A Hyped Misadventure

Rating: 3/10 (26 October 2014)

The movie in question revolves around the infamous shipwreck of 1912 where more than 1500 people lost their lives when the commuting leviathan sunk on its maiden voyage to the States. The movie made it big globally, had a great box office run and also managed to win a record of Academy Awards. The question, however, is – was this movie really that good? In my opinion, Titanic, while not intrinsically bad, is an overrated cinematic venture. For a disaster movie it was too foppish and the treatment of a potentially rich subject matter, not exemplary . There was a visible disconnect between the storyline and the intended tone of the movie. Mr. Cameron, the director of the movie, is known for his sci-fi ventures, while the present movie required a far more realistic and even subdued treatment. Strangely, the movie devoted more screen time to the on screen romance of the two lead characters than it actually did to the eponymous vessel, which diverted attention from the focal event- the shipwreck. The director could have downplayed the romantic angle and instead given the audience a few moments of pensive repose to digest the enormity of the tragedy being depicted. Cinematizing real life tragedy is never easy, and requires a careful treatment of subject matter. Though undoubtedly a visual stunner, replete with amazing special effects, something the director excels in, the movie somehow could not achieve the same penetration when it came to dramatization. Titanic suffered from sufficient thematic and directorial inadequacies to warrant only moderate adulation and not the inordinate ovation it surprisingly received.