What can I say, except that this movie is excellent, it must have been seen by just about everyone now. I've now seen it four times, firstly on my birthday last year, and I have to say the first time was best, but that aside, it's a very moving cinematic experience. Of course you could say that it's just about a big boat, or even that it's a love story between director James Cameron and said boat, but the quality of the acting, costumes and sets make it much more worthwhile, even if the script isn't much to rave about. Kate Winslet is excellent as always, and even Leonardo DiCaprio goes some way towards making up for the lamentable Romeo and Juliet.
Of course everyone knows the basic plot, the Titanic, so-called unsinkable triumph of engineering, sets sail and promptly sinks after striking an iceberg. But this all takes second place to the adventures of Jack and Rose (DiCaprio and Winslet), and this is where James Cameron does so well, focusing on them instead of the boat so it seems like everything's going on around them, and we have a standard love story which could take place anywhere but is made so much more poignant and tragic by placing in on the doomed liner.
The colossal amount of money that was spent on this movie is evident everywhere, from the 9/10ths model of the ship constructed for the film, to the superb special effects which are really James Cameron's speciality. Add lots of marvellous actors (Kathy Bates and Bernard Hill in particular) and you just can't help being swept along by it all, although because of the huge scale of the thing, it is best on the big screen.
written by Ed in April 1999