Rarely has a three hour film seemed so short. It canters.

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 1999)

The cinema viewer may well wonder whether there can be any real suspense when it is clear from the beginning of the film that the central character, Rose (Kate Winslet), will survive the disaster that befalls the Titanic. But suspense there is, not least because we don't know whether her lover will make it. There is also action, social (class) comment, drama, historical notes - not least several comments on the cause of the initial impact and why it was so disastrous - and good old fashioned romance.
Rarely has a three hour film seemed so short. It canters. The romance at the centre of the plot develops quickly and my attention was held not only by developments in this story but the events that, taken together, spelt disaster for the 'unsinkable' ship, and then the aftermath of the ship's collision with that famous iceberg.
Kate Winslet was simply gorgeous and put in a fine performance, as did Leonardo di Caprio as Jack Dawson. The make-up of the older Rose (Gloria Stuart) was one of the less convincing aspects of the movie, but it seems churlish to draw attention to such a detail; in any case, it's to be expected that an 87 year old will need a fair amount of facial recontouring and war-paint to play a woman of 101.