My only wish for 'the most overrated movie of all-time' is .. would it sink!

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2003)

SPOILER ALERT The first time I watched this film it was a highly emotional experience, the second time, ironically, it bored me to 'tears'. I realise that it was one of the biggest movies in cinema history, but after initially 'liking it', I could see through its grandness and see that it had big faults. The consensus of the 'general public' was that the 'titanic' is a great movie, however I am one person who disagrees.
One of the world's greatest tragedies, Titanic, the 'unsinkable' ship, a most unimaginable human catastrophe. The untold stories lay in mystery two and a half miles beneath the waves of the North Atlantic. Now, in a 'fictional romantic tale', Jack and Rose meet aboard the ill-fated 'Titanic', but their love gives them hope and courage as their trip aboard Titanic becomes a struggle just to survive.
James Cameron certainly had big visions when he accepted the directing role on 'Titanic'. I believe Cameron wanted the 'Titanic' to appeal to a certain audience, perhaps young couples who have just fallen in love, I do not know. But what I do know is that having the love story in this film was unrealistic and boring for that matter. However, I did like how the film showed the events leading up too the ships demise, and the demise itself, as these had great drama and were what I was expecting from Cameron in the director's chair.
But the biggest fault in this movie came from its story, which was also written by Cameron. Firstly, I did not like how the story started, having it being told from the point of view of a much older Rose (Gloria Stewart). Instead, I would have rather the story start with all the excitement of seeing the Titanic about to leave the doc. Then to write in a love story, such as the one presented here, was a typical Hollywood move, very corny, and for me, unappreciated. I agree with the people who say that the love story presented here is most disrespectful to the people who lost their lives on board the ship. But would have such a relationship ever have developed on board Titanic? I say 'NO!', because the very experience of being on the Titanic would have been very overpowering for many people. Then again, when the story starts to show the ship in crisis that is when I became 'interested' again, as that I what I wanted to be told via the story.

I will admit that there was some pretty good acting talent on show in the 'Titanic'. Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) is men that you could call plain lucky or unlucky, which ever way you look at his situation aboard the Titanic. Dawson is an artist, painting many different things. The only reason he is aboard the great ship, is because he won a hand of poker at the local saloon. He is now on the way to America. Little does he know what is about to unfold in his life. On the Titanic he casually glances at a beautiful woman, called Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet). While DiCaprio and Winslet are great in their roles, I still find it hard to accept the love story the pair share, as I feel it was only ever there as a device to help sell the movie even more, however it did not work on me.
There are other roles I enjoyed in Titanic. Rose's fiancé, Caledon 'Cal' Hockley (Billy Zane), was great as the mean and nasty 'bastard. He believes he can buy what he does not have, and gives Rose a necklace called 'the heart of the ocean', a big focal point to the film. I love when Cal gets angry and aggressive towards other people on the ship, especially Jack. How he escapes from drowning in the cold ocean waters, was very clever indeed. The other character I liked here was Margaret 'Molly' Brown (Kathy Bates). She is tagged as being 'unseekable Molly Brown', with many of the 1st class passengers not liking her at all. Bate's humour was a real highlight for me, as was her help for Jack, and her compassion for the drowning passengers of the Titanic.
I also enjoyed the special effects of Titanic, showing the ship, both functioning and in demise, especially the moment where the ship tears itself in half, and start to sink. The sets are also done in a grand way in this film, showing how classy an experience it must have been on the Titanic. The musicals score to Titanic is not bad, as it makes for great drama, tension and emotion. The main song of the soundtrack, 'My heart will go on', sung by Celine Dion, was a big song at the time of this movie's release. However when I hear it these days, I cringe at how bad it really is.

Sure, the 'Titanic' is the highest grossing movie of all-time and winner of 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director, but these facts do not change my opinion on how bad I think it is. I feel it is a movie that has suffered 'Hollywooditis', with just too much of the standard movie formula done here 'too sink a ship'. I would have preferred to see a much more low-key movie, focusing more on what it would like to be on such a ship as the 'Titanic', such as when Jack is at the front of the boat, screaming 'I'm the king of the world', as those sections of the movie had me captivated. I cannot say the same for its love story. Also, running at about 3 hours and 10 minutes, it was just a bit too long for my liking. I am amazed at how naïve the passengers were about the indestructibility of the Titanic, saying that it was 'unsinkable', because they were proven too be majorally wrong.
CMRS gives 'Titanic': 1.5 (Bad - Ok Film)