Very good once you get passed all the hoopla

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2005)

I watched Titanic all the way through today for the first time in roughly 7 years today. I very vividly recall seeing this at the age of 14. I was a huge Cameron fan and it took a few weeks before I could even get tickets to it. I loved it. I was extremely pleased to see it win best picture. Then things started to get a little crazy. The backlash on that this film received was to be expected no doubt after such saturation. I was a slight victim of the over exposure myself. I never really had the urge to watch it when it would come on TV. I was overloaded on it and that Celine Dion song still annoys me to this day.
But the hoopla has long since died out, at least for the most part. I watched the film with a clear head today, and you know, this is a damn good movie. It's not perfect or great by any means but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been moved by it. Now more than ever, I cherished the loved story. The class warfare bit and Billy Zane's character (despite showing bits of compassion later in the film) were a bit stock, but the story of Jack and Rose was just plain wonderful. The nude drawing scene was stunningly beautiful and not in a "she's naked!" kind of way. It was simply a moment so tender I was almost moved to tears and the love scene, if you want to call it that, was almost as moving. No doubt, the way the love story affected me probably has quite a bit to do with the way my life has been going recently. I'm at a point in my life were I can truly recognize the feelings those characters were experiencing, but is it a "bad" thing that my life experiences can color a movie? I'd say the answer is obvious.
The second half of the film is quite stunning as well. Despite knowing the ship was going to sink and having already seen the movie, I did not want to see the ship hit that iceberg. Watching the ship sink was exhilarating, but not in an action movie kind of way. It was heartbreaking to watch. From a technical standpoint, the special effects hold up remarkably well. I don't see how anyone couldn't at the very least give this movie the respect it deserves for it's technical achievements.
Which brings us back to that backlash and the legions of haters. I wouldn't dare say everyone should like this movie, but at the same there's no doubt in my mind that many, many of this film's detractors wanted to hate it. For some strange cynical reason they refused to even give it a chance. It boggles my mind that there are still people that refer to DiCaprio as "DiCrapio". Please. Grow up.
I really hope Cameron one day returns to character based movies, perhaps even a love story like in this film or like the one in The Abyss(easily Cameron's best). That's what always made his movies so remarkable and why they'll be remembered for years to come. No one's going to be talking about Aliens vs. Predator in 10 years but everyone will remember Aliens, and that wasn't because of any special effects, it was because of characters we cared about. Because of films made with heart. Films like, Titanic.