Has the Sinking Feeling Pun Been Done To Death?? (Titanic [1998] (DVD))

Member Name: BizzyB

Product:	Titanic [1998] (DVD)
Date:	25/03/02 (455 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Special effects, Detail to costume and set design

Disadvantages: Appaling charcterization, Poor script, Unbeleivable romaticized central story

The majority of dooyooers would have to climb aboard a time machine to get as hopelessly behind in modern culture as me.

No I didn't see Titanic at the cinema. I didn't even seen its Christmas TV debut. 5 years later and I finally catch up.

Overview
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The story of the Titanic disaster is a huge part of modern social and cultural history that the majority of us know at least the basics off. Sailing from Southampton on April 10, 1912 the Titanic was the largest sailing vessel at over 880 ft long and eleven stories high. Sailing to America it had an amazing array of people on board from some of the worlds richest in the palatial settings of first class to immigrants in steerage. All in all there were 2,223 aboard, actually far below the capacity it was built for - bear that in mind as the tragedy unfolds.

It is no spoiler to say the Titanic sinks with huge loss of life.

Story Overview
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Written and directed by James Cameron he approached this tale with an added fictional narrative. The film opens with real footage of the Titanic wreck and the hunt for a fictional diamond necklace this introduces us to the necklace's owner, Rose DeWitt Bukater who was believed to have been drowned but survived and resumed her life under a new name, cutting all ties with her pass. From the memories of the now 101 year old survivor we are taken back to 1912 and her experience of the Titanic.

The story revolves around Rose's feelings of entrapment in her privileged life. Engaged to wealthy Cal Hockley, they are the epitome of the first class elite on board Titanic. However, Rose falls in love on the trip with third class Jack Dawson, an American artist from the working classes. It is obvious that Cameroon has chosen this vein to bring together the entirety of the class system on board the ship that reflected society at the time whilst simultaneously engineering a lov
e story, a crime plot and adventure.

There is a small band of support players representing the groups on board, a number of whom are based on real characters.

Performances & Characters
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Rose and Jack are ably brought to life by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. I think we have all come to identify Winslet with period pieces and once again she looks perfectly at ease in the 1912 setting. Admittedly I have never been a great DiCaprio fan but here he was amiable, indeed loveable and the two certainly had a good rapport. However this alone was not enough as both are at the mercy of the character construction and script which is feeble to put it mildly.

In the supporting cast Kathy Bates by far stood out as the brashy new money Molly Brown, who's presence in the First Class area so highlighted the tense and rigid social rituals.

Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé Cal can be described no better than dastardly. Zane is unconvincing as the starched upper crust man and his flair only comes out when we are subjected to Cal's dark, dishonest and reprehensible streak. If Zane's baddie at sea caught your attention be sure to see him in Dead Calm with Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman.

Otherwise the cast was either stilted to some degree as few other characters were truly given the time or space to grow. Indeed Captain Smith is portrayed as a sullen Captain Birdseye throughout and it is very difficult to say you come from this film any wiser on who the man that captained the ship was.

There are an array of other characters who we are given fleeting glimpses of and you are left screaming for the camera to be turned around to learn more but instead we are left to trundle with the rather mundane and truly unbelievable romance between Rose and Jack. There are such wonderful characters as the worlds richest man, John Jacob Astor who saw off his pregnant wife onto a lif
eboat not to survive himself. If I recall correctly her last image of him was standing on the deck with his faithful dog by his side. The elderly Mrs Isidor Strauss who would not part from her husband so they retreated to their cabin to die together, the aristocrats and their mistresses; these scenes are shown but not even remotely explored and so they become simple scenes in the movie which is a great shame.

Other than lack of interest in a multitude of charcters Cameron made the grave mistake of taking one charcter from reality and altering the storyline in a very inaccutrate way much to the great upset of the man's relatives leading Cameron to issue an apology. In a film where so much money was spent and so much lip service to the amount of research such inaccuaracies as this are both uneccessary and lazy which quite frankly was my overall reaction to hi scharacter base. Perhaps with the technical intricacies Cameron over stretched himself commanding the storyline as well.

As I said the romance between Rose and Jack is unbelievably though I can see the attraction of rolling so many aspects of the ships story in one neat, movie ball. They wouldn't have met, the story is implausible, romanticized at best. But movies are entertainment and so we accept it. But then Cameron takes a step even further and a step to far. Not content with a plot of the ship sinking in one of the greatest tragedies of the last century he adds subplots which without giving the game away are the modern movie staple, the gun case etc. For goodness sake, it is so unnecessary and distracting.

The script and characterization really is a let down. Some may find the language of your average Merchant Ivory period piece stuffy but when aligned to this script you see its value. The script is uneasy and attempts at humour even in the darkest moments of the storyline do not sit well at all. And whilst I am willing to accept Rose's character as feel
ing trapped and rebellious there were certain characteristic that pushed this too far for the period setting, flicking the middle finger was one such instance in an era when knowingly using the wrong fork was as contemptible as a fist fight in their elite circle.

In all we are left with a run of the mill love story which could be lifted and placed in a thousand other scenarios and I for one felt I was always missing a more exciting story just around the corner.

Special Effects
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I have no knowledge of special effects and don't want any. I want to mutter how did they do that, I want to be transported into another world in full belief. The detail that is so lacking in the characterization of the film is more than made up for by the set and effects which are truly absorbing and fascinating. Even with this level of detail I still did not get the feeling of the immensity of the ship apart from in direct comparisons to the tugs and others boats as we first see it launched.

Costume and set design is pristine and draws you in hook, line and sinker (sic). The effects of the sinking, which are renowned to be as correct as all research allows are both fascinating, terrifying and emotional. The overall depiction of the sinking and the reality that there was only lifeboats for

Personally I was disappointed with the real wreckage shots. Having seen many documentaries on the wreckage and having read of the time Cameron had spent on acquiring these shots they seemed to use very few, concentrating on the bow whereas further footage I have seen is immense in detail and it is such things as complete sets of crockery just gently lying on the floor next to twisted metal that is so insightful.

Soundtrack
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I suffer from sea sickness due to over exposure of 'My Heart Will Go On' (and so will the song on and on and on and on). Yet thankfully I didn't find it as obtrusive
as I had feared and the whole soundtrack worked very well.

I saw the French & Saunders Titanic skit before seeing the film and I will admit this clouded my viewing! #My heart will g'waaaan...

Overall
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Mmm, a tough call. It was entertaining but not spectacular overall. Emotional but this actually felt removed from the core story of the Titanic. Ably acted but not jaw droppingly good.

Personally, coming in at three and quarter hours this film was a good hour to long for me. I've seen it, it was alright and that's my experience of Cameron's Titanic. Would I watch it again, no, not unless it was on in the background. But I'd recommend everyone sees it at least once, though it may not be the greatest movie ever made it has nevertheless become a marker in modern film culture for so many reasons.

For a far more emotional and questioning account of the Titanic disaster in movies I'd much rather watch the 1958 'A Night To Remember' with Kenneth More - far more emotionally grounded though the effects are of its time (i.e. a plastic boat in a bath and some polystyrene). If we could capture Cameron's visualisation with A Night To Remember's story telling then we would have one hell of a movie on our hands.

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