Not without flaws...

Rating: 7/10 (6 August 2009)

The special effects of this film are some of the best I have seen in a movie. The great Titanic slipping under the waves, the people staying aboard for as long as they can, the individual stories of the famous people that were really on the ship (Molly Brown for example), The Capitans refusal to slow the ship down due to iceberg warnings and so on. Most of us know the story of the great liner that sank on that cold April night. Taken as that alone James Cameron's film is a masterpiece. You really feel like you are on the real Titanic with the people of the time. The problem I have with this film is Leonardo DiCaprio. Say what you want but I feel he was mis-cast. He does not even try to act in a way you would expect a man of 1912 to act with his squeaky voice, saying things like horse-^*@% and I know how the world works. In other words he acts like he just came from a day at the beach. Kate Winslet is better in her role as Rose Bukater but I would have preferred a different actress. She plays the part mostly as someone who needs to grow up. The love affair between the two main characters is not believable and serves only as a distraction. Granted just showing the history of the famous ship with the people who were really there would have been boring for most young viewers without some modern story they could relate to. In this case a cheesy love story. Aside from that this film pretty much works. I watched it for the story of the Titanic and the actions of the crew that night, and the mistakes that were made that lead up to the disaster. Cameron crafted this part of the film so you felt that you were really there. Jack Dawson and Rose Bukater seemed out of place....