What a waste of film, it only got good when it sank

Rating: Null/10 (30 October 1998)

I expected to see a masterpiece, given the hype related to this film. But all I got was 2 and half hours of cliche ridden dialogue and the most unconvincing romance between two leads since Bill and Hillary. Admittedly the special effects were good as was the period recreation eg costuming, set design. But overall the film failed on many levels.
Did we have to get the Class struggle entrenched in every frame of the film? Do we seriously believe that being rich is such a trial and so boring, that one would prefer to go 'Riverdancing' with the third class to 'learn how to live'. Did we have to see Kate Winslet naked, what was the relevance except for the perve factor. And why, if you were aboard the Titanic when it was sinking, would you keep getting off the lifeboat, as Ms Winslet does with frequency.
If I were Billy Zane's character, why would I bother trying to shoot Leo and Kate when he was afterall ON THE TITANIC - it was sinking for God's sake.
In short, what could have been a good movie was hampered by appalling dialogue and atrocious plotting. It seems to me that $300 million dollars was spent on the sets, costumes and special effects and the story was lifted from a number of 1930's and 1940's Hollywood stories eg the rich girl meets boy from wrong side of the tracks or vice versa. Can't we get something a bit more sophisticated in 1998, instead of regurgitation of old plots?