Not bad but could've been better

Rating: 6/10 (20 March 2005)

On a metal table in the Virginian Pilot (a newspaper) distribution wharehouse at 3:30 AM, I saw my my first glimpse of what would become the best remembered film of 1997. The paper was running an article that April morning on what it's like to die by hypothermia and had a pic. from the film on the cover. Whether "L.A. Confidential" should've won best picture is a good question... All I knew was, I'd never seen any film that got so much hype in the months that followed.
You all know the plot. You know the ship sinks. But this movie isn't as bad as some say, because while it does contain the most silly and overused love story imaginable, traces of sincerity can be found everywhere. James Cameron really DID care about the Titanic sinking. It shows because the film does decently give the viewer a sense of whats going on. That's incredibly important because the subject matter is so terribly serious (1 THOUSAND 5 HUNDRED Peoples' lives ending). I'd have liked it better if the film had been solely on the sinking and not even but mentioned Jack and Rose, but I'll take what I can get. Finally a year later a film came out that's sole purpose was to be historically accurate. It wasn't perfect, but at least "Saving Private Ryan" didn't ask me to cry for anyone's death's there was no celine dion song playing through the credits and James Ryan didn't end the film by leaving a medal or something at the grave site. It (SPR) put out there what it wanted to say and let me come up with the rest. Had Titanic been that same kind of film, I might own a copy of it now. Instead I rent it every other year or so. The really sad thing though is that after this film was made, no laws to prevent future spinoffs were passed. The result was "Pearl Harbor". SAD. TERRIBLY SAD.