Titanic
TITANIC (12)
D: James Cameron
20th Century Fox/Lightstorm (James Cameron & Jon
Landau)
US 1997
194 mins
Drama/Adventure/Romance
W: James Cameron
DP: Russell Carpenter
Ed: James Cameron, Richard A. Harris & Conrad
Buff
Mus: James Horner
PD: Peter Lamont
Cos: Deborah L. Scott
Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson), Kate
Winslet (Rose DeWitt Bukater), Billy Zane (Cal Hockley), David Warner (Spicer Lovejoy), Bill Paxton (Brock Lovett), Kathy Bates (Molly Brown), Suzy Amis (Lizzy Calvert), Gloria
Stuart (Rose Calvert), Frances Fisher (Ruth DeWitt Bukater), Danny Nucci (Fabrizio DeRossi)
It's little wonder that James Cameron's Titanic, at huge
cost to the studio, went on to become the most successful film in box office history. The story taps into every single market audience with it's blend of action, adventure, romance and
historical reconstruction.
A team of researchers into the sinking of the Titanic meet
face-to-face with one of its survivors, now an old woman, who reminisces into her journey upon the ill-fated voyage as a teenage girl from an aristocratic family, heading to America for a
forced marriage, but falling in love with a penniless artist from third-class while upon the luxurious liner.
Though the romance in the story is completely fictional
and rather unfeasible, it still became one of the most iconic love stories since Romeo & Juliet which resonated well with the idylls of the female side of audience, but not so much with
the male contingent. Still it must be said that there must have been plenty of true stories from the decks of the real-life ship to give a better focal point for James Cameron's script rather
than a formulaic romance with far too many cardboard characters and a pair of pantomime villains, but it's not the story which makes the film watchable, but the reconstruction of the disaster
itself, when the "unsinkable" ship strikes an iceberg before perishing beneath the waves.
Technically, Titanic is a marvel to behold, with excellent
cinematography, faithful production design, lush costumes, cutting edge visual effects and an orchestral score which must be considered amongst the classics, and while the storyline is
fundamentally weak, everything else is a mastercraft of majestic filmmaking.
8/10
