First half is slushy and unconvincing love story. Second half is an extraordinary and powerful sinking sequence.

Rating: 7/10 (7 January 2005)

Titanic is a staggeringly expensive and elegant love story, set against one of the most shocking maritime tragedies in history. Prior to its release, the media had their knives out for director James Cameron and were poised like vultures to cut him down to size. The budget had spiralled out-of-control, the film was scheduled with a running time of 3 hours, and everyone predicted a critical and financial disaster of unprecedented magnitude. As it turns out, Titanic is actually a good film. Not an excellent film, which many people seem to suggest, but definitely a good film. The second half in particular, which deals with the sinking of the ship and the chaos and panic that sweeps through the passengers, is very well made cinema.
In the present, treasure hunters discover aboard the wreckage of the Titanic a drawing of a naked woman wearing a priceless diamond necklace. An old lady named Rose (Gloria Grahame) sees the drawing on the TV news. She calls in immediately, claiming that she is the woman in the picture. Rose is flown out to the dive centre in the Atlantic, where she narrates the story of how she came to be the subject of the drawing. She tells how a penniless American youth, Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), won a ticket onto the Titanic during a card game in Southampton. She tells how she as a young woman (Kate Winslet) was travelling in first-class with her fiancée, banker Cal Hockley (Billy Zane), and how the two of them were unhappy in their relationship. Gradually, Jack - an aspiring artist - and Rose came together and began to fall in love. Then, the unthinkable happened and the Titanic hit an iceberg....
For 90 minutes or so, Titanic almost lives down to the disastrous reputation that had been predicted of it before its release. It is a naive, slushy romantic story in which the love affair that develops is unconvincing and unbelievable. The characters of Rose, Jack and Cal are lifted straight from the pages of a Barbara Cartland-style, clichéd love-and-passion romance. But the film dramatically improves once the iceberg strikes. Cameron is into more comfortable territory at this point, showing his dazzling technical talents and his mastery of spectacle and excitement in a prolonged sinking sequence of true quality. The film suddenly becomes more purposeful and urgent, more exciting and moving. For upwards of an hour, we witness an authentic and harrowing event from a perspective of remarkable realism.
Titanic eventually emerged as a phenomenally successful film, and recouped all its budgetary outlay plus a whole lot more. It also made the critics eat the words of their negative predictions. Yes, the opening stretch isn't up to much..... but the ship-sinking sequence more than compensates, and transforms this into a very commendable film.