"Your daughter is far too difficult to impress, Ruth.."

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2002)

I don't think a review of mine, could do justice to a movie such as this. I watched it in the theaters once when it first came out, and found myself unable to hold back my tears. It touched me in a way movies rarely do. I did not expect it. About six years prior to the release of "Titanic", I was entranced and obsessed with anything even remotely pertaining to the doomed ship. I did research on it, read heaps of books on it, and generally ate up every Titanic information I could find. So when I went to the theaters around two years before the movie was released to see something else, I saw a billboard for "Titanic". A simple job, with the big letters of Titanic printed against a steel pattern. I almost fell over myself in excitement. But having no internet at the time, I could not research the movie as I would have liked to. I had to wait.
When trailers and TV spots found my TV, I did not know what to expect. I knew there was something of a fictional love story added to the film. So when I finally saw it, I expected just that. Not what I saw. I saw a film that was, to quote the movie, "Grand in scale,".

So recently, after about two/three years, I watched it again. And it held the same effect on me, as it did when I first saw it. After seeing it again, I popped on to IMDB.com to read other people's reviews. I was shocked! OK - first order of business - The love story. Now I know that seems to be the highest level of disgust radiating from people. And at first I was somewhat uncomfortable with it. But as I was watching, I realized that a love story added would make the plot easier to understand, and allow the events to fall into place. The Romeo and Juliet cliche actually worked in this film, and aided the audience to feel a certain way about these two people, and those they interacted with. So when the ship begins to sink, one realizes for the first time that some of these people are doomed to die from the minute the iceberg hits. Andrews makes mention to Rose about the lack of extra lifeboats to save -everyone- on the ship, if in the event of a tragedy. But of course that could not happen - because the ship was unsinkable. Jack and Rose act as our way into the sidelines of the film, for those who did not do research might not have known there were not enough lifeboats. Now of course it could have been, say a father/son story. But in my opinion, this story works much better.
Historical Issues - Many people are concerned with the mistakes the filmmakers made on some things. But in my opinion, they pale when compared to what they got right and embellished upon. For instance, the glass dome above the Grand Staircase was emphasised to show the glamour of the first class, and when it came crashing down around them - it acted as a metaphor of the society falling apart. So, maybe they got certain things wrong - but regardless of that - it is barely noticable unless one is -looking- for reasons to dislike the film. That is, afterall, why mistakes so small and subtle are brought to light anyway, right?
But, all in all and to wrap this up, the movie kept my interest and made me wish I could do anything at all, to stop that ship from sinking. From each scene and how each one ties into the next, and how certain things make perfect sense later in the film, to the fact that the only thing about the plot we can know is that the ship will sink, make this movie rating high on my top ten list. This is how movies should be made. Epic, grand, beautiful, heart-wrenching, with strict attention to details so small, yet so widely recognized when they fall apart around the charactors we have no choice - but to know and like.
Definitely an A+.