Titanic (1997)

reviewed by
John Sylva


TITANIC a capsule review by DeWyNGaLe (John Sylva) Rating: A+

http://members.aol.com/DeWyNGaLe/MoviePED.html

James Cameron directs this stunning film based upon the ocean liner Titanic, which plummeted to the Atlantic Ocean floor in 1912 after striking an iceberg. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as Jack and Rose, two passengers aboard Titanic, who fall in love after Jack talks Rose from flinging herself off of the massive ship. Jack gambled his way onto Titanic, while Rose is the rich, sophisticated type who is aboard Titanic with family, and fiancee Cal (Billy Zane).

All actors put fourth their best effort, especially Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart (playing an elderly Rose), who both deserved the Oscars they didn't win at the 70th Annual Academy Awards. Leonardo DiCaprio seems miscast as Jack, but DiCaprio gives a top notch performance as he rehearses his witty, hilarious dialogue with emotion and believability. The screenplay gives each character their deserving screen time, so each character is developed to the point where we could almost write a book about them.

The Titanic ship's exterior and interior are marvelously crafted, not for a second looking fake. After researching the actual Titanic, and viewing numerous photos, the ship looks identical, thanks to cinematographer Russell Carpenter. Adding to the 1910's feel are the beautiful costumes which are shown off mostly by Kate Winslet, and designed by Deborah Lynn Scott.

All of the elements of Titanic work, as in the three hour running time we are told one of the saddest stories of all time, a well developed, believable love story, and informed about the wreckage and afterschock of Titanic. The three hour running time goes by in a flash, as Titanic had me deeply involved with its developed characters and massive settings, as James Cameron directs and writes his film to perfection, and the United States must agree with me, as Titanic went on to gross 601 million dollars at the box office.

After the film's emotional opening credits, in which we see actual footage of those aboard Titanic in 1912, I knew this film would stand among the greatest of all time. Titanic contains some of the most memorable, heartbreaking scenes I have ever been witnessed to, which make up the entire last hour or so of the film. Titanic is a titanic of a movie, a haunting, chilling film, as I feel the pain of those aboard Titanic as they held on for their lives.

The Bottom Line- Legendary filmmaking. One of the most dramatic, memorable movie experiences ever.


The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews