Jul 18, 2001 07:41 PM
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Directed by James Cameron and having a budget of over $200 million, Titanic was tipped to be a huge failure, well, I say failure, but it wasn’t expected to rake back the amount of money that was spent on the making of the film. How wrong could they be! This film was a massive success. I’m sure you can all remember around the time it was released in the US and everyone was raving about it over there and then a couple of months later it was released in the UK and we were bombarded with people saying how good it was and reviews of the film. Again, when it came out on video I can remember trying to find it to buy but couldn’t all the shops had sold out! The film obviously got its money back and loads more as a bonus!
Now, surely you all know the story of the Titanic. The ship that was supposed to be impossible to sink, but on it’s maiden voyage in 1912, sinks killing 1502 people. It’s probably one of the biggest tragedies in history and the ship still lays on the ocean bed where it sank, 89 years ago. A lot of people ask why they haven’t recovered it, the simple answer is that the ship would just crumble and break even more than it is now, it’s safer on the ocean bed. Titanic the movie is the story of the events leading up to and the sinking of the titanic, so it is a true story which is what makes the film all the better in my opinion.
James Cameron and the filmmakers spent a fortune money wise and spent a long time researching the titanic on the day’s leading up to and the sinking of the unsinkable ship. Everything you see in the film has been carefully researched so that it is all remade in the way that the ship would have been. The amount of portholes you see on board the ship in the movie will be exactly the same as the amount of portholes aboard the actual titanic. They even built their own submarine and dived to the depths of the sea bed where the titanic lies today and took footage of it which can actually be seen in the film. They spent over 4 day’s taking shots of the titanic on the sea bed alone and bought the footage back to a whole host of model makers who then set to work on a model of the ship 1/20th of what it would have been. But hey, you can’t stop there, they actually remade a life-size version!
So, onto the film.
The film is obviously about titanic, if you haven’t figured that bit out yet you may aswell go and crawl under your pillow and never emerge again! The film opens in modern times with people who are trying to find out about the titanic interviewing one of the survivors who then goes on to tell her story, the story of a disaster and a true love that has never died.
Kate Winslet star’s as Rose, Daughter of an upper class family. She is set to marry Caledon (Billy Zane) another upper class, high flying business man with wads of money. However, she doesn’t really want to marry him, she doesn’t even like him, however, it’s a sort of arranged marriage and she doesn’t have much choice. She is aboard the maiden voyage of the titanic with her family and is waited on hand and foot, they are in the upper class part of the ship (infact most of the ship) and they don’t get to see what actually goes on and who works for them. They live a life of luxury, especially aboard the titanic.
Leonardo Di Caprio star’s as Jack. A happy go lucky, common, lower class passenger on board the titanic after winning a ticket in a poker game. He is an artist and is on his way to America to try and make some money out of his drawings. He wears drab clothes, sticks with his lower class mates and generally enjoys life.
The pair meet aboard the boat and Jack begins to show Rose a life she has never experienced before now. A life where she can let her hair down and have fun. One night she even joins in on the lower class party’s and has a grand time. She enjoys Jack’s way of life even though he struggles to get through the day with no money and no proper clothes. They inevitably fall in love, but this is one of the best love stories I have ever watched in my life. It’s like no other love story and really has to be seen to be appreciated.
Fast forward a bit and the ship crashes into the iceberg and doom heads their way. Passengers are not told what’s going on until they have to be told. Of course, the upper class are told first while the lower class are locked in down in the depths of the massive ship. The upper class get all the life jackets and are starting to get into their lifeboats. Not Rose though, she has to go and find and rescue Jack.
The film from here on is tremendous. The special effects are among the best I have ever seen and the actual sinking of the ship is mind blowing. If only all films could be this accurate. Even down to the way the ship breaks in two is all done to a fine detail, everything had to be right.
Who survives? I’ll leave that upto you to find out.
This film deserves much more appreciation than it will ever get. A lot of people watch t and don’t quite get the amount of detail and research that has gone into the making of the film. They are overwhelmed with the sinking and the love story and don’t actually notice the stuff going on around them. The sinking part of the film is actually probably the best bit to me. They must have spent a long time making this part. Watch the way the people are falling off the ship and into the ocean, look at the size of the ship’s propeller compared to the size of the people, watch as the ship breaks in two and people fall into the gap that has been created. It’s awesome (sorry I couldn’t find another word for it!)
The actors in this film do a great job too, especially Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio, however everyone in the film does a great job and really make the film what it is, without them and their acting the film would never have been what is is…..excellence. It was nice to see an English actor hired for the main role though as it was an American film and although the titanic set sail in England and they were English passengers, how many films do you see these days that try and portray the English with their pathetic accents that spoil the film! Were not all posh you know!
Now, you’d think after all of this praise that something has got to let you down and maybe it’s the soundtrack? No way! Ok, I have to admit to not being a fan of Celine Dion the soundtrack was excellent. I don’t think anyone can say that they haven’t heard the main song in the film ‘My heart will go on’ and there won’t be all that many that don’t know the words. However, the are other tracks in the film which are all of excellent quality and very true to the film., Some of them are just instrumental, but are just what the film needs in places.
Overall then, one hell of a movie. If you haven’t seen this (and I should think most of you reading this have seen it) then see it as soon as you can as you really are missing something truly special.
Oh yer, I have tried to make this opinion worthy of the film but I don’t think any opinion could quite do it justice, I have tried my best however without giving away to many parts of the film, not that they need giving away, but if you haven’t seen the film then you haven’t seen a huge part of the film – the lover story and I don’t want to give to much away!
Oh, and you’ll need a hanky for the end! I really have finished now……I think….
