High Expectations Dashed By Bad Acting And Writing

Rating: 8/10 (4 May 2012)

The movie "Titanic", written, directed, and produced by James Cameron centers on the sinking of the RMS Titanic, while also focusing on a fictitious love story between two forbidden loves.
Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) is a 17 year-old first class passenger who is engaged to be married to Pittsburgh steel magnate Cal Hockley (Billy Zane). Although she says she loves Cal, Rose feels pressured by her mother (Frances Fisher) into marrying him. Rose's mother acknowledges the fact that the marriage is a way to solve the family's secret financial problems. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a poor artist who wins a ticket aboard the Titanic in a poker match. Rose first meets Jack when he saves her from throwing herself overboard in an act of suicide. This rapidly starts a love affair between the two.
A common theme in this movie is the contrasting differences between the first and third class passengers. The first class passengers are made to appear ignorant, arrogant, and self-centered, while the third class passengers are kind, charitable, and altruistic. While this may have been true of some first class passengers, others were very generous, giving up their seat on the lifeboat for those who needed it. I feel that the story played too much into the greed of the upper-class.
This movie is a good movie in many ways. The direction, music, production, camera-work, and set creation are especially good, as is the acting by Kate Winslet. However, I was not very pleased with the work of the other actors/actresses, especially that of Gloria Stuart, who received an Academy Award nomination for her role as an elderly Rose. Her acting was cheesy and mediocre, yet she earned a nomination due to the hype surrounding the film at the time of its release. The screenplay was also lacking. Although the dialogue is pretty good, the lines are unbelievably predictable and corny. I expected better from a James Cameron film.
Overall, I guess I had extremely high expectations going into this movie (wouldn't anyone?), and my hopes were dashed by bad acting and writing.