Titanic Review

by Ben Hoffman (bhoffman AT ix DOT netcom DOT com)
December 17th, 1997

TITANIC

Is it really the critic's province to concern himself with how much it cost to make a movie and/or what is the likelihood the film will turn a profit.? I am inclined to think not. Let, in the instance of TITANIC, 20th-Century Fox and Paramount worry about it. It is not as if they did not know of James Cameron's reputed perfectionism. Before he was tapped to direct, they knew that how the movie turns out is Cameron's one and only concern. Based on that, I would say they and viewers got their money's worth.

From the opening scenes of the round "submarines" (built in Russia and manned by real-life Russians) as they entered the openings in the ship's hull, the barnacles and eroded parts of the ship bringing the disaster close, it was obvious that Cameron was giving us some excellent special effects with the 90% to scale of the original Titanic. And later, when the ship goes down like a monstrous whale diving beneath the surface, more magnificent footage.

What the explorers entering openings in the hull were seeking was the safe which surely contained untold wealth as the ship's passengers (in First Class) were in the multi-millionaire class. To capture the safe would be a treasure. As it turned out, Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) was in for a great disappointment when the safe which was brought on deck of the mother ship revealed nothing but soggy papers. Not exactly, though. There was also a photo of a young woman, Rose (Kate Winslet) wearing what looked like a valuable locket with a blue diamond When the picture was shown on TV news, the real Rose, (Gloria Stuart) , now 101-years-old, came forth to say it was she in that picture taken a long time ago, just before the Titanic, billed as "unsinkable," hit the iceberg and sank in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912.

This is the thread on which the script hangs. As the aged Rose starts to describe the fanfare and excitement of the boarding of the ship and what transpired until the disaster, director Cameron allows us to see that about which she is talking. It tells of how the young and beautiful Rose met Jack, (Leonardo DiCaprio) a "nobody" with an artist's soul and fell in love with him to the great dismay of her social-climbing mother (Frances Fisher) who worries that Rose will lose her very wealthy fianc???, Cal Hockley (Billy Zane ).

Great effort went into the ship's interior with its dining room and ballroom and the wealthy patrons on upper decks living it up as if in a grand hotel. Drinking and dancing away the days and nights, waited on hand and foot by the stewards, oblivious to the disaster that lay ahead.

When it became obvious that the ship was going to sink, it was the first class "women and children" who were lowered into boats
. . . about which there were insufficient number . . .followed by the men. Those in steerage were not allowed into the boats until all the first class passengers had been evacuated . . . if indeed there were still boats left for them.

The film brings out that the ship was going at a faster than safe speed because the Captain (Bernard Hill) was prevailed upon to set a record. It was J Bruce Ismay (Jonathan Hyde), a newspaperman who urged "The maiden voyage of the Titanic must make headlines." It sure did!

One bit of carping. The film implied that the two lookouts on the forward deck were diverted by Jack and Rose kissing on the deck below. Had they had there eyes searching the darkness ahead, perhaps they would have seen the iceberg sooner and been able to alert the helmsman to veer away. After trying so hard for verite, Cameron should have skipped that bit of make believe.

In any case, a most significant and entertaining film.

Others in the cast included Kathy Bates as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
    Directed by James Cameron

3.5 Bytes

4 Bytes = Superb
3 Bytes = Too good to miss
2 Bytes = Average
1 Byte = Save your money

    Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman

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