Titanic Review
by Clay Homerton (how1191 AT erinet DOT com)January 4th, 1998
TITANIC
Review by Clay Howerton
(c) 1997 Real Productions
TITANIC is not only one of the grandest spectacles ever committed to film (only William Wyler's BEN HUR comes to mind as a comparable benchmark), it is also a wonderfully told story.
You already know what's going to happen. The largest and most lavishly appointed luxury liner in the world is going to sail across the Atlantic towards New York, and is going to strike an iceberg. The "unsinkable" vessel will fill with water from compartment to compartment, tip forward into the icy water, and sink. Fifteen hundred people are going to die in the water, because the ship's designers provided lifeboats for only half the manifest, so as not to clutter the deck.
You know that, but you're still not prepared for the devastating impact of watching it happen, while people you've come to care about are right there in the midst of the disaster. You're not prepared for what James Cameron is going to put you through when you watch his masterpiece.
I use that word, masterpiece, with care. Certainly, not all directors ever create any work that can be offered such an accolade. But Cameron has done it here. Sure, he spent over $200 million. Yes, he took five-and-a-half months after the scheduled release date of the film to finish editing it, and it turned out over three hours long. Okay, so he was demanding and tough on his cast during the difficult shoot (didn't he learn any lessons from his other water- centric epic, The Abyss?) Nevertheless, all those dollars show up on the screen, in the form of the most unobtrusive, seamless effects that allow an utterly convincing recreation of a documented historical episode. Those extra months of editing ensured that not one of the film's 194 minutes is wasted, and they all fly by too quickly. And whether or not Kate Winslet will ever want to work with him again, Cameron will be the one to whom she's most endebted when she someday reflects on her superstardom.
I could not say enough good things about what James Cameron has accomplished here, with both the spectacle and the story. So I'll just encourage you to go see this movie, and hope that Mr. Cameron is now resting from his labor, preparing to accept some nice little statues from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
I strongly recommend TITANIC to all movie lovers. And to Twentieth Century Fox, I strongly recommend they give James Cameron whatever he requires to make his next film; they'll get every penny's worth.
TITANIC 1997
Fox and Paramount 194 minutes
Directed by James Cameron
Jack Dawson Leonardo DiCaprio
Rose DeWitt Bukater Kate Winslet
Cal Hockley Billy Zane
Molly Brown Kathy Bates
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