesting characters to help keep our eyes glued to the screen. Most of these people actually were passengers on the Titanic back in 1912, including the enigmatic Molly Brown(played by the talented Kathy Bates), the Captain of Titanic(Bernard Hill), and so on. All of these characters add an extra depth to the film, and make it that easier to watch.
Of course, things really start to get going after the hour and a half mark, where the Titanic strikes the iceberg and begins a slow sink to the bottom. The sinking is depicted realisticly, and the effects are truly amazing. It is not told in a heroic fashion sense either, as people are portrayed as panicking, pushing others aside to get on the limited lifeboats, and drowning and dying horrible deaths.
The best part of the movie, in my opinion, comes at the very end, when we flash back to the future. The crew, who at first had been skeptical of Rose's story, now are totally aborbed by her. Rose goes out onto the ship's ledge, and we then learn a secret about her that catches us off guard. We then see a dream of Rose's, in which she returns to the Titanic and is dancing with Jack Dawson. Most people I talked with after the movie saw this as only a dream. However, I think it symbolized more; I think it meant that Rose had died, and is going to a sort of heaven, which would be the happiest part of her life: her and her one true love, Jack. If anyone has seen the movie and would like to voice an opinion about this, e-mail me at venom8@hotmail.com.
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