This is the story of one of the most famous disasters of all time. Everyone knows the story of the RMS Titanic, the 'unsinkable' luxury liner that sank on her maiden voyage, April 14th-15th, 1912. But do you know the story of Rose Dawson? Didn't think so.
Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) is 101 years old. While Watching TV one day, she views a story on an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic that has produced a safe with some remarkable drawings in it. Rose knows that these drawings are ones she lost back on that night in April of 1912.
Once she arrives on the Russian ship at the dive site, the crew, searching the wreck for a precious diamond, ask about her life story on that fateful night. They think Rose may have the diamond or know where it is.
Rose fast begins to tell her story...
Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is a poor little upper-class girl. She and her mother (Frances Fisher) have no money, so Rose is being forced to marry Cal Hockley (Billy Zane), a rich upper crust snob.
Rose can't take it, and tries to end it all by jumping off the ship. She is stopped, however, by Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio). The two fast fall in love. But Cal, Rose's beau, becomes extremely jealous, and tries to keep them apart at all costs.
The pair manage to spend a good deal of time together before the events that we all know are coming actually do happen.
The Titanic hits that iceberg and the starts taking on water. From that point on, it's a survival of the fittest... and who can get to a lifeboat.
The story Titanic tells is a tragedy not unlike Romeo & Juliet. It is just as powerful, and tugs at the heartstrings, too. No, it isn't a 'chick-flick,' but it is a romance.
I had thought that this was going to be a very (for lack of any better to describe it) crappy movie. I was wrong. As it turned out, this was a great, great film. Well done, Jim Cameron!
I had been fascinated by the story of the Titanic for years. Then the movie came out, which I heard to be a romance. I was horrified, and never went to see it. I have just watched the film on the new three-disc DVD set, and WOW! What a film! I guess it is the grandeur of the film; that everything - every last detail - is accurate. For the most part, there are no errors in the design of the ship; everything is exactly as it was on the real ship. James Cameron took no liberties with anything involving design of the ship. The sets made are an exact replica.
I was most impressed with the way the story was handled. They put together a very interesting story to tell the other story, the sinking, and did it convincingly. By creating a set of fake characters and putting them in a world of reality, they not only told the disaster story, but also made it fun. Not an easy task to accomplish.
The movie has great performances by all its major players, including supporting players Kathy Bates (as Molly Brown) and Gloria Stuart (as the old Rose). It is a shame that DiCaprio wasn't nominated for the Oscar because, like him or not, he was terrific. On the same topic, Titanic deserved the Oscar for it's screenplay. It's too bad that politics got in the way, though. The Academy didn't want to give it 15 nominations (the most ever). No, they wanted All About Eve to co-share that record. (They like to hold on to the classics for as long as they can).
Titanic is a Hollywood epic in the grand scale of Hollywood epics. It was well crafted in every detail, had fabulous writing, outstanding special effects, and a very committed director who knew just what buttons to push to make this one of the best films every made. For $200,000,000 it had better be. Over hyped? Over-rated? It was worth every penny it cost.
Plot: 
Walking into this film you already know what's going to happen. The biggest, most luxurious steam ship of the day is going to sink in the North Atlantic Ocean and many people are going to die.
This doesn't matter as much as how we connect with those poor unfortunate souls. Thankfully, we have a well-written story that produces Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater whom we want to see together, but, like in any good tragedy, never get to.
Visual Effects:
The most amazing aspect of the film is it's visual effects. The filmmakers, largely due to the attention to detail of James Cameron, recreated the whole ship right down to its brass tacks. Nothing is different. It will blow your mind!
In terms of computer effects, they sometimes had up to 10 layers of people, objects and backgrounds composited onto one scene to make the most amazing scenes imaginable. When you see the Titanic moored next to the docks, it is exactly as it was in 1912.
Finally, the sinking of the ship is a wonder to behold. Not only did the crew listen to story upon story of eye-witness accounts of the ship sinking, but they pieced together history and got it more or less dead-on accurate!
Long story short, there hasn't been a film ever made with better visual effects and attention to detail. If there has, prove it. (Theoscarguy@hotmail.com )
Sound:
The score really isn't all that memorable, and the way they used the song My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion wasn't very good, but they still manage to work well within the film. (The song My Heart Will Go On wasn't played until the end credits, and they used a different version than the common one heard ALL OVER the radio when the film came out.)
It would have been better if they played the good version of My Heart Will Go On starting right when Jack Dawson dies and sinks. (This would have been more powerful.)
Character Development:
Atmosphere:
Many people (men, mostly) are going to complain that this is a 'chick-flick' and a boring romance. Yah, and I was even one of the people who said this was a stupid movie - that's because I hadn't seen it. Now that I have seen it, I know just how good it actually is.
For all you men out there - give it a try. You may surprise yourself.
Realism:
There isn't one thing wrong with the design of the sets of Titanic. Everything in the film that we see is as it was just days before the ship sank. No liberties were taken AT ALL.
Carpets were made from scratch from the same company that created the carpets for the real ship in the early 20th century. Mantle carvings are identical. Staterooms are a spot-on match. Clothing is actually from the period (the costume department borrowed actual clothes from the 1910's from collectors and museums). The creators found the REAL blueprints (thought lost) from the RMS Titanic and used them to create (re-create) the ship.
The sets are 98% identical to the real ship. Staircases were widened and such, but for all intents and purposes, they re-created the famous ship inch for inch.
Even though the main characters (Rose, Jack, Cal, and Rose's mother) are all fake, the other characters (like the captain, first officer, Molly Brown) aren't. It doesn't matter that the story is pure Hollywood romance; what matters is that they got the historical aspects right, down to the last detail. Chances are, if you see something on screen, it actually happened. Now that's realism!
Warren’s Rating:
Movies it beat out for Best Picture:
As Good As It Gets; The Full Monty; Good Will Hunting; L.A. Confidential;
*Titanic
10/10 Is the movie worth your time to watch?
31-10-05
