It should have sunk.....

Rating: 5/10 (17 April 1999)

Positively awful - the fact that I sat through 3 hours of this is a testament to hype. What is more amazing is that claims were made through the press that this was the most realistic version yet made. This proves that special effects and realism are not one and the same thing in historical drama.
The fictional characters (and some non-fictional ones) were nicely cliched, the romantic subplot having no bearing on any historical accuracy in relation to the period depicted, let alone the specific events. For example, any woman running through a boiler room of a ship of the period would be probably regarded as insane, and apprehended. She would also come out of it rather black. The fictional suicide of Officer Murdoch is in bad taste, considering he survived the sinking and rendered valuable assistance to survivors - this is, after all, a movie which purported to be strong on historical accuracy.
The lead characters are wooden; perhaps if the subplot had been real, they would have made excellent life rafts? The characters which say least are probably the most memorable. Examples would be Captain Smith (Bernard Hill) and Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber), not to mention the ship itself (or the iceberg).
So, for all the millions spent on special effects, you still have a "made for TV" disaster movie which, in my personal view, is of lesser status than the Poseidon Adventure.
My advice would be to watch "A Night to Remember" rather than this - that IS a valid account of an awful event.