James Cameron's "Titanic"

Rating: 9/10 (27 November 2005)

I have waited several years to attempt to review this film for several reasons. I wanted to have my thoughts completely in order. I didn't want to join either side of the debate here. One side feels as though this film is the greatest of all time, the other comes with a force of backlash the size of the tidal wave in "The Abyss." Well now, nearly a decade later, I write my thoughts.
I, like many males my age, am a huge James Cameron fan. I absolutely love Aliens, The Abyss, and the Terminator films. I feel as though he has an amazing eye for how the action in the scene needs to be conveyed on the screen. He has a very unique and complete imagination. And an unbelievable work ethic to boot. Nothing, in regards to these points, changes in Titanic. He is on his game. And he deserved everything he got back.
This film is truly one of the greatest risks in all of film. Just take The Postman for example. The Postman was released this same year and went down in history as one of the biggest box office flops of all time and is regarded by a harsh majority as one of the worst movies of all time as well. Yet Kevin Costner worked hard and a lot of money was spent in order to create the film. So why did Cameron's film fare so much better?
James Cameron involved more viewers with this source material than his other projects had. He still integrated amazing visuals and top notch effects into his film to please the male 18 to 30 crowd, yet the inclusion of a grand and harrowing love story caught the interest of female and older viewers as well. This is not a sell out. If you listen to James Cameron speak about this film, his interest was completely emotional from the beginning. I can't imagine how he must've felt observing the remains of the great ship laying silently at the bottom of the sea, knowing how many died and how many lives were changed when it sank. I feel as though he achieved his ultimate goal when he made Titanic. The action scenes here were a necessary tool in order to tell his human story to maximum effect, not the human story being necessary in order to tell his action story as is usually the case with his films. I feel as though he did a very good job with this change.
As for any clichés. Honestly, I don't see any. There of course is the usual story devices used to get characters into conflict, but let's be honest people, this film has no more a Hollywood cliché as say a movie like...Good Will Hunting. So let's put that backlash theory to rest. Also, I've heard quite a bit of talk about historical inaccuracies in this film. I'm sure that there are quite a few, so I won't even attempt to argue. I will however point out that other historic epics have made great films with this same problem, and haven't seen nearly half the backlash that Titanic did. Take Gladiator, Braveheart, or even a more intimate movie like Cinderella Man. All great, all historical, all inaccurate. So who really cares. Is it a well made movie? That's all that really matters. Titanic is a well made movie.
Titanic is by no means perfect. It is not the greatest film of all time in my opinion. But no one can argue that this film will go down in history as a great achievement. A very rare diamond in the rough that achieves box office glory, critic applause, and a large trophy cabinet. For new viewers of this film, watch only on the merits that are presented to you on the screen. Forget what the pro and con people have to say, forget how much it made, how many awards it won, and how historically accurate it is. Just let it in. My guess is that you will enjoy yourself. Afterall, this is nearly required viewing anyway.
P.S. After almost ten years, I still feel as though the music in this movie is as good as it can get. James Horner does an amazing job creating a timeless back drop of music that will help carry this film through the ages.
9/10