The dumbing down of a terrible tragedy

Rating: Null/10 (21 February 2006)

There were so many utterly uncanny true stories that occurred during the few days of the Titanic's only voyage that absolutely stagger the imagination. The fates revolved around this incident like a Greek Tragedy. How can you ruin a tale like this. Well, James Cameron has done it. He decides that truth is not stranger than fiction and rights a trite and superficial story of two star-crossed lovers and wastes our time with their wishy-washy story. He could have written the tale of the two lovers, cut down (or cut out)on the nonsense with Billy Zane and his evil butler gamely played by talented David Warner and spent some time including some of the real stories that captivated viewers of the numerous documentaries over many years.
The cast is rife with talent, but in this film, Cameron has directed the actors a' la George Lucas, who also has a gift for making talented actors look stiff.
This movie doesn't hold a candle to any of the previous films especially the 1953 Clifton Webb/Barbara Stanwick version. Now that was high melodrama done so well. To be honest the effects are even comparable. The film is still quite moving today.
This is one more film like Independence Day, Pearl Harbor and the three recent Star Wars films that would have been total flops without the special effects. And many of the effects were not that good. There are too many scenes where the warm waters of the Mexican waters are clearly evident.
What a waste and a sad testament to the true and awesome tragedy.