message from a cynic - worth a look

Rating: Null/10 (10 September 2011)

***Spoiler Warning***
Since watching Avatar again recently, it's worth taking a retrospective look at some of James Cameron's other works. Most notably his previous record breaking film "Titanic".
Now being a wee bit cynical and not fond of romance, my instinct would normally be to dismiss this movie as awful and condemn it to the lowest pits of hell.
Despite this, I won't. I can see that there is some truly brilliant filmmaking that has gone on.
The first and most notable example is the setting.
The Titanic is recreated with incredible detail and attention to accuracy. From the sets to the costume department, the design team really outdid themselves, working from historical records and photos produced from hours and hours of extensive research. Speaking as someone with an interest in history, I can safely say that their homework really shows.
The score does a good job of adding a sense of drama to the movie itself and against all the odds, James Horner's Celtic take of the hammy and overdone and Celine Dion track "my heart will go on" manages to work well. The soundtrack does add to give a great sense of place and together with the visual setting adds some strong atmosphere.
The characters vary, some being well portrayed, others two dimensional. Billy Zane's character in particular seemed the threatening villain but managed to bring a vague sense of sly charm to him.
The heroine of Rose had the best character arc as her aristocratic identity is gradually pulled away, coming to a head to reveal astounding bravery when she goes deep into the ship to rescue an incarcerated Jack as it begins to sink.
The Jack character however seemed more of an everyman but his "romantic and artistic wandering drifter" character seems to be something of a character that had been seen before. Despite that (and his blatantly 90s boy band haircut), he is well portrayed.
The historical social divisions are well represented as the glamour and uptight attitudes of the upper classes contrast greatly with the boisterous and energetic lower class and not just with the passengers, the contrast between the buttoned up officers and the coal shovelling stokers and engineers are only glimpsed but offer a similar picture. In short, a broad picture of the ship and everyone residing on board is well represented despite the focus of the romantically charged main storyline.
The scale of the tragedy is also extremely well done as it builds up to the inevitable climax, turning from an initial creeping inevitability to a raging force of destruction with people helpless to do anything to prevent it.
It's also incredibly well shot. Many stand out in memory. In particular the one where Rose is standing alone in a corridor shouting for anyone to hear her. Others include the water beginning to creep slowly along the floor, the smashing plates as the ship tips and a transition from her sketch being drawn back to the present day Rose recalling the event. All of which is evidence of excellent cinematography and filmmaking.
Despite the atmospheric and broad picture painted, this is by no means a perfect film. The melodrama of the romance and some of the more famous moments come off as cheesy and you're less likely to be moved by their romantic aspirations (Its most famous scenes having been parodied into oblivion probably adds to this). This and the fact that it made a ton of money are two main reasons why "Titanic" is disliked as much as it is.
There is also some corniness in the Irish element of the third class. While their dancing and partying shown part way through the film does add a sense of fun and relief from the stuffy upper class, it comes across as a bit too cheesy at times as romanticised Irish in Hollywood had been done repeatedly many times before 1997 so by then it was an overused cliché.
Overall, this is a very well made movie and if you look beyond the clichés or the schmaltz then you will see that this is a movie does have a greater depth of artistic worthiness than you'd expect.