Titanic

Ok, considering that it's been almost ten years since this movie, our era's definitive blockbuster, graced our silver screens, I figured I'd better review it. I've just finished watching it once again and with it fresh in my mind, as well as me now having had plenty of opportunity to consider it as a whole, I am ready to make a final opinion of it. To put it simply, 1.8 billion dollars doesn't lie. I won't even bother saying much about the plot except that it intertwines the story of a young star crossed couple in love with one of history's most tragic disasters; the sinking of the White Star Line's RMS Titanic. James Cameron may be conceited, and was most likely biting off more than he could actually chew with this gargantuan undertaking, but you cannot deny his skill as a visual composer nor his ability to stage well paced action. Coupled with James Horner's beautiful and dynamic score, Cameron has on his hands a near perfect movie, with the exception of a script. The script is decent, but only just, and despite earnest performances by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson respectively, we end up underwhelmed while listening to the characters speak. None of that matters though, because the story is ultimately pushed to epic greatness by the remarkable true events of that cold night 0f April 14, 1912. It probably is not going to surprise anyone that I rate this movie highly, after all I seem to like everything and this is the most successful film of all time. Be that as it may, I have a theory as to why people rake this movie across the coals and my theory suggests two reasons. The first reason is the monumental financial success; any time a movie makes a lot of money people start examining under a grossly critical lens because they are determined to prove that it is unworthy of the money it is making. My other theoretical reason is more drawn out and it has to do with the fact that probably everyone, save the audiences of the first dozen showings, knew exactly what was going to happen before they even saw it. When you know what is going to happen, you wind up watching it as if you were going through a check list. 1: They find an old charcoal drawing that magically didn't get destroyed after like 80 odd years under the ocean, check. 2: An old woman comes out and says she's the woman from the drawing, check. 3: Poor artist wins ticket, 4: rich young socialite contemplates suicide, check and check. 5: Two young lovers go flying at the bow, check. 6: Nudity in a PG-13 movie, 7: fogged over window and a hand print, 8: hit an ice berg, 9: sink, 10: young man dies, 11: old woman throws necklace into the sea, amazingly check, check (or is it slap?), check, check, and final check! We all knew the lines before we saw it, and we all knew that Leo was gonna bite it in the end. We don't feel sorry because we all see it coming. It's really too bad because I think that if every one who ever saw this movie went in with complete ignorance as to the fictional aspects, there would be a lot more fans than there are currently. As it is, I really do like this movie, and I like it better each time I watch it. It's grand in scale, and the love story is like something out of the golden era of Hollywood; it's predictable yet unbelievable, and almost completely surface level. It's like a silent movie that's been given dialogue that it doesn't really need. Titanic looks incredible, both the ship and the movie as a whole, and through its three hour length we the audience really get an idea of what it would have been like to be there and experience the steadily building terror of certain death for 1,500 people. Is it too much to call Titanic a modern cinematic classic? No, absolutely not. If not for "outstanding acting" or "pitch perfect direction" then for the fact that it has become a permanent fixture in pop culture, a phenomenon to parallel that of the original ocean liner that captivated the minds of so many, and eventually became a watery graveyard resting in eerie timelessness at the floor of the Atlantic. Far be it from me to imply that anyone should see a movie just because everyone else is seeing it, but really, it's more than a movie, it's an icon, and a great one at that.

A