so close to being great

Rating: 5/10 (2 September 2000)

Titanic was a goldmine. It's potential had not been tapped into since "A NIGHT TO REMEMBER" and Cameron saw the perfect way to milk the audience emotion by creating characters we felt for on a ship headed for disaster. And boy, does Cameron know how to convey disaster, and the horror of sinking to an icy death.
Cameron decided to go with a flashback account. Sounds good. The added perspective would help tremendously. Cameron decided to throw in a very interesting modern-day search for a priceless gem. Oooo interesting, great, keep going. Cameron decides to use the "rich-girl captivated by poor-boy" theme. Wonderful. It hasn't been done properly in 4 decades. Cameron decides to make the focus VERY SPECIFICALLY centered on the couple. Hmm... well, ok, as long as it is done right, and done very carefully with respect to the ploy of the ship. Cameron decides to cast Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as the lead characters and drops almost all other character interaction INCLUDING that of the charcters in 1999 who are listening to the story. ARRRGH! NOOO! Bad! Bad! DiCaprio is completely wrong for this role, and so is Winslett. The lack of acting and emotion in DiCaprio's performance sinks the movie faster than any glacier could ever hope for. The movie is more centered on CiCaprio than the sinking of the ship, and DiCaprio falls flat on his face. It was a poor decision in the first place, putting DiCaprio, whose only impressive effort was in WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?, is so completely and utterly wrong for this film it's mind-boggling. I found myself screaming "Act! Act you fool!" DiCaprio could easily have been replaced with a bag of sugar with a magic-marker created starry-eyed face and goofy grin. However, the people who made this film so much money (all wearing their scrunchies and Dr.Pepper lip gloss) love him, so what can you say. As for Ms. Winslett, I just did not like her. I think she gave a poor performance to a character that couldn't afford to have a poor performance. She came off as an annoying brat, and unsympathetic. She also helps to sink this movie, almost as much as DiCaprio. That being said, everything else in the movie is gold. It seems that every moment when Leo and Kate are offscreen is a breath of fresh air, and is excellent in execution. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far-between. Sorry Cameron, your fundamental concept didn't work, and ruined what could have been the greatest movie of all time. I give you a10 for your story about the sinking of the TITANIC, but I take away five for your story about Jack and Rose. 5/10********************