Titanic
4/4
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, Bernard Hill, Suzy Amis
Rated PG-13 for Disaster-Related Peril and Violence, Nudity, Sensuality and Some Language
Before its release, executives at 20th Century Fox were incredibly nervous. The film's release date had to be pushed back to get the special effects up to James Cameron's specifications and the budget ballooned to $200 million, the most expensive movie at the time. In retrospect, they needn't have worried. "Titanic" was a colossal success, being the first film to pass the $1 billion dollar threshold and was the highest grossing movie for 12 years, until it was passed by James Cameron's next film, "Avatar."
When viewing the film, it's easy to see why it was so successful. It has something for everyone: romance, comedy, tragedy, action and peerless special effects. All of these elements are superbly crafted by Cameron, who proves himself to be a master storyteller.
A treasure hunter named Brock Lovett (Paxton, a Cameron regular) is searching for a beautiful diamond necklace called The Heart of the Ocean. He finds the safe of the owner but it's not inside. Instead, he finds a drawing of a woman wearing the necklace. Upon seeing the picture in a newscast, a woman named Rose Calvert (Stuart) calls Lovett and says that the woman in the picture is her.
It turns out that Rose (played as a young woman by Winslet) was engaged to be married to Cal Hockley (Zane), a wealthy inheritor. But she despises Cal, and likens her journey on the Titanic to being on a slave ship. So disgusted with her future, she runs to the back of the ship intending to jump off. That's when she meets a free spirit named Jack Dawson (DiCaprio). It isn't long before these two fall deeply in love, but fate has other plans.
At it's heart, "Titanic" is a romance between two opposites. Rose is a young woman who has lived a life of wealth and privilege and is expected to follow the rigid mold that comes with it. Jack on the other hand is a poor guy who takes life as it comes. The two stars, who became good friends (and still are to this day) have excellent chemistry that catches fire very quickly, so much so that the scene where he draws her picture is about a thousand times more erotic than the one where they just had sex in the cabin of a car. William Shakespeare may have been talking about Romeo and Juliet when he coined the term "star-crossed lovers," but that descriptor applies to Jack and Rose as well.
Jack and Rose are far from the only passengers on the ship. Cal Hockley (Zane) is a conceited jerk who expects Rose to be a submissive and obedient wife. Rose's mother Ruth (Fisher) is also vain and stuck up, but is also secretly desperate. Many real life occupants of the R.M.S. Titanic are also in the movie: designer Thomas Andrews (Garber), White Star Line financier Bruce Ismay (Hyde) and Captain E.J. Smith (Hill). Many others appear in cameos.
It is a testament to Cameron's writing and storytelling abilities that he weaves all these characters (and many more) into a coherent story that never loses focus and fully develops the characters. Cameron is a deliberate filmmaker with a notorious temperament, but he is able to get his actors to create fully developed personalities. That ability has been crucial for all his movies, but never moreso than here. Also worth mentioning is his ability to take us through all parts of the ship without it being artificial. We see everything from the first class cabins to the boiler rooms. All that's missing are the swimming pools and the second class cabins.
The acting is also outstanding from the top down. Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor with an wide range of talent, gives the performance of a lifetime as the poor boy Jack Dawson. He defines the word "free," and is able to do things that we dream of, but are never able. To the confined Rose, he is an escape to live the life that she wants. The fact that DiCaprio became a teen heartthrob almost overnight (a position that the actor hated so much that he took a break from acting) is not at all unexpected. It is appalling that DiCaprio was not nominated for an Academy Award (which he should have won). This is a legendary performance.
Kate Winslet, who is also an amazing actress (she's right up there with Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Keira Knightly), also gives a terrific performance. Rose is a spirited and independent woman who knows her place but doesn't like it one bit. In other words, she was ahead of her time. Winslet, who bears all for the camera (despite the PG-13 rating...one of the few smart moves by the MPAA), is fearless and able to convey a wide range of emotion. As famous as they became and still are, it takes less than a moment to accept these two as Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater.
The supporting cast is also very good. Billy Zane makes Cal into a thoroughly hate-able character without making him into a caricature. He loves Rose, but is terrible at showing it (his ego gets in the way). Character actress Frances Fisher is likewise; intensely unlikable yet sympathetic because we understand her point of view. It is here that I should mention that both of them should have gotten Oscar nominations as well. Kathy Bates is terrific as the "new money" Molly Brown. Her upfront personality and quick wit make her a source of humor, and she is also an unlikely ally for Jack. Bates also deserved an Oscar nomination (the Best Supporting Actress nomination went to Hollywood legend Gloria Stuart). Able support is provided by character actors Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, Bernard Hill, Bill Paxton and many others (including Suzy Amis, who ended up marrying the director).
The real star of the show is James Cameron. Cameron is a master storyteller and demands the most from his actors and his special effects; he even went to the wreckage for filming and ended up spending more time there than passengers did. The latter are so good that it seems that he rebuilt the Titanic only to destroy it. Okay, fine, the steam from the stacks looks a little fake, but whatever. The sinking, which takes up the final hour, is awe-inspiring. It's incredibly dramatic and raises the adrenaline while breaking the heart.
There are so many memorable moments and characters in the film that it is hard to pick a favorite. The aforementioned portrait scene, the dance in steerage with the band Gaelic Storm (whom I recently saw in concert), the dinner scene, the run through the boiler room, to the scenes with Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry) and Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) to Trudy the maid (Amy Gaipa) and little Cora (Alexandre Owens).
"Titanic's" success was also it's worst enemy. People wouldn't stop talking about it, and tabloid TV kept forcing it down people's throats so much that the public grew sick of it and turned on the film. For the longest time, it became an act of embarrassment to admit to liking the film (I know people who still trash the film). It's a shame, really, because this is such a wonderful and amazing film.
About the 3D: After Disney made money by re-releasing "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King" in 3D, James Cameron followed suit by converting "Titanic" as well. 3D conversions rarely work; the "Clash of the Titans" 3D was (reportedly) so horrible that the public completely reversed its opinion on the new technology. But "Clash of the Titans" was converted in three months after the success of "Avatar." James Cameron took over a year and $18 million to do it. It works wonders. I'm not sure if it makes the film any better, but "Titanic" needs to be seen on as big of a screen as possible, and the 3D is done well enough to make it worth the chance to see it the way it was meant to be seen.
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, Bernard Hill, Suzy Amis
Rated PG-13 for Disaster-Related Peril and Violence, Nudity, Sensuality and Some Language
Before its release, executives at 20th Century Fox were incredibly nervous. The film's release date had to be pushed back to get the special effects up to James Cameron's specifications and the budget ballooned to $200 million, the most expensive movie at the time. In retrospect, they needn't have worried. "Titanic" was a colossal success, being the first film to pass the $1 billion dollar threshold and was the highest grossing movie for 12 years, until it was passed by James Cameron's next film, "Avatar."
When viewing the film, it's easy to see why it was so successful. It has something for everyone: romance, comedy, tragedy, action and peerless special effects. All of these elements are superbly crafted by Cameron, who proves himself to be a master storyteller.
A treasure hunter named Brock Lovett (Paxton, a Cameron regular) is searching for a beautiful diamond necklace called The Heart of the Ocean. He finds the safe of the owner but it's not inside. Instead, he finds a drawing of a woman wearing the necklace. Upon seeing the picture in a newscast, a woman named Rose Calvert (Stuart) calls Lovett and says that the woman in the picture is her.
It turns out that Rose (played as a young woman by Winslet) was engaged to be married to Cal Hockley (Zane), a wealthy inheritor. But she despises Cal, and likens her journey on the Titanic to being on a slave ship. So disgusted with her future, she runs to the back of the ship intending to jump off. That's when she meets a free spirit named Jack Dawson (DiCaprio). It isn't long before these two fall deeply in love, but fate has other plans.
At it's heart, "Titanic" is a romance between two opposites. Rose is a young woman who has lived a life of wealth and privilege and is expected to follow the rigid mold that comes with it. Jack on the other hand is a poor guy who takes life as it comes. The two stars, who became good friends (and still are to this day) have excellent chemistry that catches fire very quickly, so much so that the scene where he draws her picture is about a thousand times more erotic than the one where they just had sex in the cabin of a car. William Shakespeare may have been talking about Romeo and Juliet when he coined the term "star-crossed lovers," but that descriptor applies to Jack and Rose as well.
Jack and Rose are far from the only passengers on the ship. Cal Hockley (Zane) is a conceited jerk who expects Rose to be a submissive and obedient wife. Rose's mother Ruth (Fisher) is also vain and stuck up, but is also secretly desperate. Many real life occupants of the R.M.S. Titanic are also in the movie: designer Thomas Andrews (Garber), White Star Line financier Bruce Ismay (Hyde) and Captain E.J. Smith (Hill). Many others appear in cameos.
It is a testament to Cameron's writing and storytelling abilities that he weaves all these characters (and many more) into a coherent story that never loses focus and fully develops the characters. Cameron is a deliberate filmmaker with a notorious temperament, but he is able to get his actors to create fully developed personalities. That ability has been crucial for all his movies, but never moreso than here. Also worth mentioning is his ability to take us through all parts of the ship without it being artificial. We see everything from the first class cabins to the boiler rooms. All that's missing are the swimming pools and the second class cabins.
The acting is also outstanding from the top down. Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor with an wide range of talent, gives the performance of a lifetime as the poor boy Jack Dawson. He defines the word "free," and is able to do things that we dream of, but are never able. To the confined Rose, he is an escape to live the life that she wants. The fact that DiCaprio became a teen heartthrob almost overnight (a position that the actor hated so much that he took a break from acting) is not at all unexpected. It is appalling that DiCaprio was not nominated for an Academy Award (which he should have won). This is a legendary performance.
Kate Winslet, who is also an amazing actress (she's right up there with Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Keira Knightly), also gives a terrific performance. Rose is a spirited and independent woman who knows her place but doesn't like it one bit. In other words, she was ahead of her time. Winslet, who bears all for the camera (despite the PG-13 rating...one of the few smart moves by the MPAA), is fearless and able to convey a wide range of emotion. As famous as they became and still are, it takes less than a moment to accept these two as Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater.
The supporting cast is also very good. Billy Zane makes Cal into a thoroughly hate-able character without making him into a caricature. He loves Rose, but is terrible at showing it (his ego gets in the way). Character actress Frances Fisher is likewise; intensely unlikable yet sympathetic because we understand her point of view. It is here that I should mention that both of them should have gotten Oscar nominations as well. Kathy Bates is terrific as the "new money" Molly Brown. Her upfront personality and quick wit make her a source of humor, and she is also an unlikely ally for Jack. Bates also deserved an Oscar nomination (the Best Supporting Actress nomination went to Hollywood legend Gloria Stuart). Able support is provided by character actors Victor Garber, Jonathan Hyde, Bernard Hill, Bill Paxton and many others (including Suzy Amis, who ended up marrying the director).
The real star of the show is James Cameron. Cameron is a master storyteller and demands the most from his actors and his special effects; he even went to the wreckage for filming and ended up spending more time there than passengers did. The latter are so good that it seems that he rebuilt the Titanic only to destroy it. Okay, fine, the steam from the stacks looks a little fake, but whatever. The sinking, which takes up the final hour, is awe-inspiring. It's incredibly dramatic and raises the adrenaline while breaking the heart.
There are so many memorable moments and characters in the film that it is hard to pick a favorite. The aforementioned portrait scene, the dance in steerage with the band Gaelic Storm (whom I recently saw in concert), the dinner scene, the run through the boiler room, to the scenes with Tommy Ryan (Jason Barry) and Fabrizio (Danny Nucci) to Trudy the maid (Amy Gaipa) and little Cora (Alexandre Owens).
"Titanic's" success was also it's worst enemy. People wouldn't stop talking about it, and tabloid TV kept forcing it down people's throats so much that the public grew sick of it and turned on the film. For the longest time, it became an act of embarrassment to admit to liking the film (I know people who still trash the film). It's a shame, really, because this is such a wonderful and amazing film.
About the 3D: After Disney made money by re-releasing "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King" in 3D, James Cameron followed suit by converting "Titanic" as well. 3D conversions rarely work; the "Clash of the Titans" 3D was (reportedly) so horrible that the public completely reversed its opinion on the new technology. But "Clash of the Titans" was converted in three months after the success of "Avatar." James Cameron took over a year and $18 million to do it. It works wonders. I'm not sure if it makes the film any better, but "Titanic" needs to be seen on as big of a screen as possible, and the 3D is done well enough to make it worth the chance to see it the way it was meant to be seen.
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