MOVIE- TITANIC.
Cast
Leonardo
DiCaprio as Jack Dawson
Kate Winslet as
Rose Dewitt Bukater
Billy Zane as
Cal Hockley
Kathy Bates as
Molly Brown
Bill Paxton as
Brock Lovett
Written and Directed by
James Cameron
Action,
Disaster, Drama, Romance
Rated PG-13 For
Shipwreck Scenes, Mild Language and Sexuality
194
minutes
Like
a great iron Sphinx on the ocean floor, the Titanic faces still toward the
West, interrupted forever on its only voyage. We see it in the opening shots of
“Titanic,” encrusted with the silt of 85 years; a remote-controlled TV camera
snakes its way inside, down corridors and through doorways, showing us
staterooms built for millionaires and inherited by crustaceans.
These
shots strike precisely the right note; the ship calls from its grave for its
story to be told, and if the story is made of showbiz and hype, smoke and
mirrors--well, so was the Titanic. She was “the largest moving work of man in
all history,” a character boasts, neatly dismissing the Pyramids and the Great
Wall. There is a shot of her, early in the film, sweeping majestically beneath
the camera from bow to stern, nearly 900 feet long and “unsinkable,” it was
claimed, until an iceberg made an irrefutable reply.
James
Cameron's 194-minute, $200 million film of the tragic voyage is in the
tradition of the great Hollywood epics. It is flawlessly crafted, intelligently
constructed, strongly acted and spellbinding. If its story stays well within
the traditional formulas for such pictures, well, you don't choose the most
expensive film ever made as your opportunity to reinvent the wheel.
We
know before the movie begins that certain things must happen. We must see the
Titanic sail and sink, and be convinced we are looking at a real ship. There
must be a human story--probably a romance--involving a few of the passengers.
There must be vignettes involving some of the rest and a subplot involving the
arrogance and pride of the ship's builders--and perhaps also their courage and
dignity. And there must be a reenactment of the ship's terrible death throes;
it took two and a half hours to sink, so that everyone aboard had time to know
what was happening, and to consider their actions.
All
of those elements are present in Cameron's “Titanic,” weighted and balanced
like ballast, so that the film always seems in proportion. The ship was made
out of models (large and small), visual effects and computer animation. You
know intellectually that you're not looking at a real ocean liner--but the
illusion is convincing and seamless. The special effects don't call
inappropriate attention to themselves but get the job done.
