Titanic (1997)
(Rating: 6)
James Cameron
Story: A survivor from the Titanic tells her tale to a bunch of "pirates".
Comment: James Cameron ventures into the romantic-action movie genre and fails miserably. The fact that the love story was half believable must be credited to DiCaprio's wonderful performance and NEVER the script - which must be endured during this 3 hours plus movie, and forgotten afterwards.
Cameron seems to think that meticulousness and a spectacular climax lasting for about an hour would compensate for the earlier 2 hours of a movie that was supposed to re-tell the story of the people aboard Titanic. His unforgivable removal of any reference to the 2nd. class passengers shows us his myopic view of how an epic should be told.
In Cameron's world, everything is black and white; never grey. And when we actually see heroism among the first-class passengers, it is dealt with ever so perfunctorily that it seems like Cameron is trying very hard not to doom "Titanic" to the abyss of stereotypical movies.
But "Titanic" delivers what the audience wants, and, in that, it deserves the success it has enjoyed abundantly. For the guys, they have the wonderfully filmed 'sinking' bit, and the opportunity to provide a shoulder to cry on. For the gals, it is an uncomplicated love story with a nice enough hero, a mean enough fiancee, and a 90s' enough heroine to inspire them to believe that life is that simple.
For Cameron, life really is that simple. He made a movie that appeals to that part of the movie-going public that he knows would come back over and over again - guaranteeing unbelievable profits. He made a good business move and deserves every success it brings. But that does not detract from the fact that "Titanic" is not that good a movie, taken as a whole.
In the wake of "Titanic"'s success, we must note the enormity of Cameron's ego, evidenced at the Oscars. What really irked me was not the "King of the World" bit during his acceptance speech for "Best Director", but his gall in asking for a moment of silence, as a mark of respect, during the "Best Picture" acceptance speech, and moments later topping it with "Party till dawn!"
Is it possible to think kindly of a man who would ask for a show of respect for the victims of a tragedy, and then desecrate it the very next moment by telling everyone to celebrate HIS success at re-creating a tragic event ?
Review: Not the best movie of any year. But watch it, nonetheless; else you'd miss one major event of the 90s.
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