Rating -

Disaster (US); 1997; Rated PG-13; 195 Minutes

Cast
Leonardo DiCaprio: Jack Dawson
Kate Winslet: Rose DeWitt Bukator
Billy Zane: Cal Hockley
Gloria Stuart: Old Rose
Kathy Bates: Molly Brown
Frances Fisher: Ruth DeWitt Bukator
Bernard Hill: Captian E. J. Smith
Jonathan Hyde: J. Bruce Ismay
Danny Nucci: Fabrizio De Rossi
David Warner: Spicer Lovejoy
Bill Paxton: Brock Lovett

Produced by Jon Landau; Directed and Screenwritten by James Cameron

Review Uploaded
9/14/98

Surprise, tragedy, death. With these three things in mind, on April 15, 1912, the Titanic, the world's most elegant, luxurious ship, accomplished the unthinkable: it crashed into an iceberg. In less than two hours, the Titanic's very first voyage ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 2200 people aboard, very few survived the disaster.

Nearly 86 years later, it has come to be known as one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Yet its legacy lives on. Now comes James Cameron's stunning new epic "Titanic," where the disaster is relived. After all the production problems and delays this film has experienced, it has finally arrived. For those who expected "Titanic" to flop, think again: "Titanic" is a gem!

The plot of the film (aside from the actual disaster) is a story of love that can never die. Kate Winslet plays the troubled young Rose, who is about to be married to a rich loser named Cal. Aboard the Titanic, she feels like her own prisoner, and feels that the only way out is to jump off the ship.

However, before she is able to leap into the cold water below, she is saved by a third-class boy named Jack Dawson, played by the very-talented Leonardo DiCaprio. After saving her life, Jack encounters Rose several times aboard the ship, and they grow very close. Soon, it turns into romance, despite the fact that Cal wants nothing more than to keep them apart. Their love continues to blossom, until the night when the Titanic hits the iceberg that puts a halt to its first voyage.

The film, for the last hour, chronicles the process of the Titanic sinking to the ocean floor below. Rose avoids several attempts to get into a lifeboat, simply because she chooses not to leave Jack behind. The love between them is so strong that not even the "unsinkable" could destroy it. In fact, when the ship finally goes down, they are still together: at least to a certain point...

Of course, "Titanic" is an easily predictable film. Everyone knows that the ship is going to plunge into the ocean and people are going to die. But Cameron makes sure that it's not the only thing we see. In a film like this, you obviously have to have some good characters. We get them in the best way possible. Both Winslet and DiCaprio are amazing young actors. Besides them, the most notable acting comes from Kathy Bates, who plays the part of the "unsinkable" Molly Brown. She has always been a good actress, and this role is one of her best yet! All of these characters are people we get to know and care for. Whenever they laugh or cry, you laugh and cry along with them.

"Titanic" is now known as the most expensive movie ever made, and that was almost a problem. Costing nearly 250 million dollars, "Titanic" would have to earn at least that to become known as a box office success. Well, the movie has been open for about two months now, and it has already surpassed that. In fact, "Titanic" is already in on the top 10 list for the highest-grossing films ever made, and it continues to climb.

I am not an admirer of previous Cameron films such as "Aliens" and "Terminator 2." Yet Cameron's vision of the Titanic, his great characters and his totally convincing special effects lead to one obvious conclusion: he does have talent! "Titanic" is one of those flawless, spellbinding epics that we all know and love. As a matter of fact, it's not an overstatement to say that "Titanic" is the best film of 1997 and probably one of the best ever made.