Oi, Cameron. No.

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2000)

The problem director and writer James Cameron faces with a story about the Titanic is that the majority of his audience will know what happens. So to make his audience care, he switches the action and main plot from the ship, to a socially inappropriate love story between Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater. The trouble is that by incorporating the love story theme into the story, he seems to detract from the feel and humanity that previous Titanic films like A Night to Remember have had. Cameron instead opts for two separate halves to the story rather than melding the two separate elements together. The first half concentrating on building an audience rapour with the two main characters, while the second half concentrates on the special effects fuelled sinking of the doomed liner. This would be forgivable if it weren't for several key factors from the first half, the main weakness being the utterly one dimensional lead characters we are presented with. From Caledon Hockleys loveless millionaire to Rose's trapped innocence to Jack Dawson's poor boy with a dream. Aswell played as these characters are, the performance can't make up for the poorly written characters the actors have been given. Again, with the spectacle of the story of the titanic and the millions of dollars at Cameron's disposal, one could forgive the weakness of the characters, but then the first half of the story is so entirely cliché ridden and full of predictability that it becomes obvious. It is clear that she will leave her safe life and existence and go with the unpredictability of true love. It is almost as though Cameron knows how to tell this story visually, he's just not sure or not capable of making you care about it. Cameron's writing has always come under scrutiny. The comic book quality of films like True Lies and the Terminator films set the scene for his writing style. The childlike quality of some of the dialogue shouldn't but does stand out. "Something Picasso" and Freud, is he a passenger?" are so dire that they belong in a Farrelly Brothers film, not a $200 million blockbuster. Cameron does seem to be writing from the heart, the trouble is that his heart doesn't seem up to the task. "It's pay-day boys" and Dicaprio's now legendary "I'm the king of the world" seem not to be spoken by the characters in the film, but by Cameron himself. He is the master film-maker who can resurrect the Titanic and will make a fortune from it.
Questions that arise on investigation of the film closely are the gaping plot hole of Rose's narration and status as the main narrative agent. If the story we see is told from Rose's perspective, how are we granted access to scenes such as the Captain's death and Hockley and Lovejoy hatching the plan to trap Jack? Again, if the story we are being told is not from Rose's perspective and is a general overview of the events, why are we subjected to Rose's story telling voice over? Perhaps this is being overly critical of what is simply meant to be viewed as popcorn entertainment and indeed, the film isn't entirely without its merits. The hour long sinking of the ship is indeed breathtaking and the film does have probably three genuinely special moments. Winslet and Dicaprio's flying scene, the ship breaking in two and Jack's death which is surprisingly touching and moving. The trouble is, especially in a three hour long film, that these few moments don't make up for the other half of the film. In a three hour film, half is ninety minutes, the average length of a Hollywood film, perhaps Cameron should have sacrificed some of the unnecessary moments and concentrated the story into perhaps just over two hours.
Cameron's back catalogue of films should prepare us for what we are going to see. The Abyss, True Lies and Terminator 2 : Judgement Day show that as a visionary, he can amaze his audience simply by clicking his fingers. The problem lies with his misplaced attempts to try and bring humanity into his stories. In The Abyss, Cameron wants us to care about the relationship between Mary Elisabeth Mastrantonio and Ed Harris. In True Lies, we are asked to care about Schwarzenegger's flagging relationship with his wife Jamie Lee Curtis. Similarly in Titanic, we are asked to ignore the special effects and care about the characters relationship. If Cameron were to write a out and out blockbuster that did not need characters require the audience to care, he would probably create one of the most amazing films ever to be seen. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be what he wants to do.